Seller wants to paypal me the money and have a friend pick up the items (Craigslist)

digby723

digby723

Back to reality
May 2, 2006
4,790
6
#1
I put two items up on Craigslist to try to sell them and got an e-mail from someone earlier today asking if the shoes I listed were still available. I e-mailed him back telling him that they were, gave him my cell phone number and told him that I'd be available all day tomorrow. I then got a call from him & he left a message asking if it would be ok if he Paypal'ed me the money and his friend could pick up the shoes and the other item I listed, since the friend lives in the area and he doesn't/he's not a close to my area I guess, he didn't say why he couldn't get the items himself. :confused1: I haven't responded to him yet because I don't know what to do, part of me says that it should be ok, but another part of me worries that he'll try to do a charge back or something like that through Paypal, and then I won't have a way to contact him if the cell phone number/e-mail I have end up being dead ends, kwim? Does this even sound legit to anyone? Should I walk away from this/ask him or his friend to meet me and pay in cash only? Part of me is thinking that if it's too good to be true, it probably is, and part of me is thinking that I'm just being jaded from reading so many horror stories, hence why I'm posting this. I've only sold 3 items on Craisglist, and both people paid in cash with no problems. Advice?
 
#2
cash only for your safety. you do not need the drama. especially because is christmas and people can get pretty desperate....if he's trusting his friends with your items he can give him cash for it.
 
#3
Tell him that you don't feel comfortable doing that and the reasons why. You can give him the option of him paying by paypal and then shipping it (which would cover your butt because you'll get Delivery confirmation) or Ask him if his friend would bring cash when he picks it up. But I definitely vote no on paying by paypal and then picking up. There would be no proof that he got his goods.
 
#4
Ok, that's what I was thinking. I listed the items on bonanza and put the listing in my CL ad, so I think I'll just e-mail him now telling him I just got his VM/just got home, and that if he wants both items I'll combine s&h for him and will send them out tomorrow, or that his friend can pay cash if the friend still wants to meet me. I'm just really paranoid about him Paypal-ing me the money and then claiming that he never got the items, etc in 2 days. Thanks again! :smile:
 
#5
Right, if it's a pick up and they pay for it with PayPal, wouldn't it then be easy for them to file an INR case because there is no evidence of delivery. (PayPal would not accept anything short of Delivery Confirmation or Signature Confirmaiton.) I think the ONLY way it could MAYBE be safe is if they sent it to you as a personal transaction on PayPal. Even still, I wouldn't risk it.
 
#6
^I think that's what he wanted to do, do a personal transaction & send me the money; but it still was odd to me, hence why I came here to ask for advice :smile: I literally just e-mailed him and told him that I'm not comfortable with him paypal-ing me the money and the friend getting the items since it's not a very safe transaction that way; and there's no actual documentation of a transaction for either one of us. Hopefully he'll figure something else out, but it's not the end of the world if the items don't sell. Thanks again!
 
#8
No idea. Or the friend could give me the money and he could pay the friend back (which is what I would do if it were me in a similar situation). It just doesn't make any sense, hence why I was paranoid that it might be a scam.
 
#9
It might not be a scam (if I was an honest person and didn't read about scams I wouldn't have thought that it sounded suspicious), but it's good to cover yourself. If he doesn't want to go through with either method you suggested, then he's most likely trying to do something shady.
 
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