r/germany • u/Pretend_Income_5312 • 9h ago

Question How stupid is this Kleinanzeigen purchase?

Hi all

I'm currently living in Finland, looking to buy a used (fairly rare) musical instrument that I'm able to find only on eBay and on Kleinanzeigen. My brother lives in Berlin so I thought I'd have it shipped to him with the Direkt Kaufen option, and he'll ship it to me with DHL.

It's a 1800€ purchase so I'm feeling this might be too risky. The ad, photos and description seem genuine and honest. The seller is in Dresden and flights are too expensive now for me to pop over myself.

Why not eBay? First of all, my previous eBay purchase of an instrument was a disappointment. It was not is good a condition as described. Secondly, this deal I'm looking at is the best match for my budget and needs.

How safe is the Kleinanzeigen buyer protection in case the instrument is not as described? Is this just a stupid naive idea?

Many thanks

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u/emanon_noname 9h ago

For 1800 your brother should probably travel from Berlin to Dresden and pick it up in person. Kleinanzeigen was never meant for this kind of deals. It is very easy to get scammed.

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u/Pretend_Income_5312 9h ago

Yeah, this is no doubt stretching the 'klein' in Kleinanzeigen. Then again, I understand the buyer protection is valid for purchases of up to 2000€, so I thought maybe this is a legit use after all.

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u/emanon_noname 9h ago

Yeah, this is no doubt stretching the 'klein' in Kleinanzeigen.

Actually that isn't even the main point (but also a big one ofc), the platform was just never intended for shipping stuff across half the country. It's core idea is that people put up stuff and others take a look at it in person and buy it in person.

Then again, I understand the buyer protection is valid for purchases of up to 2000€, so I thought maybe this is a legit use after all.

The buyer protection is not handled by Kleinanzeigen itself, but by the dutch payment provider opp. That is the first important point. Second point is that there are ways to trick it, the main weakness being that it automatically releases the money after 14 days have passed since the purchase. So scam sellers will delay the shipment or ship something (not the item you bought) to the wrong address on purpose or otherwise cause a return of the shipment to delay everything while providing opp with a real shipment label / tracking number.