any ebay experts out there?

[Trillian]

tell the guy to get lost on one of the above grounds

other people are interested so you will let the auction run its course.

he's outside the uk and as such there is an issue which you can not go into preventing payment from running smoothly (make up some crap about customs or tax here - i usually claim there'd be a surcharge that UPS would charge the recipiant for, about 2/3 of the items value)


what the guy may want to happen is this:

money is sent, item is sent, site goes down or buyer manages to get money back

he ends up with both, you end up with nothing - its a variant of the 419 scam

 

[davidwalton]

I can only speak as I have found. I have not had a problem with paypal on over 300 transactions as both a buyer and a seller.

To be honest I have had more problems with my bank "Abbey" than paypal !

It took some thousand of transactions before I got hit, and it was for no reason. Before that, I had no problem with PayPal either and wouldn't believe those who used to warn me as well.

At least with any UK Bank, they must operate within guidelines and regulations set out, or be answerable. PayPal do not operate under UK regulations so answer to nobody in the UK.

Perhaps you will all be lucky and never fall foul of PayPal. I wouldn't take that gamble though.

 

[dangerousjules]

trillian what is the 419 scam?

 

[jay clock]

it is called an overpayment scam. common and dangerous. see here http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/12/checkoverpayment.shtm

 

[davidwalton]

Yes all have a degree of risk. IMHO when I get notification from paypal that the money is in my account then I am happy with that.

Yes, I got one of them once, then a few months later got it taken out of my account, a charge for doing so, and the loss of the software I sold. Was only around £100.

Then there are the hundreds of cases where PayPal accepted payment in to my account, then reverse the payment within 6 months because they say they are fraudulent, charge me for the privilege, and say it is my fault for allowing another PayPal member to buy hosting from me.

PayPal take no responsibility for any payment at all. They do not run enough checks on members, and they don't really care who gets burned.

If anyone makes a payment with their Credit Card, they can easily get that payment back by filling in a simple form and giving it to the Card Company. They WILL get the money back, and charge the seller a fee for doing so, around £25 each time. Unless the seller has the buyers signature, there is nothing they can do other than take legal action against the buyer, assuming the card used wasn't copied and used by a another. Payments made by Card via PayPal fall under this as well.

 

[4F]

Yes, I got one of them once, then a few months later got it taken out of my account, a charge for doing so, and the loss of the software I sold. Was only around £100.

Then there are the hundreds of cases where PayPal accepted payment in to my account, then reverse the payment within 6 months because they say they are fraudulent, charge me for the privilege, and say it is my fault for allowing another PayPal member to buy hosting from me.

PayPal take no responsibility for any payment at all. They do not run enough checks on members, and they don't really care who gets burned.

If anyone makes a payment with their Credit Card, they can easily get that payment back by filling in a simple form and giving it to the Card Company. They WILL get the money back, and charge the seller a fee for doing so, around £25 each time. Unless the seller has the buyers signature, there is nothing they can do other than take legal action against the buyer, assuming the card used wasn't copied and used by a another. Payments made by Card via PayPal fall under this as well.

Fair enough I understand your viewpoint.

 

[Maz]

As I said, read the site. They have all the answers for specific things. I can tell you that ESCROW is a well known means of protecting both sides of a transaction.

out of interest i did read the FAQs on escrow.com and there was no mention of what happens if my scenario above takes place.

have you seen anything on there?

a realistic fake could be easily mistaken for the original item upon return.

anyway, d-joules, my advice, like most on here echo, is dont deal with this guy at all.

 

[davidwalton]

out of interest i did read the FAQs on escrow.com and there was no mention of what happens if my scenario above takes place.

have you seen anything on there?

a realistic fake could be easily mistaken for the original item upon return.

anyway, d-joules, my advice, like most on here echo, is dont deal with this guy at all.

No, but for something at that value, I would expect a face to face transaction. Deal is then done, and probably cheaper than doing it on-line.

You could also do it in the bank and get a Cashier to check the money

 

[Trillian]

yeh, someone beat me to explaining a 419 "it is called an overpayment scam. common and dangerous. see here http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/12/checkoverpayment.shtm"

basically he's offering you more money than asked, you ship it to somewhere else, he withdraws funds and gets item and money, you get nothing.

99% of buyers are genuine and there are no problems - i've only had one person bid,

he came to view (should have been paying and collecting) offered me a cheque saying he'd not been payed for a job he'd done and could get cash to me next week - i opted for the cash and hanging onto the frame

he decided he didn't want it so stopped answering calls, texts or e-mails

possibly he was casing the house out for coming back with mates and a van (was selling a £200 mountain bike frame - had the good sense to put bikes upstairs and claimed i was selling because of a bad back and stopping riding due to doctors orders - been told to stop jumping)

 

[bonj2]

DODGY DODGY DODGY DODGY DODGY.
Don't even think about it.

"Needs" it by friday? Needs you to only use not just an escrow service, but one particular escrow service of his choosing? He's so offensively blatant it's ridiculous. Don't let the thought of having the (more) money in your hand tempt you to convince yourself it's not a scam. This is exactly what these fraudsters rely on.
Stiff him over - cancel his bid, report him to ebay, add him to your blocked bidders list, and forget all about him.

 

[bonj2]

davidwalton: what alternative to paypal do you use, or do you just use it grudgingly?

 

[dangerousjules]

bonj i never thought id say this but i think you're right.

 

[Steve Austin]

Is bank transfer safe?

 

[domtyler]

Is bank transfer safe?

Yes, of course. What's more i'll prove it to you. Transfer a thousand pounds into my account tonight and once it's cleared i'll transfer it back.

 

[Steve Austin]

cheers dom