Guys I have a watch for sale on FB. Several people, older people by profile, have asked about buying it and shipping to son, cousin, etc. This seems odd to me. Whats the scam here...say it never showed up and refund thru paypal? I was only going to ship once the funds have cleared into my bank anyway...but now that several people have asked the same thing it has me concerned. Can paypal suck money out of your bank without permission? What am I missing here?
One thing is to only ship it to a PayPal verified address of the account. If they want it to go somewhere else, they can pony up the extra $30 to reship it. If needed you can use insurance and signature required to that verified address.
Paypal will favor the buyer way more than the seller even with beyond reasonable proof. I'd run away from paypal. My .02 I'd be only willing to sell in person at this point in my life. If they want it that bad people will come.
Yeah thats what I'm thinking. There is a version of this scam on the paypal site where they give you a fake address and then when it cant deliver they re-direct it and since it never showed up at the listed address they can claim it never arrived.
If it smells like a scam it is. That said think about this. An older person having it shipped to the kid. Normally it would be the opposite. I had had lens shipped to Mom as she was retired and at home to sign. Not the reverse. The reason the profile is an 'older' person is to instill a fake trust. Run!
You can use Venmo then. No backsies... lol. Id verify the address and check the property tax records if youre shipping.
The only safe way to get money from someone is a wire transfer. It can't be undone once it's sent/received. Paypal will always side with the buyer.
you can do moneygram or walmart transfers just the same... but the fees. Also the person has to present a real identification to retrieve.
What's the value of the watch? I mean, PayPal is fine for a few hundred bucks. Gonna sting to lose it or get scammed but not going to impact your life. A few grand ...... wire transfer, certified funds only. PayPal only if they are covering the 3%, you're only shipping to a verified address and only shipping once payment clears an account at my non priority bank after I have withdrawn the funds.
If I was the buyer I would be way more comfortable sending a wire to a legit bank account in the us (routing number) than western union somebody Cash. Probably the same lack of recourse but Bank shit is way more serious.
Another PayPal scam is for someone to pay in full, and when they get it they say it’s broken, asking for another $50. If you don’t send the $50 they’ll ask for refund and PayPal will side with them. Then it takes months of back and forth for you to get your money back trying to prove they’re a scammer. Been there done that. I trust Craigslist more than PayPal or fleabay. Sell it to a real person and move on with life.
Ask for a postal money order. Postal inspectors do not fuck around. I'm been burned by PayPal before, even with signature required on delivery. Apparently them saying said they never received it overrules the signature on file.
Do not fuck around with PayPal unless you are comfortable with the outcome of being both out of the watch and the money.
I've had luck on FB mailing stuff. Key is to trust your gut. A decent FB profile and a decent conversation would do wonders. There's a lot of my wife will send the PayPal, and in my experience it hasn't been a problem. But the biggest transaction I did on FB through mail was about $600 ~sent from mobile
Can the buyer still put in a claim if the money was sent friends/family? Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk
no. If you back the account with a credit card as a buyer... the card company might be able to reverse the charge but if the money is withdrawn paypal cant really do anything except freeze the account.
Have you tried StockX? They were originally for sneakers but have moved into other categories. Supposed to be the intermediary, confim authentication for the buyer, and ensure payment for the seller. ~sent from mobile
If you think it's a scam offer another way to pay, usually you won't get a response because they are just going to go to the next victim as you already seem to not take the bait. This is just a general rule though, sometimes they can get pretty elaborate.
