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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
hevac1
812 posts
 
The only true secure payment is a cashiers check and then wait 1 week before shipping product for check to clear and 3 to 4 weeks if check is from out of country.

Paypal will take the money back out of your account if the payment from customer fails regardless of how long it took.
dougmc
105 posts
 
Actually, the most secure (for seller) AND FASTEST payment is direct deposit to the bank account of the seller. As far as I know, buyer and seller must use the same bank for this to work, but maybe not. The negative for the seller is that he must give the buyer his (the seller's) bank account number. However, the seller may employ the same two bank account strategy that some sellers do with Paypal payments, only here there is no charge back mechanism (as there is with Paypal).

As a buyer I used cashier's checks from Bank of America, which had a very seller friendly feature. On the back of the check was an 800 number that the seller could call to verify the authenticity of the check. Later he could call to confirm that the check had been paid.
polk432
1,142 posts
 
Secure for whom? I've had buyers with suspended paypal accounts (suspension would be over within 30 days) asking if they could send me a postal M.O. for an item. Fine with me as long as if it's off of ebay or agon to avoid fees. The check has to clear first thru the post office, not my bank. I also let them know to send the check registered mail, so they'd at least have something showing that they sent me money. Without paypal there is no guarantee that the seller will ship the actual item, so paypal is good for buyers and so so for sellers. Buyers have to have some type of recource if the seller is not on the up and up.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
This really isn't that difficult. Bank wire is totally secure. Buyer cannot use your bank account # to get $ out of your account. Only the account holder can initiate an outgoing wire transfer. Once the $ hit your account, they cannot be pulled back (although I imagine that criminal fraud might allow the funds to be seized by the government). Why do you think that they always use this method in the Grisham and Ludlum novels to rip off the bad guys??

Not sure what USPS would do if a counter agent cashed a counterfeit M.O. but a bank would definitely try to pull the $ back if the issuing bank refused a cashiers check or m.o. for any reason.
peter_s OP
1,348 posts
 
I am still thinking about selling this guy my $5000 amplifier via paypal. It would be shipped to his paypal certified address. I would do all the necessary documentation. Paypal says that they process disputes within 10 days of registering a dispute. I would document with paperwork and pictures.

Muzicat - did you fight back against the claim? Did you have any opportunity to? If a buyer were trying to scam me, paypal would do no good, as he would have to send the item back, and it is a very big and heavy item. Not worth his time and effort for absolutely no profit. The only time I would get burned is via buyers remorse - and how would the buyer prove their false claim that the amplifier isn't working?

Thanks, Peter
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