help need opinion

i have a trade offer but am uneasy about it . i have this guy who gave me 2 different phone numbers and neither one of them are his . i did a search on him but nothing came up .
he made trade offer but wants me to ship first. he confirmed
the names on phone numbers. but his name is different because he was adopted he says.

what would you do?
thanks ric morales

I think whoever instigates the trade usually ships first....from what I've read at least.

What's this guy's name and email addy? Someone may have heard of him/done business with him...

Ric,

I am not a moderator here or anything, so take this in the manner in which it is offered: as a piece of friendly advice. Unless you are willing to name this individual and make an inquiry about him or make a pro/con statement about him, this really belongs in the General Business forum instead of the BOI.

However, the initiator of a trade always ships first, in my book. If that is not good enough for the person, then they don't really want my animals badly enough for me to justify wasting any time on the deal.

The multiplicity of numbers/names/addresses, or whatever, only throws up other red flags. I would not trade with such a person. Even if is the most honest individual in the world, the fact remains that he does not appear to be too terribly together on his information or practices, and that would worry me about his other practices as well. I'm not making any judgments outright, but those who are unorganized in one area tend to be so in others as well, in my experience.

Caveat emptor!

on a scale and weigh it, the simple rule would apply, use your common sense and stay away from this deal. JERRY TRESSER

I'm with the others on this one Ric, he initiated the trade this means he should ship first. If he refuses, then walk away.
The suspect information he has given so far only adds to the reasons not to take any risk on this one.

yes this may have been a dumb question, but i wanted to protect Clay McCartney and myself.

Jenn, yes you are correct that is customary to those who make trade offer to ship first ,i always have. :his name is Clay McCartney,email:gothic_trapped_artist_22@hotmail.c om, nickname Loki's curse

Darin, I did make an inquiry but did not recieve any responses. you are right about the red flags(i caught them , that's why i'm here) he already called me rude and bad people. i have all emails from first contact to present.

ty Jerry and Clay for confirming with everyone else.
Neil contacted me , I was about to back out of the deal , when i recieved his email and read it first.thanks Neil for the kick in the head , i needed it .just didn't want to be a bad guy

I would like to thank each and everyone of you for confirming what i had suspected and what i should do.
I also told him in my last email that that he could come here to the bio and let everyone know what has transpired.
just to let everyone know i did back out of the deal.

Thank You
Ric Morales
lakeland florida

Being a snake person and not a tortoise person. I did not know the difference between male and female sulcatta tortoises and I told ric morales this over the phone many times but since the trade seemed alright to him one day and not the next. I lost sales on this tortoise. He sent me a very skinny female that died one week later. I told him there was no way I was sending him money because the snake died and that he should just sell the tortoise if he needed money. The tortoise was a beatiful animal and one I regret letting go. If anyone has this tortoise I might be interested in having him back

If you have more to say, it belongs on the BOI. Not in a 5 year old thread outside of it.