Pay Pal Con

Tiffy · 06 July 2011, 14:00

Sorry posted in wrong section.
I have now had 2 offers to pay by pay pal and suspect a con as no
genuine buyer would offer to pay full advertised price without viewing ,especially if they had to come and collect , and could then pay in cash

The problem with pay pal , is that if a buyer makes a complaint about
a purchase they are rather quick to take the cash back from your account.

That with a mechanical object its easy to say the engine does not work ,
or the Rib is not up to advertised standards .

You then have the problem of trying to collect your Rib , which may
even be abroad

Has any other seller had this problem or been caught ?

I do not mind pay pal for small items ;but not for £4950

Screaming04 · 17 July 2011, 17:54

Could be a scam, however, when your price is 4950 firm what offer do you expect? I paid close to that amount to a member here. Sight unseen, via pay pal, no problems. It was a deposit however, balance paid in cash on pick up.

akirk · 17 July 2011, 18:01

you have to think from the perspective of the purchaser as well...
it gives them a safety net - maybe an engine might not work / a boat might sink

Alasdair

LWman · 17 July 2011, 19:06

My personal opinion would be to steer clear of paypal for such a large payment, theres bound to be a catch, because what would be wrong with them nipping to the bank to withdraw the money? If they want to use paypal so they are covered, then they are likely to be the people who will complain at the slightest thing like a scratch or something ridiculous. I use paypal on a daily basis & generally dont like it. I wouldnt recommend it for such a large sum. Have a read into "chargebacks" also, i think this is where its linked to their credit card & alls they have to do is contact the company & say their paypal account has been used by an unauthorised person. This then means that paypal covers the chargeback, meaning you have the money, but the buyer hasnt paid a single penny. I dont know the ins and outs of this though, so not sure how/ in what circumstances it would apply.

kerny · 17 July 2011, 19:19

I've mainly used paypal for buying stuff usually off fleabay and never had a problem, however I have sold a bit of stuff off fleabay max £ 400 and have found what they charge is a bit steep

. So when it comes to thousands I would defo ask for a cheque up front, okay it takes 5 days to clear, but no charge

bigscott · 18 July 2011, 20:18

Its not that unusual, I bought an outboard a few years back and used my credit card to pay via paypal that way I had twice the amount of protection ( my thinking anyway

)

Having said that, its never a bad thing to be cautious. Online fraud is on the up and they are getting clever

akirk · 18 July 2011, 20:43

when I have sold cars on ebay I have taken a very simple approach - the buyer has to come to pick it up - so we meet either at my house and then go to the bank, or at the bank. They bring cash and if the bank accepts it they get the paperwork and keys...

absolutely no risk for me - for them, well they know where I live, but ultimately they have the goods and as the items are sold as seen and they have an opportunity to inspect before purchasing / auction end, they have the ability to manage that risk....

there are very few methods now which don't have some element of risk - ultimately there is still the need to calculate risk based on our judgement of situation / person...

Alasdair

TangoTango · 21 July 2011, 23:10

Turning up somewhere to meet a stranger with nearly £5K in cash isn't entirely without risk either. Better to go to the bank and sort it out that way or take a bankers draft.

Boats&Outboards · 22 July 2011, 08:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by TangoTango

Turning up somewhere to meet a stranger with nearly £5K in cash isn't entirely without risk either. Better to go to the bank and sort it out that way or take a bankers draft.

A local broker to me took a bankers draft of £12,000 for a new rib. Kissed goodbye to £12,000 at the same time as it was fake so that's not fool proof either!! His insurance refused to cover him saying as he handed over the keys it's fraud not theft!

Peter @ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ askboatsandoutboards4sale@sky.com ~ 07930 421007

Nos4r2 · 22 July 2011, 14:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boats&Outboards

A local broker to me took a bankers draft of £12,000 for a new rib. Kissed goodbye to £12,000 at the same time as it was fake so that's not fool proof either!! His insurance refused to cover him saying as he handed over the keys it's fraud not theft!

Peter @ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ askboatsandoutboards4sale@sky.com ~ 07930 421007

Take the buyer to their bank and get them to have the bankers draft made out in front of you, then with them present pay it into your account.

Boats&Outboards · 22 July 2011, 15:49

Then you may as well do a bank transfer or get them with withdraw the cash and pay it directly into your account as drafts cost money to obtain.

Truth is every way has it's drawbacks so each to their own.

Peter @ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ askboatsandoutboards4sale@sky.com ~ 07930 421007

SPR · 22 July 2011, 20:38

I setup a holding account when I got a big order and told them to transfer cash into that account.

Once I saw cash into that account I used ebanking to move it away to real account!

it was £70,000 for goods to be dispatched! Called bank manager and this was best way of doing it!

The end user then could not do fraud on my account, since it always has zero balance!

Regards

s.

Courageous · 22 July 2011, 20:49

I once bought a motorbike for 3k using paypal. I went to look at the bike, verified all I needed to and then used the sellers 'puter to make the transfer. That really pissed paypal off as the IP address showed up as the sellers and they froze the transaction hehe! Took a little explaining. Was a pain in the harris BUT proved they are doing something about fraud.

BogMonster · 23 July 2011, 12:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Courageous

I once bought a motorbike for 3k using paypal. I went to look at the bike, verified all I needed to and then used the sellers 'puter to make the transfer. That really pissed paypal off as the IP address showed up as the sellers and they froze the transaction hehe! Took a little explaining. Was a pain in the harris BUT proved they are doing something about fraud.

So are you saying you can only use Paypal from one IP address? Or how did they know it was the sellers?

Nos4r2 · 23 July 2011, 12:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by BogMonster

So are you saying you can only use Paypal from one IP address? Or how did they know it was the sellers?

Probably because it was a large amount from not the normal IP-and the same IP that the ebay listing came from seeing as they own both companies.

Courageous · 23 July 2011, 15:07

I'm guessing Nos is correct on that one and no I didn't say you could only use it from one IP just not the same one as the recipient, well in this case anyhow........

bingomike · 23 July 2011, 19:12

Was a warning on radio 4 yesterday about accepting pay pal and allowing buyer to pick up. What happens is the buyer makes payment via paypal. Seller sees payment in account, buyer comes and collects item then paypal reverses payment and as item has been collected there is no proof of postage/delivery so paypal won't reimburse seller!!

It was a rep from paypal warning everyone nor to allow pickup. Only post item or get cash on collection.
Mike

Sent from my iPhone using Rib.net

Boats&Outboards · 23 July 2011, 20:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by bingomike

Was a warning on radio 4 yesterday about accepting pay pal and allowing buyer to pick up. What happens is the buyer makes payment via paypal. Seller sees payment in account, buyer comes and collects item then paypal reverses payment and as item has been collected there is no proof of postage/delivery so paypal won't reimburse seller!!

It was a rep from paypal warning everyone nor to allow pickup. Only post item or get cash on collection.
Mike

Sent from my iPhone using Rib.net

THATS WHAT I SAID RIGHT AT THE START

Peter @ Boatsandoutboards4sale ~ askboatsandoutboards4sale@sky.com ~ 07930 421007

bingomike · 23 July 2011, 21:12

The point I was making was that paypal THEMSELVES were going on national radio telling people not to accept paypal and let someone collect goods personally. There policy is not to pay out under seller protection as there is no proof that the buyer indeed got the goods.
The reversal part is an automatic thing- something to do with no funds available in buyers bank/credit card account. Seemingly takes hour or two to show up. In the meantime the buyer rushes round picks item up, paypal then finds there are no funds in buyers account and stops the payment.

Sent from my iPhone using Rib.net

Courageous · 23 July 2011, 22:42

Unfortunately proof of delivery is no guarantee either as they have wised up to that one - they just send an empty envelope or one full of rubber dogshite. You sign for it and hey presto! Proof of delivery.......