bobbytan wrote:
Even if you transfer your PayPal balance to your bank account, you are still liable if the payment you received was transacted fraudulently i.e. you will have to return the money.
Exactly. And isn't it true that the only way to liquidate funds quickly would be to transfer to your linked account? If I'm doing that, the account is still linked and PP has access.
I can be dumb as a rock so I might be missing something here.
I do however think it could be legit. Im not saying it is, but I had same issue when I moved from one station to another early this year. I saw the camera that I wanted but of course, my new address wasn't confirmed. sellers were nice enough to sell me whatever they were selling. I only opened account with FM because of this particular camera. I did sent the money first through paypal and I did request delivery to unconfirmed address and yes, I did ask for fastest shipping... because I wanted it now.
not all are scam but onesies and twosies makes it look bad for rest of us new FM'rs here.
The moment a buyer starts insisting on special requests --- stuff out of the ordinary --- it's almost always a scam. Also, when they put a fast time frame on the sale -- rush shipping --- that's also a good sign that it's a scam. These things should raise red flags.
I think you approached it the right way - saw the red flags and gave the guy a chance to do a more secure transaction.
To be honest I can see myself in his situation very easily - I hardly buy used stuff online so I have little history, I don't live in my native country so I have multiple addresses, and I travel fairly often so I'm sometimes in a rush to get something before a trip.
I just hope I can rack up a good history here before it catches up to me since some people seem to be quick to consider people scammers... Well it's good to be cautious I'd just hate to miss out on a good sale or worse be labelled a scammer because I have "special requests".
The irony is that you need positive history to have special requirements honored, but you can't develop a history when you require special handling. Oy.
The solution is to devote some time and money to a fair number of straightforward buy/sells where there is no urgency and the ship-to is no issue. Then, when you request special handling, you'll be perceived as reliable.
An interesting topic.
FM buy-and-sell runs on trust and user feedback/history. I have sold a few items personally and had no issues, however I work in a field where fraud is a factor of daily life.
Any transactions that rely on trust and reputation are ripe for exploitation by the plague of scammers that are an inherent part of life on the internet.
I have to say I have sold items both here and on my local craig’s list but I have never bought on either as I haven’t felt comfortable enough.
My online purchases go to BH, Adorama and JR. They are cheaper than Canadian sellers of used equipment and I get new.
bobbytan wrote:
Even if you transfer your PayPal balance to your bank account, you are still liable if the payment you received was transacted fraudulently i.e. you will have to return the money.
They could withdraw from CC, but in this case you could call CC and dispute too ...
4.6 No Surcharges. You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as a payment method. You may charge a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge and is not higher than the handling fee you charge for non-PayPal transactions.
