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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
jea48
4,825 posts
 
You must keep a small seperate account for paypal and never leave any money in it. Ship the item after the funds post to your account. You may lose a case with paypal but they can't take money out of an account that has nothing in it.
03-20-13: Polk432

Polk432,

but,.....

Muzikat posted,

03-19-13: Muzikat
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.
It appears Paypal can get blood from a Turnip.
.
muzikat
932 posts
 
Indeed, I keep a separate bank account for Paypal only. I also keep a very small balance there until I need to make a purchase.
The thing is, after a dispute Paypal deducts amount of sale from seller's account. If it is negative, then you must bring your account up to zero, then ad funds if you want to make a purchase elsewhere while this is going on. That was over 2 months in my case.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
I also keep a seperate account just for Paypal. I transfer funds from Paypal into that account, and then from that account to another account. I keep a zero balance in the Paypal account. Yes, as Muzikat shows, you can let Paypal bully you into using their services, but you don't have to.
Depending on how much $$$ and what I thought of the buyer, I could live with a negative balance on Paypal, and just stop using that Paypal account if I had to. Maybe set up another Paypal account with a different e-mail address and bank account if I was desperate. Leave that negative Paypal account rot into eternity. :)
jea48
4,825 posts
 
Just curious,.... Paypal is a credit card/ banking institution. Correct? Can Paypal damage a persons credit report if a persons account is charged a negative balance and said person refuses to work with Paypal to remedy the problem in a timely manner.

When a person signs up for a Paypal account isn't the person required to electronically sign an agreement?
.

Muzikat,

Did Paypal email you a monthly statement showing your account was in a negative status? In other words you owed Paypal money?

For Paypal to show your account in a negative status wouldn't a like amount of funds have to show up in some type of a dispute holding account?

The books have to balance out.
.
muzikat
932 posts
 
There was no money in my account so they put it in the negative until dispute was resolved. In my case it was $2000, so if I wanted to buy something for $10 I would have to deposit $2010 into the account. When dispute was ruled in buyer's favor, I had to cover negative amount. This dispute process took 2 months.
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