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When attempts to scam me have started in a similar way, they ended with the "buyer" sending an email carefully crafted to appear to be from paypal telling me I'd been paid. In reality, no money had been transferred. This was verified by me logging into paypal by going to the site directly by me typing paypal.com and not clicking any links in the "payment" email whatsoever.
I'm not saying you can't still get scammed somehow if you do actually receive funds.
Member
Most PayPal transactions are covered as long as they follow these requirements. However, there are instances where Seller Protection doesn’t apply:
Claims, chargebacks, or reversals filed because the item is significantly different from how it was described (e.g. you described an item as “new,” but sent a used one)
Any bets about whether your machine will be different than how it was described?
Moderator... taking the quote marks out of my post kinda makes it meaningless.
Last edited by Wade Lippman; 12-28-2017 at 5:18 PM.
Contributor
Run, run and after you run away, run further.
Contributor
All you have to do is put the mouse cursor over any link in the email, and see what the URL is. If it doesn't say https://www.paypal.com/ it's to be considered suspect.Originally Posted by Robin Dobbie
Also, if there are any email addresses to directly contact PP, I haven't found one yet. They do it all through their website.
Last edited by Myk Rian; 12-28-2017 at 3:44 PM.
Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night
Member
Well of course, if you cash the check. Had you deposited it and it did not clear and you wrote no checks on it, it would only be a returned check fee. You and every other fake check victim have the opportunity to call the bank on which the check is drawn and ask about problems and often whether the account has sufficient funds to cover the check.. Usually the victims are too greedy to take such precautions.
The thing is, the facts set forth by the OP, have totally nothing to do with the fake check/wired refund scam. Your experience is inapplicable to a pay pal deposit into the OP's account. In that situation the funds are there.
I had a client get a check for a horse to be shipped. What the scammer did not know is that the seller would be in the country where the issuing bank was located. The client presented the check at the guy's bank and it just so happened that the scammer had sufficient money to pay the check. My guy took the $5,000 and upon returning to the states wired the $1,000 refund and no body ever came to get the horse. It all happened in about 48 hours. Most scammers are not stupid enough to use their own off shore accounts. And when they do, they clean out the funds every day. My client made out by sheer coincidence.
Member
It's likely a variation of the bad check scam. Could be using a stolen credit card, could reverse the payment under buyer protection, could file for a chargeback on their credit card. Point is they will likely overpay and request you issue a refund through an irreversible channels.
Or they could be intent on stealing the machine. A little harder to pull off on something like that but someone ran a scam on a forum I was one where he bought a bunch of gear then reported the charges as fraud to his credit card company. Then it all started showing up on eBay.
Member
There are red flags that certainly aren't present here. One, no fake check payment. two, it is a company and the OP talked to them. scammers avoid phones like the plague. So far no fake e-mails. If the company checks out with the phone number, the yellow pages, the web site, and the state issued licenses, what could be the problem. The OP should contact the company and get the deal verified in writing by one of the officers listed in the state corporation registry. When the actual pay pal account shows a deposit, the money is there.
Some of you would yell that the sky is falling even on a bright clear blue sunny day. Its a wonder any business ever gets accomplished.
I once paid over full price for a piece of farm equipment several states away just so I could get two parts that were unique to that particular model. I paid slightly more than the asking price so the seller would remove and ship the two parts I needed and he could sell the rest for scrap and keep the money. I told him I would send a check and wait till the check clears for him to send the parts. I even sent him a copy of the cancelled check to verify that it had cleared because his bank was being weird about it. Both of us were happy. Some of you would have had a nervous breakdown and still intentionally screwed up the deal.
If fraudulently purchased stuff showed up on ebay, then the person committed electronic interstate fraud. A felony under federal and state laws and no victim made a proper complaint to ebay or anyone else. Everybody knows somebody whose brother in law's cousin had X happen. I represented a car dealer for 35 years. Do you know how many fools claimed there was a three day right to rescind a car deal? I even offered a $500 payment to anyone of those customers who could give me the citation to the Maryland and/or Pa law that gave this right. No body ever collected the money. Because it does not exist. (There is a three day right as to door to door sales)
Member
To me it does sound like a scam because the method used to get the item is the same.
Member
How is it different than any ebay sale where it is local pick up of a heavy item and the buyer must contract for pick up and freight. You make no sense. A local company makes injection molding machines. The seller will load it onto a truck, but the pick up and freight are the responsibility of the buyer. If a company is buying from a private citizen would they rely on the private citizen to hire a carrier or use their shipping saavy to get a better rate? There is a service nationwide called Craters and Freighters that will pick up and transport items for out of the area buyers. https://www.cratersandfreightersharr...xoC82IQAvD_BwE Ebay will even give buyers estimated freight costs to pick up and transport items.
I guess none of you have ever worked for a common carrier freight service.
Contributor
I don't quite understand how the OP's scenario is such an obvious scam to some. Is the red flag the fact that the buyer wants to use their own shipping company?
Isn't the old saying "Buyer Beware", not "Seller Beware"? I don't know a whole lot about Paypal, but is there a method by which you can stipulate that the funds need to be cleared before you ship? If so, then how can the seller get hurt, all the risk is on the buyer's shoulders??? Kind of like what you see when someone requires payment by cashier's check or other immediately available funds.
If you don't trust Paypal, there are other options like Escrow.com which purports to protect both buyer and seller, but I don't know what they charge.
Contributor
1. What are you selling that would make it worth shipping to Hawaii ??
2. What price are you asking that makes it so enticing ??
We know nothing basically about what you are asking without all the details...
First glance it appears to be a scam of some kind...but it could be legit depending on item, price, availability in Hawaii, or any number of factors..
Provide more details...
Moderator
Ed, the OP is selling a piece of woodworking equipment and it's likely that it's something unique given a buyer is willing to pay for transport so far...it's expensive to get things to Hawaii.
I'm inclined to agree with Perry that there's a whole lot that actually checks out on this particular deal. By itself, the "we'll use our own shipper" might be a flag, but it's not accompanied by the rest of the things typically associated with scam buyers.
--
The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Contributor
Jim, you are assuming a lot.... simply put.. we do not know enough to make a reasonable call on if it is a scam or not....
There are a lot of red flags and there appears a lot that is legit..
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Until the details are revealed, who knows??
We are just assuming we know... and you know what assuming means....
I cannot think of a piece of woodworking equipment that is unique enough to pay shipping from NY to Hawaii that would be worth the effort... especially something requiring an outside shipping firm...
((yes, a lot of you will advise an item that might be worth it... but it will still be assuming until the OP advises more info... ))
Contributor
Well, it might or might not be legit - been a lot of good discussion of both sides here. But like I said in post #2, at the end of the day it really comes down to "Do you need to sell it badly enough to take a gamble?"
Hoping it goes just fine,
Fred
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
Member
No, there isn't. With Paypal, as soon as the money is sent, it's considered as paid. Paypal has a very lax refund policy, however, that long after the fact the buyer can claim something was wrong, or it didn't arrive or what have you. They generally side with the buyer.
The fact he's got his own shipper would make me nervous, in that it's not a "normal" process like you'd expect from someone ordering off an ad. Odd someone would be buying used equipment so far away, and have that set up. I'd personally pass, but that's just me.
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