Buying and paying from another country?

[G7MOF]

I'm thinking of buying a mandolin from Europe and I live in the UK. it's a low priced mando so I don't need to play before I buy but the seller doesn't use Paypal but can accept payment using IBAN bank transfer.
My question is, how safe is it to use IBAN and what if the item isn't up to standard and I need to be refunded? (Do I have any backup)?

[OneChordTrick]

No I'm afraid not. As I understand it once you've made the transfer it's pretty much final.

I assume that it's a private sale?

[NEH57]

I have bought '3' instruments from Sweden, I have used IBAN transfer each time. It is easy. It is doubly easy if you have a wife like mine to do it for you. On the issue of return and back up, my advice would be, if you can't afford to take the hit and aren't trusting enough of the seller to pre-arrange any return options or satisfy you at long range about condition, don't risk it; but the IBAN process itself is as safe as houses.....it's how businesses operate and has got better from the Uk to Europe latterly - it used to have some hefty charges attached.........probably will again, soon.

Just make sure you check.....and double check....or even triple check all the numbers, name of the Bank etc are correct, because they can be a bit 'topsy turvey' in the way they 'do' stuff, a bit like the Americans not being able to do dates properly
If your wife does it, like mine does, if it does go T.U. you can always blame her )

[FPhil]

Using IBAN is easy and safe (used it many times to transfer money to a lot of different countries), but it can't be refunded unless you and the seller make an agreement that he refunds it when you're not satisfied.

[Jason Lares]

I have made international payments using IBAN and never had problems, except for delays (a few days) and high bank fees when there is an intermediary bank involved.

As others said, once sent and received by the seller it can't be reversed. The only way to get a refund is if the seller agrees to refund your payment via a new IBAN transaction. Again, some banks may deduct fees and you may end up losing a significant amount of money, so do your due diligence.

[trevor]

Agreed, IBAN is safe and secure. As others have said make sure your terms are clear with the seller.