I sold a bicycle on a FB group, and the lady sent me Paypal goods and services as per our agreement. Paypal is holding the payment for 24 hours. I offered a video walk through of the bike, she said she didn't need one. Asked a few questions, negotiated price a bit, and she was a little worried about shipping price. The hair on my neck raised, so I called paypal. They didn't really tell me much, just said they hold for 24 hours to confirm fraud, and to document all of my conversations, tracking, etc. I told her I wanted to talk live, so she gave me her number. Brief conversation, only thing I didn't like is that she didn't want to tell me where she worked. I get that, some privacy, etc. House shows up in her name on public record. I sent her a picture of todays mail in front of my mailbox and house....advised her it matches Google maps. She said she'd do the same when she gets home. She did text several follow up questions about the bike, asked for receipts for some parts, etc. Not sure why I feel hesitant, I do feel WAAAAY better than I did prior to talking to her. Have I covered all of my bases? Am I "protected" via PayPal? I figured I would ship the bike AFTER the funds hit my account, and am using BikeFlights with a signature required.
I’m using bike flights + 3k insurance + sig required on a $2400 purchase. Safe to assume that’s sufficient?
It's some new BS PayPal has implemented. You have to use your gut and good judgement. I sold an exhaust from my Corvette and he wanted to pay through PayPal for protection. I said fine since I know I'm not scamming anyone. Check the guy out online. Searched his address, searched tax records, FB, etc....everything was consistent. PayPal won't, or at least in my case, release the funds until he received the parts. I finally had to trust my gut and instinct....shipped him an exhaust at nearly 2 grand while PayPal held the funds. I tracked it and the moment it showed delivered, I input the info into PayPal and the funds released in 24 hours. Bottom line, there is no guarantee when dealing with shipping and electronic funds. Be smart, trust your gut/instinct.
H Holy crap, WHAT??!! When I called PP, they said the release the funds in 24 - 48 hours after they verify she meant to make the payment. I have to ship it before I get funds??!!
I don't ship til funds have cleared when I sell on ebay....Sometimes 3 days after buyer sends funds. Sort of off topic.....I sold a Polaris RZR Pro R rim on ebay recently....I specifically stated in my ad 'no international shipping'. Well apparently ebay has a new procedure of being the 'middle man' when it comes to sellers not wanting to ship international... So there is an 'ebay address' that you send your item to and then ebay will forward the item to the sellers' international address. I researched the ebay buyer and they had just opened their ebay acct the same day they bought the rim from me. A month later, i still have the cash sitting in my 'ebay/paypal' only checking acct and I never shipped the rim..... and neither the buyer or ebay has opened a dispute, requested a refund or notified me to ship the rim. If the buyer was/were? to make contact with me, i would simply refund their money since i specifically said 'no international shipping' in the ad. So who knows what kinda scam was being ran.
So are you still holding the money AND the goods a month later ? That sounds like you're bad on that one dude. My financial guy sold his souped up Vette to a guy in the UAE on ebay, specifically stated no international. The guy contacted him and said I'll do a wire transfer directly to your bank and you can hold it until the funds clear before you ship it. Guy made good on his word. Not everyone is a scammer. I've been on ebay for almost 20 years now and never had any issues so far. Also not running a "store", just sell hobby stuff throughout the year.
Money was released today, I paid $25 to get it out of PayPal into my account immediately. I’m taking it to the bike shop tomorrow to have it packed, and then ship it a day or two later when it’s ready. Anything else I should think of?
I'm saying the buyer opened his ebay acct the day he allegedly 'bought' my rim, even though my ad says "NO INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING".....So immediately my suspicions go up. I sure as hell wouldn't buy something on ebay when the seller specifically states "NO INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING" if they were in another country. Why didn't buyer contact me first and inform me about the ebay international possibility and ask me if i was ok with selling the rim through that ebay process? ....Why hasn't the buyer messaged me asking where in the hell his rim is? Why hasn't the buyer initiated a dispute/claim for a refund? So yea, i feel like it was a scam that would go something like this.....Dude gets rim delivered to a 'made up ' address, then files a dispute and claims he didn't get the rim, then ebay/paypal refunds him the money and he keeps the rim. Happens aaaalllll the time, just like that. If it ends up legit, i'll refund the money, until then, I'm keeping the 'alleged' scammers' cash, i.e. Romanian cyber-thieves or whatever. I bought a Superwinch years ago on ebay....Sent my money, got tracking info and a week later it shows as delivered. BS....So i go to post office, show them my receipts and tracking info, and it came back as being delivered to a local McDonalds joint... I go to Mcdonalds, they say no, sorry, no winch here. Long story short and a month or so later, ebay/paypal refunded the $300 or whatever it was. Scams a-plenty out there as we all know.
This happened to my brother, claim they didn't receive, or damaged, or in the case of a art limited print, they would claim it was fake common scams
Not if they were trying to scam me. Maybe ebay/pp figured out they were a scam, and shut them down? Don't you think they would have requested a refund by now if they were legit? That in itself is a pretty big sign that somethin' fishy is goin' on. I know if it was me, i would have issued a claim within 2 wks of not getting something that i paid for.
