Modern Vespa

On the hunt for a used GTS 300. Current insane dealer doc and build (build fee on a used bike- wtf?) fees is chasing me to a private purchase and probably a remote one including shipping. It's been awhile and wanted to inquire about some best practices? Thanks for any intel.

I wouldn't buy anything I can't see in person. Also, if I were a shady individual, with a bike with hidden issues, I would want to sell it by a means where I would never have to meet the buyer in person. Repeat first sentence.

That said, there's a ton of literature out there on what to look for when buying a used motorcycle, 99% of it will apply to buying a used Vespa.

I've been riding for 15 years, owned dozens of motorcycles and scooters, currently have five, and only ever bought 2 brand new.

The last 3 bikes I've bought, on average, had only 2,600 miles on them, and cost me about 60% of what they cost brand new. Great deals out there on used bikes. No need to buy from dealers.

I've bought and sold cars, scooters and trucks from thousands of miles away, sight unseen. I've walked away with some great deals. I have not regretted a single transaction. You have to be smart about it. Obviously, start your search local. CL and FB Marketplace will yeild the bulk of what is available near you. Uship.com is a cheap option for shipping. It allows you to expand your search area. I like FB marketplace. You can click on the seller's view main profile to check out who your dealing with. If you see a two year old GTS for $1,200, it is likely a scam. My buddy just picked up a 2018 GTS300 with 700 miles for $4,500 from a private party. It looks brand new, and has paperwork for it's recent first service. This is the kind of deal I would be looking for. Where I'm at it's 8 degrees with a half foot of snow on the ground. Now is the time to buy a scooter.

Except for the pickup that caught fire because the heater vent was full of leaves, and a mercedes diesel that needed a new fuel filter before it would exceed the speed limit in a school zone, I've had decent experiences. I agree with you about trying to buy local, and FB marketplace is probably the best place now. You can not only see who's selling it, but if they do this as a job, and have a lot of vehicles listed. Those are the ones I avoid. They are getting vehicles that nobody with a car lot and business license is interested in turning. There's almost always a very good reason that vehicle didn't end up in a better place.
Also, be wary of bikes that are coming out of areas that have had recent natural disasters involving large amounts of water, like floods, hurricanes, dam breaks, etc. A lot of people get rid of those bikes after they get them out from under the water and clean out all the mud and fish. Weird things go wrong on bikes that have been under several feet of water.

Thanks I have found some prospects and shipping is going to be the way to go vs. the expense and time of me going. I guess my hurdle will the be the process of shipping and paying. Punch holes in my thoughts below:

1. Provide a small deposit to secure sale and take bike off FB
2. Seller then sends me copies of bill of sale, title, maintenance records via email.
3. I arrange shipper. Shipper shows up at sellers site and calls me of that fact.
4. While loading I wire the remainder of funds to seller.
5. Shipper gets title, bill of sale, keys and maintenance records from seller and delivers to me along with bike

Is that feasible?

That is about the order I do it regardless if I'm buying or selling. It goes without saying that you need to be comfortable who you are dealing with and take steps to ensure they are who they say they are I'm in Denver. I sold a Honda Elite 50 to a fellow in Hawaii. He contacted me through my CL post. I took a 90 second video of the scooter. Complete walk around, start up and idle. I posted it on Youtube for him to check out. I invoiced him through paypal for 1/2 of the bike. I stated the terms and bike info (VIN) in this invoice. Once he had a shipper lined up and a pick up appointment with me, I invoiced him for the 2nd half. I put the keys and documents in an envelope and gave them to the carrier after the 2nd payment cleared. It's a two sided dance of trust. As a seller, I go over the top to help the guy parting with his hard earned money feel good about this. As a buyer I do everything I can to avoid buyer's remorse down the road.

I don't think anyone is going to let someone load the bike until they are paid in full. If the shipper drops the bike, you are going to be less inclined to go ahead with the deal So a lot of sellers won't put themselves in that position. If you get them to agree to all this beforehand, and it goes off as you anticipate, fine. The shipper also has a way of doing business. If this is part of how they do business, and the shipper can reach you on the phone at the moment he's ready to load the bike, that's not an issue. But if all they want to do is go load the bike whenever it's convenient for them, and get back on the road, or they send the new kid over to pick up the bike, or there isn't cell service, it might not go as smoothly as you would like.
Don't fall for any fake escrow account deals either. Especially if the bike is at a fire sale price and the owner is out of town. Do an image search for all the images on Yandex or Google.

Eastern Connecticut isn't exactly Atlanta, but I've gotten great scooter deals on Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace, including a ridiculously low price on my current 2018 GTS300. Of course, that scoot now has a coolant leak and I can't find a qualified mechanic to fix it…. But the scoot was super cheap and had 3 miles on the odometer when I bought it last February on Facebook Marketplace!

Thanks everyone for their thoughts- all best practices. In the end I found a 2020 dealer leftover in KY with reasonable fees and good sale price. All the private sellers I engaged with were insistent that I send all funds in advance and wait to clear and Im not comfortable with that. On the flip side I wired the funds to the reputable dealer and they will hold the bike until Im up there for business next week. I guess it all about your comfort level.

That's pretty much how it's done. Nobody with any brains is going to let you take a bike until they have the money firmly in grasp.

Here in New Zealand Facebook marketplace has an interesting feature; the Police monitor it for stolen property and other illegal selling. Our version of eBay called Trade Me no doubt has some dodgy sales, but the feedback system probably weeds those out pretty quickly.
I bought Gabriella sight unseen from Christchurch. That's in the next island south of the one I live in, imaginatively known as North Island and South Island, and the nearest to any real checking was talking to the owner by phone then checking a website called Carjam and buying a report that lets you know if the vehicle has money owing on it, has been reported stolen, if the mileage history looks right etc. I paid the asking price electronically and bought a $29 airfare to go and pick it up.
We have bought cars similarly and only had one disaster on that front when my Alfa twinspark ran a bearing on the way home from Wellington.