gregh

I was bidding for something on ebay, which I just lost. someone else has emailed me via ebay to say they can supply the same goods, brand new at a reasonable price. Their email address has very good ratings on ebay as a buyer.

What they suggest is:

I send him the address for shipping to, and he sends proof of the reservation from UPS.
I pay him via Western Union, but use a friend so that he doesn't know the name of the person paying or the MTCN number (hence he can't claim the money)
I send him some proof I have paid using WU.
When I get the item I release the MTCN number and name/address of payee to him so he can get the money.

Although it all sounds a bit dodgy to me, I can't find a flaw in the plan above.

Can anyone?

regards,

greg

MarkO

Why don't you use Escrow payment - where you use a go-between to hold the money for the other guy until you're happy and he's happy? I believe eBay even have their own mechanism for doing this.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Simple rule of thumb - anyone wanting to be paid by Western Union is likely to be a con artist. Just say no. Do a Google search for 'eBay scam Western Union' and see what comes up. (This seems relevant).

Escrow is much safer - at least that way you get to wait until you actually have the goods in your hand before payment is released; you don't want to find you've paid to be shipped a box of stones. Beware that many, many escrow sites are scams too - although there are some that are perfectly legitimate. Read more here.

My advice? Run a mile. Screaming.

A.

Alas

Jeez - that is scary. You live & learn. Hopefully before getting your fingers burnt.
Alas

gregh

cheers Andy and Burr.

Good old Scoobynet

Greg

alistair

Definately a scam - that's one of the most common ones.

Western Union is basically the same as posting cash and they don't offer any sort of holding facility.

fatherpierre

What sort of £sum is involved?

MarkO

Here's a good eBay question for you all...

I've got a couple of bits up for auction, which finishes tomorrow evening. I'm happy to accept payment by PayPal, but I've heard of a couple of people who've done this and then been notified by PayPal 2-3 days later that the card used was fraudulent, and that the money's not available. So how can you be sure that a PayPal payment is for real? I'd like to be able to ship immedediately once the PayPal payment's been received...

chiark

Basically Mark, as a seller you have bugger all protection with paypal against chargeback or fraudulent activity.

You know where you sent the goods, inform the police. BuRR would be a good start

Report this guy to ebay too, as it's against their rules. Bear in mind that it might not be his userID that he emailed you though...

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

Don't use Paypal if you're a seller. It's very easy for a buyer to reverse the payment. I've been screwed by Paypal over a laptop I sold. I lost both the laptop and the money.

south-star

Marko.......what sort of value are we talking about.Basically i've sold about 15 items on E-Bay and every time payment has been by cheque or cash.All items were from £200-3K.
If people want it bad enough they'll pay by cheque and wait till it clears.

Dr Hu

Blimey - I though Ebay was pretty much built on the PayPal system.... If people really are being screwed over by PayPal, then I reckon Ebay could be deep doodoo's b4 long (as well as PayPal).

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

I suspect that PayPal is popular on eBay simply because people like to be able to do everything on-line, without actually having to write a cheque and post it.

Personally I always insist on being paid by cheque, and I wait until it's cleared before shipping the goods. I also insist that the buyer pays for postage insurance, just to avoid any 'misunderstanding' if items do genuinely get lost in the post. To give the buyer peace of mind, I do always say that I accept escrow, but nobody has ever actually asked me to.

I know of people who do just give out their bank account number and have the money transferred electronically; although this sounds somehow unsafe to me, I've not heard of anyone losing money this way. Remember that your bank account number is on every cheque you write - it's never that big a secret.

Andy.

Clarebabes

I am selling loads of stuff on there at the moment, and this has got me a wee bit worried. I got an email from a woman in Canada asking if I'd ship there via a paypal payment and she'll pay all shipping costs. Should I give it a couple of days first before sending the goods? It's not as if it's going to be a huge amount, the item is only up for £1.50, but it's the principle.

Also, I have been paying for things with a personal cheque. If I was to give someone who was buying from me my bank details so they can do direct transfer, is that OK?

Impret-Sir

iTrader: (1)

check out www.Paypalsucks.com, its frightning allright! I would never use them.

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

If as a seller, you are willing to accept Paypal, then for your own protection you must wait until the funds have cleared to your bank account before shipping the item. This takes about a week to 10 days. Esential if you're dealing with an overseas buyer. The buyer could easily reverse the payment during this time.
My personal preference is for the buyer to either pay by cheque, or give my bank details to the buyer for a deposit to my account.

gregh

So anyone have a well known/non ripoff Escrow service?

regards,

greg

camk

only sure way is to make sure you have the cash before you ship the goods.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Have a read here

damian666

Check round all corners before sending cash!

Alpine99

I bought a pinball from ebay and used i-escrow as it was a large amount.. Thank god I did..the table was not as described.. I had some hassles with the escrow company as the sender didn't use the delivery companies they use.. anyway it was all resolved in the end.. we agreed a lower price.. escrow refunded the difference to me.. I'd have been well out of pocket if I'd not used this service.. would always do so in the future the amount warrants it..

south-star

Clare....tbh i usually put will only ship to the UK.....shipping overseas often aint worth the hassle.

alistair

I shipped overseas once and it was a nightmare - it took a few days to get the cheque here and then a week to clear it and already the mail had started wanting to know where the stuff was - took around 2 weeks for it to arrive in Germany and all the whjile I was accused of being a fraudster and threatened with negative feedback.

It eventually got there, but I would never do it again - I wouldn't mind so much but the original ad said UK delivery only, but once the auction closed and I was asked to deliver to Berlin, I thought I'd be nice - never again !

I've transferred large amounts into peoples bank accounts directly before now - £1000 for a laptop and this week £900 for a lens. I prefer it to posting a cheque as I can put on a reference number of eBay and the auction reference so there's never any doubt what it was for if things went sour. It's quicker too !

alistair

I also got sent £400 in cash one time - that made me more nervous than a cheque - I should have banked it straight away, but once I'd sent the stuff I would only spend one note at a time just in case they were fakes !

ChrisB

Do Nochex have a better reputation than Paypal?

I've just sold my first item on Ebay. Thankfully, my buyer was passing my house so he called round. I got £100 in used twenties, he got his CD Changer with no shipping costs

BuRR

For god's sake don't use Western Union....

...all I seem to do every day is mop up after people who get screwed this way

[Edited by BuRR - 6/12/2003 7:22:14 PM]