Serious dealers accept to send specimens first when they have no good reference, especially when buyers have good references.

Do not take any risk.

I can, that is not good sending the money in advance. I am got many good references about him, but all were " yahoo". Is possible, that all e-mails were from his friends from Afrika. Itīs impossible ascertain. So that I am was not sure.

Is somewhere in Afrika at least one serious dealer ???

Regards Zdeno

If his references are people that you have never heard about then be careful and do not take it as a proof he is reliable (especially if all email boxes are free email boxes). Be also careful, there are many "domestic" free email boxes, different than hotmail or yahoo.

About serious dealers from Africa, there must be some, as most of the African insects you can see in the lists of professional Western dealers have been caught by local African dealers.

So just be careful and patient, and you will find one. Some Western dealers also have reasonable prices and you will take no risk in ordering African leps from them.

Instead, I highly recommend William L. Kilumile, Box 306 NJombe Tanzania (East Africa). He will send the material to you first and you can send back what you don't want and pay him for the ones that you want, at least that's what he did for me.
His e-mail: wkilumile1@yahoo.com

I posted information about him earlier.
Jeff Prill
Jeff Prill

Seems people still don't learn in dealing with that part of the world. US$2000 is like 4 years income for them, hence there is more incentives for them to scam from you collectors.

You guys always come back to this forum crying over your misfortune when the deal turns sour. That's what you get if you don't follow commonsense.

A good supplier from a great collecting area is worth losing a little money on until you find him. And I sent money to Ayilla many, many years ago before Insect Net was even around, and nobody could tell me that he was unreliable. If you can't afford to loose a little money, looking for good contact, then you need another hobby. If you can throw away $2000, without blinking an eye, then you don't need advice from me.

Several of my best contacts are/ have been people who needed the money up front. And I was a little apprehensive at first. But start out small and see if they are reliable. I started out small with Ayilla, but he didn't come through even once (maybe he will read this and remember) and now he may be missing a lot of chances. Every time I see him post an ad on Insect Net, I like to remind people about him.

Some of these guys in Africa are literally gold mines of rare species, and they don't have much money to get started. You should never dismiss somebody completely just because he wants money first. Be patient and start off with small purchases, so that neither you nor the supplier is risking so much. Never, ever send a significant amount of money for a big purchase until you have a high level of confidence with the dealer.

Of course, use common sense, but since we are insect collectors, maybe that is never going to be possible!!

Dan Heffern