Real or Scammer?

[Freuds_Cat]

A little help from you more local and knowledgable types if you please?

I have a workmate who wants to buy a pair of vintage RCA speakers currently residing in Berlin. The seller (not via ebay) has asked him to use the following company http://shp-westline.com/index_eng.html  Smells like a big barrel of rotting fish to me. Any opinions greatly appreciated.

[uwe]

I have clients in the logistics business and will drop them an email whether these guys are credible competiton, ok?

My impression though tends to be that these guys are not a scam but a network of independent smaller logistic providers working under the brand shp-westline, but retaining their repective individual legal status. Nothing too unusual with that. It used to be the way to do logistics business in Germany until the multinational logistics providers such as UPS, FedEx, TNT and Royal Mail started centralizing things via buying companies from the market. Or what the German Post did when it bought DHL in the US. These guys here want to remain independent yet offer a global brand. That doesn't mean their shipping service is less reliable.

But let's wait what my clients will have to say. 

Uwe

[Freuds_Cat]

Thanks Uwe, I did a whois on the domain and its got the whole privacy protect thing happening which for companies is not a common outcome in my experience. Maybe its the done thing in Germany I wouldn't know. One thing that did turn up was that the domain was registered with an Australian reseller 

The other side of this deal is that I got my friend to show me the original sale posting on the forum he used and did an extensive search to locate any identical pics. Sure enough an ebay auction that finished in May in the UK had used the same (original) pic. The speakers went for US$2500 or there abouts. The seller in my friends case only wanted US$900 including shipping to Australia.

Sounds to good to be true it usually is right?

[uwe]

Straight from the horse's mouth:

"Haven't heard of it. If it is a scam, it is a good one – elaborate site with credible international partners. Looks like a young Chinese freight company moving into parcels thorough a network of partners.

However, no parcels partner in Australia. So, if there DHL partnership claim is true, they will probably deliver it. If not, it will take a long time and go through Libya and the South Pole.

I would advise not to take the risk of very late or non-delivery and ship through TNT, which has strong operations in Australia as well as Germany and has great value for money."

I think his last sentence shows a little bit of self-marketing, don't you?  

I can't really judge on the price difference, but your friend should certainly ask for pics of the specimen and what the condition is.

[Dave W]

I agree, sounds too good to be true.

The shipping company may be legitimate, the listing with a photo lifted from an eBay auction and a well below market price smells of a scam.