Local pickup for speakers - should I let the buyer in the house or use the the garage?

Have him text you a picture of his driver license, with everything marked out but his picture and home address.

Now you have his ID, home address (so you can check out his house on Zillow) and positive identification when he shows up. If he's not willing to do that, bid him adieu. Whenever I buy something and am going to someone’s house to pick it up, I always look up the house on Zillow. Lets me know what I’m driving to, plus I’m nosy. 

For me, it’s not someone robbing at time of sale. But, scoping out my residence to see what’s there and and returning when I’m away.  So, I would do it outside or somewhere else.

......some really good responses here. I sold my Esoteric Grandioso K1x to an Audiogon member who drove 6 hours to come into my home. I asked for photo's and driver's license prior to the sale. I took 50% down on Pay-Pal first ......so get a down payment and then when the buyer saw that it was as advertised and in good working condition, he sent me the other 50% through Pay-Pal while listening. I think the buyer does have a right in listening to it first, I know I would. If you are new to the area , call the local police and see if there is an off duty officer available after hours to stop by and just be there and pay them accordingly. I agree I would be really careful but the buyer does need to listen to them first. I also would ask for a deposit before you go through all that work and then have the buyer say they do not like them.......that also could happen. Good luck on your sale.   

Don't take this the wrong way but why wouldn't simply make this decision rather than posting it on a forum for strangers (53 of them) to opine on? Do what feels right, safe and smart. Good luck. 

@hotei  +1

Most of the robbers will not pick a speakers that big, or sacrifice to be identified.Talk to him about his audio experience what is favorite artist? You can tell if he is really legit. He can’t give you the right answer if he is not audiophile or he has wrong motives.To be fair since you have his address to him you can also for his driver license, if he has no bad motive he will surely give it to you. Make sure it’s daytime when you meet.

I've done probably 50 sale transactions out of my home. Never had a bad experience. Probably the worst thing that ever happened was a guy who stayed 45 minutes, talked up a storm, then told me he wasn't going to buy... he was definitely an audio person, and there was no 'ulterior motive' - just, don't waste that much of my time; you usually know within the first 5 minutes if you are going to buy or not...

And I have met close to 50 mostly very nice folks and gotten to share audio info / stories / etc. with them; a couple it ended up I bought something off of them later on because I found out they had something I wanted when they came to my place.

While I can certainly understand that WHERE you live might have some bearing on how cautious you feel you need to be... this does show that there are a lot of paranoid people out there. And (full disclosure) I say that as a 60-year old white guy, fairly clean-cut, living in UT (a gun-friendly state) and owning firearms myself. I have never felt the need to carry a firearm when selling anything out of my home. I HAVE gone to a few homes and had that done to me (homeowner answered the door packing and making it obvious) and, quite frankly, those particular folks weren't the same "very nice folks" I mentioned earlier. Instead they acted nervous, suspicious, and quite frankly if I knew what I was walking into - I would have decided against being around them, as I felt like A) they seemed to be generally 'angry' individuals that were almost looking for an excuse to use their weapon; and B) seemed like at least a few of them probably had legitimate mental issues with paranoia, etc.

But, in the end, I do agree with others who have said you should do what feels best for you and your situation. The only thing I would add is that I think it would be extremely rare that someone is pretending to want to buy audio equipment as an excuse to either rob you or 'case' your home. 

Sure good luck with that. 

Have him text you a picture of his driver license, with everything marked out but his picture and home address.

I've allowed (from A'Gon ads) a lawyer, a Junior High School teacher and a movie writer/director into our home and I'm still here to tell the stories.

The movie director should still be in the spare closet (haven't checked for over a decade now).

DeKay

"There you have it, average ordinary retirees more paranoid than a homeless tweeker at the end of a four day binge."

Yeah, what he said. -John

I had a younger person drive 5 hours up to my house from St Louis to purchase my

older B&W 801 S2's sent him pictures talked a lot on the phone got to know him.

Absolutly no problems other than getting them into his infinity SUV.

"There you have it, average ordinary retirees more paranoid than a homeless tweeker at the end of a four day binge."

Well, @devinplombier, this retiree knows the difference between a "tweaker" and a "tweeker".  In addition, this retiree had three Glocks pointed at his head by hood rats during a car-jacking armed robbery.  SOB's even refused to let me have my crutches out of the car (I was recovering from a bone fusion on my foot), asking me if the crutches "were worth dying over".  Instead of giving them the fear they wanted, I used my time memorizing every detail about them and their getaway car's tag number.  All three were caught within 24 hours after going on a 5 county crime spree including 3 stolen cars and 6 armed robberies.  They all are enjoying 15 to 20 years of being someone's girlfriend, mainly because of my detailed testimony. 

So no -- not a single person I don't know is entering my home to audition gear, which is a moot point anyway.  I don't ever sell anything.  I have every piece of gear I've purchased since 1976...even the boxes and manuals.  I hope you never have an experience like mine that changes how you view people, but if you do, maybe you'll understand why in today's world it's better to be safe than sorry.  I don't call it "paranoia", I call it "reality" and I'm fortunate to live in Southern states where we have the right to carry.

@allenf1963   +1

Have someone with you that you secretly hate.  So if things go south you have the right person to share the experience with....Cue Montgomery Burns chuckle

Better safe than sorry I guess, but the chances of problems are very remote. Keep it in the garage if you feel better, but what is to stop them from entering your house if they are armed or threaten? 

@foggyus91 ,

Sure good luck with that. 

Have him text you a picture of his driver license, with everything marked out but his picture and home address.

Thank you. And good luck to your next username aka earlflynn, aka jerryg123, aka skypunk, aka 20 others...

??? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I never do business at my home.  I’ll meet someone in town to pickup what I’m selling.  Some sellers have let me in their house but that’s what they’ve requested. 

Cash Payment for Sales are good if no Paper Trail is wanted, but are best avoided.

Bank Transfer is much less messy and can be checked for having cleared as fast as Counting Cash and checking for Fake Bank Notes.

Meeting a Buyer or a Seller face to face is a way to create a sale with Zero Troubles to follow, my experiences of meeting at Homes or away from the Home are with no incidents occurring that are wanted to be avoided in the future.

It is easy to lose a good customer and a bad customer by being over protective prior to a sale. The Plus Side, is that the bad customer will Toodle-Pip and probably break the communication with an unkindness sent, their type has this trait.

The good customer may continue the communication by being inquisitive about the reasoning for being protective in a way they are not familiar with.

The above are difficult to create when selling as a Vendor using a Service that has  a Buyer Protection, the Vendor has little to support them where Buyer Protection - Not Vendor Protection is the fundamental of the sale. 

There are other Options to consider, but they are not common practice as of yet but should become more frequently used for the good off all who are sellers/buyers wanting Fair-play to both parties.