A Warning For Anyone Selling on Ebay

[Scunner]

In case you don't already know...

Be very careful when selling on Ebay to people who collect the goods rather than you sending them. There are a number of cases at the moment where people have won auctions on Ebay, paid via Paypal, collected the goods then told Paypal they know nothing about it and their Paypal account must have been accessed illegally. Incredibly perhaps, this scam works for the scammer and you will most likely have no chance of getting your goods back.

In short, do not let people collect items you sell on Ebay, because you will firstly lose the goods and later have to pay Paypal back the money you received.

[Julesp]

Interesting. but surely 1 way to protect yourself would be to get id from the buyer and a receipt for the goods Or do they have a way of getting round this?

[Scunner]

I think Paypal are so nervous about fraudulent transactions that this is one situation where the seller is seen by them as guilty until proven innocent. If the person who bought the goods says he did not, his money is refunded and Paypal will seek to get the money from you. Also, with warnings like this it allows people to appreciate how the scam works so they can indeed get a receipt for the goods etc from the buyer. Let's face it, if you sold something on Ebay, had payment in your bank account already via Paypal and a bloke at the door to collect as arranged, would you actually bother with getting a receipt? Before reading about these scams, I doubt I would.

[legless]

The same can happen even if you post items though.I personally use recorded but many don't

Ron

[Julesp]

No i wouldnt think twice about handing over the goods. Because if they had paid and had my address where to collect etc Id assume genuine buyer, wouldnt think they could do too often though as Paypal would get suspicious of how many claims they put in.
Thanks for bringing it to peoples attention. I dont sell on E bay as ive lived in Turkey 5 years But I will pass on your advice to my Brit mates

quote:Originally posted by Scunner

I think Paypal are so nervous about fraudulent transactions that this is one situation where the seller is seen by them as guilty until proven innocent. If the person who bought the goods says he did not, his money is refunded and Paypal will seek to get the money from you. Also, with warnings like this it allows people to appreciate how the scam works so they can indeed get a receipt for the goods etc from the buyer. Let's face it, if you sold something on Ebay, had payment in your bank account already via Paypal and a bloke at the door to collect as arranged, would you actually bother with getting a receipt? Before reading about these scams, I doubt I would.

[HappyMonday]

Always look at feedback ratings and how long they have had the account - even for buyers.  If you have a pick up only arranged make sure you contact the buyer via Ebay so that there is an audit trail of agreement to pick up.

[GordonA]

Surely if a buyer is collecting the goods from your address, the simplest, and safest method is to only accept cash on collection? Can't see any problem in that.
Gordy.

[Scunner]

Yes, the point is you need to appreciate the scam in order to clearly appreciate the simplest, safest alternative methods.

[stoop]

I never let people collect from my home address. Firstly I don't want strangers seeing where I live and assuming I keep all me stock at home and secondly it's just a pain having to wait in for people. I very occasionally let them pick stuff up from my work address if it can be arranged.

If someone lives locally I will email them and offer to deliver personally as well as reduce there postage and packing fees. Up to date nobody has tried to scam me on that (probably because I know where they live -lol).

If people are going to scam they will just pay via paypal and say the item never arrived. However they won't get away with too many of those transactions before ebay sort them out.

[Scunner]

One thing that is quite apparent is how distant Ebay and Paypal become from each other when something like this happens.