I am a photographer. Recently on a photography forum that I have belonged to since 2012, a camera/lens combination came up for sale by another member who I do not know. I have seen his posts but am not personally acquainted with him. FWTW, he has a number of years of history on the forum although less than I have. The camera/lens deal he is offering is for $1000 less than the market price of the camera/lens combination when purchased new from Amazon. I asked him for photos of the camera and lens and the serial numbers of both which he sent. While there is a lot of photography equipment for sale both from hardship surrounding COVID and the advent of good cameras in cell phones, the fact that his price is 30% less than the new price on Amazon makes me uneasy. Additionally the e mail address of the Paypal user where I would send the money is not the seller's e mail address. Although the last names are the same, the seller claims that he does not have a Paypal account and is "using his brother's account" for this transaction. I get the impression that the seller is elderly. I have both the seller and the supposed brother's e mail addresses. The seller was forthcoming with this information.
While the price is good I do not want to go through the hassle of a failed transaction. Again, the seller has been on this forum for a number of years and is not someone who created a user account 2 weeks ago to perpetrate fraud. Any advice would be appreciated.
