+1 @onhwy61, totally agreed. Don't send your real money until he asks for it.
Is this a scam?
I would appreciate some help with this, which has happened to me in the last few days. I listed an item on a site, not Audiogon but another one, and got an offer within a few days. The offer was lower than asking price, but reasonable, so I accepted. All of this happened with an exchange of emails. The buyer wanted to send me a deposit which was about 1/4th of the total sales price, and that amounted to a few thousand dollars. He said he would send the rest when the item was shipped. I thought this was a little strange, but agreed to it -- today I received his deposit via Paypal Friends and Family. Somehow I wish now that the money transfer hadn't happened. But the good news is, I have not yet sent him the items.
The guy has very little purchase history on the site that was used to contact me.
He says he has a Freight Forwarder and and will have someone pick up the items. All of this seems suspicious to me. I fear that perhaps I have been paid with a stolen credit card number, for example. Of maybe there is another angle here that I cannot perceive. Has anyone else been through a process like this? I think he is a scammer but don't know for sure.
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It may be a scam, and it may not. I have sent thousands of $ friends and family after I convinced myself the seller was up and up. But if I am even a little bit unsure, I take actions to protect myself. I suggest telling him the truth: He will probably argue. Stick to your guns. Be ready to walk away. If he suggests something even more convoluted, refuse. The more complicated it gets, the more likely it is a scam. There is no problem refunding the paypal payment. Paypal works by reversing the payment, It isn't a way to launder money. Now if you initiate a new payment to him instead of refunding his, that is a different story. --Jerry
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SCAM! And I agree 100% with @carlsbad. Have PayPal reverse the payment. DON'T initiate a new payment back. |
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