WARNING, Paypal just made me lose $20 THOUSAND dollars from a scamming buyer
- Thread starter kristie
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I have been scammed on a much lower valued designer bag. But, in my case the buyer said she never received it. It was an international transaction and for some reason it never showed delivered. I had a sneaky suspicion she did get it. I watched eBay daily for either her or another international seller. Sure enough 4 months later another seller listed it. I did some investigating to find out the seller was also my buyer under a different ID. I confronted her and told her I would call eBay and Paypal, she committed fraud. She made up a far fetched story to try and put the blame on her sister. Anyway, she sent my bag back. Just keep an eye out for a Canadian seller, selling your bag!!!
If a buyer contacts you and requests to pay by check or m.o., you may accept it but you aren't allowed to advertise it in any way in your listings.
If you do receive a check from buyers, don't ship until a day or two after the check has cleared your bank just to make certain that the check is good.
I prefer USPS money orders. They verify that the m.o. is valid and cash it at the post office so once you receive payment and cash it, you can ship.
(Although I've never seen a fake USPS m.o., they're around but the post office would recognize it as such.)
You are not allowed to put on your listing you accept Money order, but if someone asks....
M/O (USPS only) is safe for the seller, not safe for the buyer unless it is someone you trust.
There are still risks with personal checks - I've deposited personal checks in my bank account and everything cleared amount reflects the new deposit, then 5 days later, I got a 'withdrawal' for the same amount because apparently the buyer wrote a bad check and their account didn't have enough funds to cover it - my account even had an additional returned check amount deducted from it. Luckily, the buyer was very honest and pay me right away via Paypal including all the additional fees.
Cashiers check or money order is pretty much the only way to go if you're asking for a 'check'.
That's why you wait for it to clear, which takes 4-5 days. When you make the deposit, they put it into the account but the funds aren't available until the money is actually removed from the buyer's account.
In your case, the buyer didn't have the money so the funds weren't really deposited into your account and didn't clear.
Sure, but if it didn't clear and was indeed a bad check...if the buyer was not honest to begin with and did that on purpose....even if you don't ship the item out, you're still stuck with a bunch of fees from your bank and sometimes from theirs.
Because of all these horror stories I read in this forum, I asked a few international buyers for bank wire payment for items over a $1000 and they all backed down. It scares buyers, because ebay keeps sending discouraging messages to buyers to refuse doing business, if a seller askes for money transfer or checks as payments..
Buyers think this is a red flag. I don't know how as a seller we can promote getting paid through bank transfers and seem legit.
A wire transfer or western union is a red flag to buyers because there's absolutely no protection. Seller has the cash and if the seller isn't honest, buyer is scr3w3d. That's why a seller's reputation is so important. Before any buyer pays cash for an item (and that's what they're doing), they need to scrutinize the seller, her history, her feedback, etc.Because of all these horror stories I read in this forum, I asked a few international buyers for bank wire payment for items over a $1000 and they all backed down. It scares buyers, because ebay keeps sending discouraging messages to buyers to refuse doing business, if a seller askes for money transfer or checks as payments..
Buyers think this is a red flag. I don't know how as a seller we can promote getting paid through bank transfers and seem legit.
Yes, I agree with you.
That is why it is not credible to ask for that form of payment from a buyer cause of the trust factor eventhough we are recommending it here. On the other hand, from the seller stand point, he/she is completely at the mercy of buyer and paypal, shipping out an item that cost her/him, a few thousand dollars. It is a dilemma...
In regards to other forms of payments, eBay buyers in particular are totally afraid. BUT buyers (especially foreign/international) always want me to bend the rules in regards to auctions.
I had a woman who desperatly wanted me to sell her a pair of CL shoes. She wanted a discount (which I don't do) and asked me to sell it off eBay. I never do this but I wanted to see if she would meet me halfway. I told her I would sell it to her off eBay but she had to pay me via Western Union/Money Gram/Bank Wire/Cashiers Check. She refused of course but it just goes to show you they are all about Paypal.
After reading this my eyes are opened to Paypals ways.
I had a woman who desperatly wanted me to sell her a pair of CL shoes. She wanted a discount (which I don't do) and asked me to sell it off eBay. I never do this but I wanted to see if she would meet me halfway. I told her I would sell it to her off eBay but she had to pay me via Western Union/Money Gram/Bank Wire/Cashiers Check. She refused of course but it just goes to show you they are all about Paypal.
After reading this my eyes are opened to Paypals ways.
sadly speaking, pp does offer buyer protection...so at the end of the day not so
good for sellers... but after reading these threads it is a buyers world
and a scammers one as well... shameful... so one has to do whatever they
deem appropriate for themselves and go on their "gut"...
good for sellers... but after reading these threads it is a buyers world
and a scammers one as well... shameful... so one has to do whatever they
deem appropriate for themselves and go on their "gut"...
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