Paypal scam?

Anyone that's ever sold anything on craigslist knows about the scams that go around. Usually they're out of the country, want to pay by check, etc. I've got a guy messaging me that I am almost positive it's a scam. His wording, he's on a boat at sea, blah blah. But he wants to pay by paypal. Isn't paypal relatively guaranteed?

 

It should be . . . but the guy sounds fishy or you feel something is up, just ask for a money order/cashiers check?

 

If he's on a boat and he wants to buy a life jacket real quick, I would sell him for $1000 and chance it.

 

Pun intended???

 

Nope he can pay then protest the payment. Have him send you a check or M/O if he is at sea and you are not in an allfired hurry to get your cash. Then if it clears your bank he can collect his purchase.

 

People who work on boats also buy stuff.

 

Pay Pal will issue a refund, almost as easy as asking....all he has to do is be unsatisfied and the your screwed...been on Evil bay 14 years....sounds like a SCAM to me.....

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

i've sold stuff that people use paypal. never any problem i don't think they could scam you on there. when everything is cleared it will tell you it's ok to ship.

 

Unless he Gift's it... then there is no refund options!!!

 

Tell Gilligan to call you to verify that he's serious about the deal, and that Ginger will allow him to follow through on the purchase.

 

When I was working on boats, I did this all the time. The seller got his money, I got cool stuff when I came home.

If anything, he should be worried about you the seller, if he's gonna be gone more than 30 days, PayPal won't issue a refund to the buyer if the deal went south beyond then.

PayPal is a good way to do business, on ePay, or on Craiglist...

The only time I had a bad deal doing this, is when I missed out on a really nice Bullet-Nose '50 Studebaker. The seller, like you, didn't believe the "I'm literally on a boat, at sea" story, and sold the car out from under me, hours after we decided on a price, and after I had already coordinated storage and pickup.

 

Paypal is good for buyers, sucks for sellers.
If the buyer pays in cash on pickup, the seller has no protection on paypal.. Absolutely none.

Oh duh...... edit.......
if the buyer pays by paypal, and the buyer picks it up (or the seller has no tracking proof of delivery) then the seller has no protection.

 

Yeah I sold a car on eBay to this guys wife I think, said she was at sea wanted to pay pal the money and have an "agent" pick it up as a surprise for her dad. My ads ALWAYS say NO PAYPAL!! So I had to dispute to get my selling fee back.

 

Hey, Some guy on a boat wants to buy my 1950 Plymouth parts that were advertised on Craigslist In Pa. Claimed he was at sea and wanted to surprise his Pastor by buying the parts for him. Im not in the U.S. right now anyway and told him he would have to wait for my return. Its cash only. Want to have a shipper pick it up, send the shipper money to buy it cash. Stan in Pa.

 

RH,
What you said is exact;y why I suggested a check or M/O. if he is at sea he should not be in a hurry to collect his parts.

granted this perspective is from a guy that had to mail order parts before instant payment and waited sometimes as long as a month for my parts to arrive.

 

Thank you all for the replies (even the smart ass ones). This is EXACTLY the same text I have received today.

 

The way that one of the Pay Pal scams works is, A) The guy ask you for a payment request, B) You send it, he pays it with his credit card, but ask that you send it to another address other than the confirmed address on the Pay Pal account. C)Money shows up in your account, you ship the item. D)Guy gets credit card bill, disputes payment because it did not ship to him. E) Credit card company contacts Pay Pal, who pulls the money from your account, with out giving you ANY NOTICE OR ANY RECOURSE on the whole thing. They will even pull it from any bank account attached to the account. So then you are screwed! Trust me, that is what they did to me, lucky is was only $120.

 

Paypal in it's self is a scam.

 

Old scam, they are always at sea it seems...........

 

Thank's for the post !!!

 

Scam ? Back in 1999 i startet buying Cool Hot rod related stuff on Ebay .. Sendt Cash in Envelope from F.ing Norway to Guys & Girls in USA .. Bought Magazines , Exspensive SW gauges and engine parts ..Absolutely NO problem ! stuff arrived as described Sailors that builds hotrods need stuff too .. When they are back home in their garage

Klaz

 

Sucks for us that actually are at sea sometimes.

The problem for me (I was on a boat for four months last year) was that while we had satelite-internet, we didn't exactly have a mailbox that you could drop a check into. Which meant that if you were surfing your favorite shopping sites, PP or Credit-Cards were your only options...

 

Best advise I can give is that if you are spooked on the deal don't do it or offer to hold the item for a paypal deposit until said person can pay for it with cash or other form of payment.

Offer to hold the item until a set date for a non refundable deposit and you will find out real quick if it's a scam or not.

 

Had the same thing on a set of rims and slicks i was selling, at sea bla bla, told him to call me to verify he was real and poof no more contact from him.

 

Feel free to give him your Paypal info. I googled the text I got and word for word it's been listed as a scam. Aside from that, the English was shit, even though he said he's from Michigan (with a pa area code). Knew nothing about the car, asked zero questions, and wanted to pay immediately.


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

Have them send it you as a gift through PayPal.

 

One thing never mentioned was what the item was or what it's value was. Something relatively inexpensive but a bit on the hard to find side might cause someone to want jump on it and make sure he has it bought.

If it's a high end item like a car I'd be a bit suspect unless he wants to send you a deposit to hold it.

 

It's a car for a few thousand. 51 dodge

 

You are absolutely NOT protected with PayPal if your the seller. If you think the whole "gift" payment is the way to go, you are wrong. The guy can possibly pay you with his credit card through PayPal, via a "gift" and the buyer can tell his credit card company he never received the item, once you have already send the item, and since you we're sent the money as a "gift" you have zero Paypal protection and they will automatically refund the guy his money and your out everything. Ask me how I know. It happened to me on a $1,200 item I sold and got screwed on because i accepted the payment as a "gift". The "gift" option is the dumbest thing you can do if you do not know who you are selling to. There are so many loopholes in the PayPal system it's scary. PayPal has told it to us before, it's easier for them to just side with the buyer in a dispute, so they can just refund the money out of the sellers account and return it to the buyers account and be done. It's happend before. Try and use a money order first before PayPal. You wont subject yourself to scams and issues that always arise with selling through PayPal. Also, you won't have to file it with the IRS at the end of the year.

 

I hate craigslist, as much as I hate E-bay. I also hate paypal. LoL..

Sometimes people use wording, and its almost certain to be a scam, but then, once, a person on the Hamb used wording, I was sure it was a scam, but it wasnt. I pissed him off, I didnt blame him.

I was also scammed by another person who claimed to be an injured vet, sold parts, got doinked...

I recently just sold my Mustang race car. I said cash a time of sale, period. No deposit no checks no nuthin. Cash and my magic marker checkin each bill....

Last but not least... My computer got hacked. McAffe was on it too... I could have lost my identity, and everything, but as soon as it happened, I got a warning, called McAffe, and the had me shut my router off as my computer was uploading my Bank info....