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A Paypal Offer - Is This Secure?

Hi All,

I am selling a CAT amplifier and have a paypal offer from a buyer who has very little feedback (only one transaction) and does not speak english well and communicates only small bits of information at a time. I am nervous about this. I spoke with paypal and they told me that as long as:

1) I am selling something of substance
2) I ship to the paypal address, no other address
3) I can document the shipping of the product

I am protected as a seller. If this is true, I should be able to accept his offer and make sure that I am shipping to the address listed in paypal, and I should be fine shipping pilot air insured (with tracking and all, including photos of packing, etc). What do you guys think? Is this too much of a risk, or not really a risk at all?
peter_s
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Best way to be 100% sure is to accept only bank transfer to your account. Just make sure you understand if/what your bank will charge you and account for that. if it's a big transaction, it will almost undoubtedly be cheaper than paypal and once the money posts to your account, it cannot be reclaimed. Second best is USPS M.O.
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,278 posts
 
I have done 65 transactions here on Audiogon and all involved PayPal. 50% of my transactions were as a seller and the other 50% transaction's were as a buyer. I never once had a problem. In every case where I sold something, as soon as the funds cleared, I used my PayPal debit card at a local atm machine and withdrew all the funds immediately before shipping the item.

I find PayPal to be hassle free and it is the only way I want to be paid when selling something. It is also the only way I will pay for something when I am buying.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
muzikat
921 posts
 
Paypal is my preferred way, however it is not foolproof. I recently had
trouble with a buyer, he wrongly claimed a piece of gear I sold him did not
work several weeks after receiving it. It did work.
Well he started a dispute on Paypal. They usually take the buyer's side.
Long story short, Paypal put my account into a negative balance for two
months until all was sorted out. I got the piece back and just as I said,
worked perfectly. Paypal just took his word that it didn't.
Post removed 
polk432
1,142 posts
 
Muzikat, the buyer simply wanted their money back. Probably used his CC attached to paypal. Paypal has to side with the buyer since the buyers CC Co. makes the final decision. You did the right thing selling a good item and got screwed. Paypal puts a negative in your account so that they can turn it over to a collection agency to get back the money that they refunded the customer. One way to get around selling an item that works is to word it correctly in the heading. Works fine but selling as is. No returns. Sorry you had bad luck trying to sell a good item. I don't beleive in karma because it just can't happen fast or repeatedly enough to those who take advantage of others. Keep on keepin on.
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