I have an idea -

Have the person who is selling the game make a short video of the game and video some of his (the seller's) personal information.

Suppose the seller put a piece of paper with your name on it on the game, and then made a video of it and then walked outside and verified his street address.

How could anyone fake that?

A scammer is going to post photos of a game he doesn't own, and use a fake address. There's no way to make the scam work with a real game at a real house with a verified address.

A guy could run a scam with a machine he actually owns.

So he can get all the pictures he needs.

You could set up a fake account, say that the game is in Hawaii when it's really in Michigan.

Take the money and then disappear.

You could even buy an expensive game, scam someone and then sell the game legitimately.

The key to avoiding a scam is to establish that both the game and the person selling it are "real".

Obviously, if you pick the game up in person and pay face to face, then you have nothing to worry about.

If you can't do that, then you need to use some other verification method. Like having the seller make a quick video.

Sometimes there will be a thread like this on various collector forums, some guy will say, "I aint using no escrow service, blah blah blah."

That's fine. Don't do it if you don't want to.

But if I cannot verify that the seller and the item are legitimate, then I will absolutely not send money.

If you send money to some stranger 1000 miles away on the basis of crossing your fingers and hoping for the best, then don't cry when you get burned.

Because scamming is a big thing now and you will get zero point zero help from the police.

One time I bought a $3500 item off of the internet, sent the money, no response from the seller.

Months went by. No response. Nobody would do a thing. Post office could not have cared less.

Finally, the item arrives out of the blue. Turns out the seller was in a massive car wreck and was laid up in the hospital the whole time.

That experience taught me that when you get burned, there is NOBODY to help you. You are simply screwed.

Sure it ended up OK, but if it hadn't, I would have kissed that money goodbye.

I got a phone call from the IRS, the guy had a heavy indian accent and said his name was "Dennis Quaid". I kid you not.

He needed my bank information to get me out of the big trouble I was in with the IRS.

Here's a scam you might not know about:

Guy shows up to buy your computer, pinball machine, etc with a certified bank check.

Check turns out to be a phony, the guy is long gone.

Before accepting the check, verify the check with the issuing bank by phone. But don't use the phone number that's printed on the check, it could be a fake too.

I don't know why people don't simply do what i suggested.

before sending funds, have the seller tape a piece of paper with your name on it to the pinball machine and they make a cell phone video.

impossible to fake

problem solved