Event Coverage Thieves... And PayPal...

Good advice from Ryan....

Don't blame the 1099 thing on Paypal; the feds are after tax money, Paypal has no choice in the matter. Given all the full-time commercial sellers on eBay these days it was just a matter of time before this happened, I'm surprised it took this long. And if you as the seller don't want to pay the sellers fee, then you're the scammer.

With all this said, it's also important that you document your transactions. Have pics of whatever you're buying/selling, take pics of the package before mailing/after receiving. Make damn sure your selling description is accurate. And sellers, make sure you package properly; when I get a package that's done poorly and stuff has gone missing or is damaged, that's on you. If loading up a flat-rate box with weight, I'd strongly suggest double-boxing it and not being skimpy with shipping tape.

 

I don’t have PP but have bought and sold many items using USPS money orders. I have never had a problem with one of those transactions. My thoughts on using a USPS MO instead of PP is that if someone commits a scam with one, they are committing fraud with the wrath of the US Government staring them in the face. PP ain’t gonna throw someone in jail but the Feds sure can.

If as a buyer of one of my items you are too inconvenienced to run to the Post Office to get a MO then you probably don’t want it very bad. And if you’re a seller and won’t accept my USPS MO that’s your right. We all need to do whatever makes us feel comfortable.

 

I will use PayPal to buy things because I have it linked to a credit card. But I will not accept Paypal because I do not want someone to have access to my account that can withdraw money. I guess I could open an account just for receiving money, but I don't sell much and prefer a Postal Money order since I worked for the post office for 30 years and like to keep my old buddies in business...☺

 

Lots of good info here. I have had scammers contact me via ads in the wanted section but were easy to spot. I have bought and sold items here to and from Hambers with no problem but researched them and spoke with them. Even sent parts to some and told em send a check when the parts arrive-never a problem-just did with a "pay it forward"free part I sent, received postage that same day-no issue. Also sent personal check for a high dollar item to a hamber and told him send the item when the check cleared. No issue but had dealt with him before. With others I don't know-it's paypal.

 

Hmmm. Sit here in my underwear and click my mouse? Or get up, get dressed, get the car started and drive to the post office and stand in line for the crabby old lady to sell me a MO?

 

paypal is only good for BUYERS and offers nothing to sellers except the chance to give your parts away to scammers. a general rule of thumb is never accept paypal for more than you are prepared to lose.

for those of you that think having a separate bank account for paypal and not keeping money in it is somehow going to help you when someone tries to steal your parts in a paypal claim you are mistaken.

 

I have sent off alot of free parts via "pay it forward" and it is difficult to estimate shipping. Have to go get a cost then come back and let the hamber know-pain in the butt. Now I just ask their address, give em a guesstimate on cost and mail it. Some items were pricey to ship as well but never have had an issue. Sometimes paid by paypal, a personal check and sometimes cash in an envelope.Never been burned by a member. Just do some research prior.

 

But I HAVE one of those, in perfect condition! Do you want it or not? You send the money via Eastern Union and I'll remove it from the fully restored Henway.

 

I wouldn't go that far. A few years ago I sold off all the miscellaneous car/bike parts I'd acquired (stuff too nice to throw away, but didn't fit anything I owned or didn't need) on eBay and had good results. I only had issues with two sales; one was my fault (poor shipping packaging causing some damage, a partial refund made the seller happy), and the other was two knuckleheads who got into a bidding war over some parts that quite frankly IMO weren't worth what they bid. I even warned both of them in PMs that they were overbidding. They both ignored me, and the buyer then complained it wasn't 'as advertised'. Due to my warning PM, his complaint went nowhere.

eBay/Paypal have their issues, but short of only doing in-person cash transactions, they're pretty safe. And no risk of being robbed at gunpoint when you show up. And when you live in the boondocks like I do, they give you a much larger marketplace. I shipped parts all over the US and to Canada, far better responses than I got trying local sales.

 

all I have to say is PAY-PAL SUCKS, if you have a problem - its all electronic, you don't talk to anyone, I had a problem and could NEVER get through to anyone. No pay-pal for me !!! just say'n

 

I just completed a claim through paypal and they settled it within 2 days in my favor. Just had to show what the problem was. (long delay and still no shipping) Nothing but good to say about them.

Fourdy

 

I sold a pair of spindles that I had listed on here to a man in Florida who paid with Pay Pal, all he got was an empty box. No since arguing with the shipping agent USPS. PP made it easy for me to refund the money to the customer. As for not being able to contact PP, my accountant suggested I have a designated bank account for Pay Pal transfers and just today I called the 800 number, got a nice lady and opened a new designated PP bank account and closed the old one, took 5 minutes. For my transactions on here and my business I take USPO money orders, personal checks and PP Friends and Family. I quit taking credit cards because of the high fees. Also, I print out every PP transaction both in and out for my records and always put the address and what they bought on the printout.

 

i'm not using PayPal.

 

Yup.
Paypal can be so handy.
Paypal can also be a shoplifters best friend.
Over the years as I saw my non-ebay business go from 100% checks and money orders, because that was all there was,
then start changing slowly to 50% checks+m.o. and 50% electronic, then
to 90% electronic and nearly no checks, the old hazards merely evolved into a different form.
I believe I must be one of Paypals earliest sign-ups.
I still use them, but on a very small scale.
After ebay came along, and a decade of being a large PowerSeller, I simply got tired of the people always looking for an angle.
Not the 10k+ per month any more, but I'm happy
No one has solved the problem of "bad checks" and shoplifters, whether by paypal or by check,
OR sellers that want to run off with the money via check or Paypal.
Things get shuffled around a bit every now and then to give a feeling of safety for a few moments, but people find ways, and not a whole lot has improved much. It just feels like it for a time.
I've had more attempted shopliftings with Paypal, and Bill Point (ebays joke for a time till they scrapped it and bought rival paypal), than I have had with bad-check writers, but once you learn the possible tricks, you can head them off at the pass, and very few will succeed.
I'll admit that out of thousands of transactions, only a small handful have made off with anything substantial, but to keep those odds in your favor, you have to keep up with every new trick they invent, and every new chess-move you must take yourself, or you could get a nasty surprise I have seen others get.
I have a long list of stories about ppl who have tried to return rusted precision machine parts in melted cardboard boxes after they have been sliding around in the back of an open pickup for two months, denying that a box arrived even tho they SIGNED for it, or hurry hurry hurry SHIP IT NOW before the bad check clears, or the stolen card gets reversed....
very few actually got away with it, but it still makes me glad I don't deal with that any more
Paypal has its hazards just like the other methods.
ALWAYS GET A TRACKING NUMBER or you automatically lose.
Even if you win a dispute easily and decisively, you could find Paypal pulling money from your bank account 90 days later if a buyer convinces a card company to do a chargeback without returning an item they decided to keep and use.
Paypal WILL pass it on. It's in your contract.
Not common, but I'm still glad I don't have to mess with that





WHY BE ORDINARY ?

 

true.

NEVER sell anything via PP picked up in person without getting a tracking number for at least SOME OF THE ITEMS or Paypal will automatically decide you never delivered the item(s).
if you ebay much, you are GUARANTEED that the first time you send out shipments in envelopes without tracking numbers just ONE TIME, about 80% will claim non-arrival because you can't prove it.
some even SIGN for it, then claim envelope never arrived.
OK, I'm off my soap box now
can you tell I'm happy I don't mess with it any more?



WHY BE ORDINARY ?

 

How about this? HAMBank

All payments for classified ad transactions go through the bank of HAMB, and a 3% fee comes out for support of this website?

 

If that were possible, Ryan would already be doing it....

 

I had a similar situation quite a few years ago. It was slightly worse in that it was my wife attempting to purchase some rare Cameo parts as a present for me. It wasn't a lot of money, just $200, but it was the fact that she was so upset at being scammed, and not being able to surprise me on my birthday with the tailgate emblem and lights.
I contacted the post office, and they didn't say pound sand, but the cop out was that the amount of money lost was not enough to start a full investigation.
I was under the same impression that the postal authorities would help chase down the scammer. The assholes didn't seem to realize, that $200 times 10 or so victims adds up to a lot of money and a total loss of confidence in the system.
Until Paypal happened, I resorted to dealing with only known and trusted people or established dealers. When buying parts, it might cost more to deal that way, but at least I had piece of mind.
Paypal may seem expensive at times, but I look at as a risk reward issue, and don't mind paying a little more for the protection and potential piece of mind.
I have made some strange purchases of auto and electronic items, and there have been two occasions where the item has not arrived. I contacted Paypal, and had my refund within 48 hours.
I hope this is helpful,
Bob

 

A lot of this could be avoided if the powers that be didn't allow newbies to post to the ads until a certain number of posts on the forum like maybe 25 or some other number. Scammers would not hang around that long if they had to contribute to the forums.

 

There is a damned big difference between the "we pretty well know who he is and where to find him" thing than someone who has no post history, no regular participation on the board and is unknown. A lot of us have ordered T5 to flathead adapters from Dwight Bond and paid with a money order but again we know who he is and he isn't very hard to find. You have 7000+ posts, Usually have several items for sale and may or may not answer requests for parts but guys can easily check your history and decide it they want to deal with you.
I've only posted one parts request in the classifieds and seldom ever even look there for parts but that one request brought a couple of real shaky offers from people with real low post counts.
Personally if you add says no paypal I would probably pass it over and look for the same item from someone who did take paypal. It is a pain in the butt for me to go to town, buy a money order and send it off and wait the extra days before the item is shipped.

 

I'm a rock and stick sort of guy when it comes to this new fangled tech . But PayPal helped me make a bad circmstance into a good one . I had ordered a set of hand made tanks for a motorcycle . Things didn't go as agreed . But PayPal helped

 

i use paypal indirectly. i just call a friend/relative and say "buy this for me" then give them cash.

 

Here's the other side, I live in the middle of bumfuck nowhere,(literally), I have no cell service, so no reason to own a new style computer hand held phone, so I don't, no mail delivery, spotty parcel delivery and slow computer access to the net. Honestly, there are those of us out here, and I like it that way. However, my bank refuses to believe me and is pushing hard at forcing me to go to electronic banking, my fuel card company wants to charge me for sending me a bill unless I go online with them, when I go to the bank, they want to know why I want a large amount of cash and I gotta wait a couple days for them to round it up, then the guy I pass the cash to, his bank wants to know where he got it?
I'm older, my credit score is above 850, and nobody is gonna tell me how I do business with them, I got my stash by face to face handshake honour deals, and instead of cooperating, I told my fuel supplier that if they charge me for a paper bill, I'll charge them double for processing computer time, cause my time is also worth something and the bank? Told them that the day I can't go in my branch and talk to someone face to face is the day they lose all my business to someone who will talk to my ugly face.
I grew up in a time of honour, and I have no faith in the electronic world, scammers get away with old folks money, hide in the netherland to do it again, it has literally become an industry without penalty, with the onus on the buyer to sniff out said scammer.
When I list something for sale, you gotta come see it, I'll only talk turkey to your eyeball and no other way, so, you can see what I got is real, and I can see who I've dealt with. Yep I'm a dinosaur, and will have it no other way. LeRoy.

 

Someone tried this on me here a couple months ago through a wanted ad I have posted. It was a new user, just registered, no posts.. They claimed their "buddy" had the part I was looking for and gave me a price that was 1/4 of what it was worth.. wanted me to send a wire to western union to their local Walmart, etc... had scam written all over it.

The thing with selling and using PayPal though - anytime I sell something, it's well documented, pictures, etc... Also always send it with tracking. I had someone try to do a charge back on a $500 spot lamp I sold on ebay. They claimed they didn't get it a month after they purchased it. Fortunately I had the receipt from when I mailed it along with pictures of the part boxed, label and tracking info showing it was delivered to the correct address that was supplied... PayPal denied their claim.

 

Thanks Ryan, for helping to educate the masses. Hope it helps.

 

Just a heads up to anyone, I have recently run across scammers trying to use Ebay's escrow service. Make sure that the transaction takes place on Ebay and not off of the website. It is the only way you will be protected properly.