LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE - 1956 Harmony H44 in Dallas - OUCH!!

Had a bad month in August. Thought I had found a great deal in Dallas TX on a 1956 Harmony H44 Stratotone (yeah one of those) that his "Dad had left him" being sold for "the Best Offer" and the seller bit on $600 + shipping. We went back and forth and he ended up taking a straight $600 when I realized I couldn't swing the extra $50 for shipping that week(and that should have been a major red flag to me).

But of course I was blinded by VGL (Vintage Guitar Lust) and sent him the Cashier's Check for $600 - and I never heard from him again.

I won't be sending any money to Texas again for a long long time.

Please, learn from my mistakes dear ones... a few warning signs I ignored:

1 - Seller acted like he didn't know anything about the guitar and I was the expert.
2 - Seller said he "had an offer at $700" but that was from "a guitar store and I'd rather sell it to a player like you" (and I fell for that one too - sheeesh!).
3- I never actually spoke to the seller on the phone only over email (MAJOR ALERT!!)
4 - I was basically paying about HALF of the retail Vintage Market value for the guitar (this is a real heads up - greed on my part - the trap was set).

So keep those things in mind when dealing over the web. talk to the person on the phone - have an address and telephone number that you can trace - and if it sounds too good to be true - IT USUALLY IS! (though not always - but over the internet you have to defer to the likelihood of a scam).

Good luck out there.

- Jim C