Will be interesting to see how this works out. If someone gets stung, hope they are man or woman enough to admit it. I also live in a high rent district, so everything I buy is expensive, but I would never ask someone I didnt know, to buy and ship me something. not even a friend. Customs can put any dollar amount on things that are shipped international, and im sure Africa has some hungry customs agents.
This guy might be very nice, but usually successful scammers dont look like scammers. Sorry Skool, thats just how the world is now days, and you should know that. I would work on getting some kind of line of credit, and go from there, or in the extream, go to SA, as someone suggested.
Just a little side note, which has nothing to do with metal detectors. A friend had a house here in Thailand, that he wanted to rent, and the agent called and said he had a customer, coming from Africa, and would be there the next day. So we spent the day trying to figure out how this could be a scam, and we couldnt come up with anything, looked like a sure thing. Next day, the agent came with the customer, the guy looked around and said he will recommend to his boss, that they buy the house. We still couldnt figure out the scam. Well, then next day, my friend talked to the agent, and the agent said the customer wanted the house, but needed $1000, so he could start an account in Thailand to transfer the money. He wanted the agent to loan him the money. Well that was the scam, he was trying to scam the agent, not my friend! There is a lot more going on in the world, than in Small Town USA.
Up to you! as we say here. If it sounds too good to be true, well, you know the rest.