Remster

I've just sold a mobile phone on Ebay for a reasonable amount which i'm happy about . However, having read on here about the payment scams pulled, particularly with mobile phone auctions, I am nervous about the payment.

The guy has paid via Paypal which I have immediately withdrawn to my bank account, although this usually takes 3 days to clear. He wants me to send the phone to his work addresss which is different to that on his Paypal account.

Am I right in assuming that so long as I leave it 3 days for the funds to arrive in my bank from Paypal, then I send the phone, all will be cool?

Obviously the phone will be sent recorded delivery with insurance so he can't claim not to have received it.

Is there anyway he can still receive the phone then cancel the financial aspect of the transaction?

Cheers for any pointers.

Yours nervously,
C

//Slydai\\

As a seller, you are only covered by Paypal if you send your goods the address registered with Paypal - DO NOT send it anywhere else! He could still file a goods not received complaint with you and would, in my past experience, get all of his money back whilst you lose a phone.

David Lock

Just being pedantic but recorded doesn't exist as it's now "Signed For". Meaningless as the office cat could sign and your buyer could still deny receiving goods. Send goods Special Delivery which you can insure.

From the buyers side I bought some tickets recently which I wanted in a hurry and paid by Paypal within an hour of auction closing. Seller said he wanted the Paypal "to clear" and it took a week for me to get tickets. So how the hell do you get something quickly short of mailing cash????? dl

Remster

How would Paypal know which address goods were sent to? (i guess if they requested proof of postage if there was dispute etc.)

I would be sending the phone "Special Deivery" once Paypal funds have arrived clear in my bank current account.

Still trying to decide what to do

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

With paypal, even once you have the funds showing up in your bank account, they will still reverse the payment if the buyer is trying a scam.

With stuff like mobiles that attract scammers its far better to insist on cheque, bank transfer or PO only as these are generally safer.

If you send the phone to another address, what a scammer will do is tell paypal they never received it - even when you send paypal the proof of delivery, they will find in the scammers favour and take the money from you because you didnt send it to the address on the payment. You will then have to go through small claims court to try and get your money directly from the scammer.

Its the same reason businesses shouldnt take card payments over the phone and then let the buyer collect, or take the payment then send to another address - full time scammers will pool together and rent a dodgy bedsit to get the goods sent to, then abandon it after a couple of weeks and rent another one, so you can never track them down.

You can send to a work address, but I'd only do this if the work address was a big company, not a small local one ( the sort of place a scammer may get a mate to sign for it ) - main reason being large companies will have a receptionist or post room who will sign for it, so you have more comeback if the buyer says they didnt get it.

Remster

As this guy has already made payment via Paypal, the horse has already left the stable. After winning the auction on Friday, I sent the Ebay Invoice and a further PM on Sunday asking how he would be paying. I received a PM yesterday asking me to call him on his mobile. I did, he apologised for the delay in paying and asked how I wanted payment, I suggested Paypal!
It was at this point he asked if I would send to his work address whch he has now e-mailed to me. I SMELL A RAT, OR MAYBE NOT!!!! Heeeeeelllpppp

I'm really unsure what to do now. I could forget his work address and send to his registered Paypal address via "Special Delivery" which is "unconfirmed" (it say's that i'm not covered by Paypal seller protection anyway).

Or, do I send to his so called work address which has no Company name and is based on Tottenham Court Road and hope?

Or, do I mail him back stating my concerns and refund his Paypal payment and request a cheque.

Dilema.

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

If you are this worried, refund his paypal payment and ask for a cheque or bank transfer - the cheque may bounce, but you can wait for it to clear, and 99% of the time it wont cause problems afterwards.

Worst case scenario is the buyer gets his **** in his hand about it and you get negative feedback left, but personally I'd prefer that than have someone steal from me.

If he is a genuine buyer he shouldnt be too put out.

One thing, you havent mentioned the buyers feedback - if he has been on Ebay a few years, and has good feedback then the risk is less.

Alas

What he said
I've sent to work addresses before but only when the buyer has good feedback. If bad or low, reverse the paypal and insist on cheque or postal order.

Remster

Mike,

Thanks for the replies.

The guy is registered as an Ebay member since mid. 2005 but has no transactions on his account so ZERO feedback.

It's one of those stupid situations where you know what you really should do to be safe but as you have nearly £100 already sat in your Paypal account, currently in the process of being withdrawn, it begins to colour ones judgement.

Might get a SN detective to go check his "Work" address out. A bit of a "Google" reveals the address provided as either the "Radisson Edwardian Grafton Hotel" or "Aston Bar & Restaurant" which both share the 130 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 5AY address.

simo

could be ok as I prefer stuff to come to my work addy as I am always here. I would consider a refund thou & ask for a chq to be sure. Either that or send by an insured & signed for method to his paypal logged addy & if he is not there he will have to arrange to collect it. Explain to him that you can only send to this addy as it is registered ob his paypal acct.

I have sent to different addys before with no problems but maybe I have just been lucky so far?

Simon

mad_dr

See my previous posts for information of how a scammer who had been registered on eBay for over 2 years, with 25 RECENT feedback items, 100% for fairly valuable items, with a Confirmed postal address on PayPal bought a mobile phone from me for £460 and proceeded to use a stolen credit card.

I used Special Delivery and even so, PayPal decided that as the card was stolen and he was obviously ignoring their emails, they'd pursue ME for the money, despite the fact that they charged me £16 for the 'security' of using PayPal... Aren't they supposed to protect me against fraud by charging me for a small amount of 'insurance' in case such an event happens?

Clearly not because they then claimed that I didn't meet the terms of their Seller Protection Policy because they require the package to be sent using a method that allows you to visit a website on the internet that shows the delivery address AND a copy of the signature. Does anyone know of such a service? PayPal don't because I asked them on numerous occasions to name me a SINGLE company who do and they couldn't. All they could do was suggest I speak to 'any of the big delivery companies, like DHL, UPS or Royal Mail'. So basically, they offer a policy that they have NO intention of allowing you to comply with....

Anyway - it took 2 months, around 12 >60 minute phone calls and LOTS of high blood pressure (I took my own!) to resolve the problem and get PayPal to FINALLY admit that I DID comply with the SPP and refund me my money...

All of this was AFTER I had withdrawn and spent the cash. I didn't get the first mail from PayPal until 4 weeks after I received payment... In the end I cancelled all of the credit cards tied to the PayPal account and told my bank to refuse ANY payment that I didn't approve personally because PayPal threatend to take the money from my account as soon as they had made their decision...

Pirates.