Can sellers get burned through Paypal?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris6870
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Chris6870

Chris6870

Well-known member
Just wondering I have been talking to a guy from another board about an item I'm selling. He has zero posts but has been a member about a year. If I accept funds and ship the item am I OK or is there some type of scam where I can still get burned?
 
There are precautions. The one I know of is Make sure its a verified Paypal address and ship to only that address. I think if they Paypal gift then their address doesn't show up.

I'm sure there are a lot of scams out there that other people can help you avoid in this situation.
 
Be careful. See if he is on eBay with an feedback. I haven't gotten burned, but I wouldn't send anything too expensive to someone with no references. I sent a couple of pedals to a guy in Indonesia on here, but it turned out OK. Also sent to a guy in Canada on here with a first post and it turned out OK. There's a pyramid sort of scheme a good scam artist can run though, doing a 3 way buy/sell. If he is in the US and you are skeptical, best to request a USPS Certified Check and let it clear, then send it. If he really wants it, he will agree.
 
i did, by paypal. sold a guitar thru ebay and the buyer paid, but paypal ran it as a withdrawal. took about three months before paypal fixed it. i will not use paypal or ebay because of that. it was a mess.
 
You can get screwed! I sold a guy assorted items. He paid me and I gave him the gear. For what ever reason, the buyers bank denied paypal the payment. So, paypal took the money back from me!!! The buyer got the gear, paypal took his payment back from me. My account with paypal was negative at that point, so I had to make the account even again so I could use paypal again!!!!!! I am still super pissed at paypal. It was a fucked transaction!! I didnt have the buyers phone number. Just had his email, so after this happend, he ignored my emails and decided to keep the items for free. I repeatedly contacted paypal and told them how ridiculous this entire episode was. They said there was nothing they could do, that they had to recoup their losses somehow!!!! I asked them why they let the payment go through if the buyers bank did not make the payment yet? Shouldnt the buyer whos bank was the one who denied the payment be held responsible? It was around $500 worth of gear, not a lot of cash, but its a matter of principal. If i hand over gear to someone, and they pay me, I expect the deal ro be final. I do not expect paypal to say they had trouble with the buyers bank and take the money back from me. I never got the money back or the gear back, so yeah, YOU CAN DEFINATELY GET REAMED BY PAYPAL!!!!
 
It's actually very easy to get burned.....

* Buyer pays with regular PayPal.
* Buyer receives item in mail, with delivery confirmation, but does not sign their regular signature upon receipt (i.e., signs their name in a very different way)
* Buyer files a PayPal claim, stating the item was never received (even though it was) and that the courier company must have delivered it to the incorrect address with someone else signing for it
* The courier company won't be able to defend with 100% certainty that the item was delivered to the correct address. The signature won't look right (by design), and the driver won't remember the delivery.
* As a result, PayPal will side with the buyer (as they always do), refund their money, and the result will be: (1) buyer gets the item for free, and (2) the seller loses the item and the cash.

I know people this has happened to. And this is exactly why I ask for PayPal Gift from people without references, with low post counts, or in "foreign destinations" I am not overly comfortable shipping to. With PayPal Gift, this scam can't work because the buyer has no recourse/purchase protection. If a buyer is not comfortable using PayPal Gift in these situations - even though I have a list of references as long as my arm - they can move along and buy from someone else. My use of PayPal Gift is NEVER due to cost/fee considerations - it's to protect MY ASS from getting burned with the above scam......
 
In the above scenario I would think the carrier would be responsible for tracking down the package if I specify direct signature and it is not received by the correct recipient.. I have had packages delivered to the wrong address and UPS will go back and get it.
 
BrokenFusion":2moixphj said:
In the above scenario I would think the carrier would be responsible for tracking down the package if I specify direct signature and it is not received by the correct recipient.. I have had packages delivered to the wrong address and UPS will go back and get it.
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I hear what you're saying, but in this situation, if the intended recipient is claiming vehemently that they did not receive the package or sign for it (even though they did), what is UPS going to do? Knock on every door on the same street looking for a good samaritan to own up to having the package? This becomes especially problematic when the item was shipped out of country and you're dealing with the UPS hub at the destination address. They will be more inclined to blow you off when you're 5,000 miles and an ocean away. They can just say: "we have a signature that it was received". They have no obligation to help you prove anything to PayPal in order to get your money back.

I can see why this scam has worked.
 
Sellers are almost always the ones who do get screwed by Paypal.

Paypal decided that buyers were more important to them than sellers, so whenever there's a problem, it's the seller that usually gets the shaft.
 
In all honesty if someone wants to screw you over there is no protection. If you use PayPal do not have it tied to your primary bank account. A buyer could file a dispute claiming he never received the item and PP will freeze the account regardless of how much money is in the account.

There are far too many asshats looking to fuck someone over. I don't sell on eBay anymore and rarely take PayPal either. I would suggest US Postal Money Order and ship after you get it.
 
rlord1974":5b2gk669 said:
It's actually very easy to get burned.....

* Buyer pays with regular PayPal.
* Buyer receives item in mail, with delivery confirmation, but does not sign their regular signature upon receipt (i.e., signs their name in a very different way)
* Buyer files a PayPal claim, stating the item was never received (even though it was) and that the courier company must have delivered it to the incorrect address with someone else signing for it
* The courier company won't be able to defend with 100% certainty that the item was delivered to the correct address. The signature won't look right (by design), and the driver won't remember the delivery.
* As a result, PayPal will side with the buyer (as they always do), refund their money, and the result will be: (1) buyer gets the item for free, and (2) the seller loses the item and the cash.

I know people this has happened to. And this is exactly why I ask for PayPal Gift from people without references, with low post counts, or in "foreign destinations" I am not overly comfortable shipping to. With PayPal Gift, this scam can't work because the buyer has no recourse/purchase protection. If a buyer is not comfortable using PayPal Gift in these situations - even though I have a list of references as long as my arm - they can move along and buy from someone else. My use of PayPal Gift is NEVER due to cost/fee considerations - it's to protect MY ASS from getting burned with the above scam......
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Yeah, that makes sense on the PP gift argument.
 
You know I would send you an amp with only a Promissory Note in hand, Steve!

:lol: :LOL:
 
So if the choice is postal money order or Paypal to a verified address, as a seller you would take the MO?
 
rlord1974":35z22jt7 said:
And this is exactly why I ask for PayPal Gift from people without references, with low post counts, or in "foreign destinations" I am not overly comfortable shipping to. With PayPal Gift, this scam can't work because the buyer has no recourse/purchase protection. If a buyer is not comfortable using PayPal Gift in these situations - even though I have a list of references as long as my arm - they can move along and buy from someone else. My use of PayPal Gift is NEVER due to cost/fee considerations - it's to protect MY ASS from getting burned with the above scam......
Click to expand...

^ This. I can attest to the fact that as a buyer I had zero recourse against a seller when a deal went south. I gifted someone on an amp and it got botched up and I couldn't do a thing about it.

So if you as a seller are uncomfortable with a potential buyer, require they pay via gift. You could potentially send them a 65 lb. piece of shit and there's nothing they could do about it via PayPal. :D

I've taken m.o.'s on several occassions, always USPS issued, and have yet to run into any problems.
 
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