Folks Of Interest There was life before "PAY PAL"

I buy and sell a decent amount of stuff online and its either cash in person or PayPal. Everyones entitled to their opinions but for me I'm not waiting for a check or money order, then going to the bank, then letting it clear and then finally shipping the part. I just want the money instantly, ship immediately and move on with my life.

 

Just sold a 32 Ford greyhound rad cap to a guy in Austrailia, for $300 plus $60 for international frt. He payed me Pay Pal and said with conversion and PP fees it cost him over $500 AUS $'s

 

The current exchange rate is 1 to 1.38 US to AUS to that makes sense. But thats alot for a radiator cap haha

 

Have managed to NEVER possess a PayPal account—tell the person b4 bidding on e pay that I don’t possess one ever and ask if a postal m.o. is ok. Have never been declined. I have over 1,000 posts and have recently taken checks from honest people. I have never liked PayPal and every part I advertise, I state NOPAYPAL—postal m.o. is better for me.

 

I guess i might be relatively cautious, but out of all of the years that i've been buying old stuff online, i dont think i've ever really had a bad experience, or where i was ripped off. Like has been said, a conversation with the seller and figuring out who they are and if they are someone in good standing as a seller goes a long way. This year through different sites, The Hamb, aaca forums, fb groups, etc, I've sent out several personal checks, a money order and used paypal many times, both through business or friends and family, depending on the situation and who the seller was and how they wanted to transact, though i always prefer paypal. When its something a little higher in value and the seller is requesting friends and family, i have no problem paying the extra in fees for protection and peace of mind, though this has also been reason enough to walk on something when they are pushing for friends and family, even when i'm willing to eat the fee.
Seems like there are scammers running rampant on some of the instagram parts pages recently, and so i understand why people might be a little extra cautious, when the seller is requesting payment that offers no recourse for the buyer when nothing ever shows up or isnt what its supposed to be.

 

I think that is why on the HAMB you can check the sellers feed back, and past sales.

Not if payment is sent to family or friend NO RECOURSE FROM PAY PAL.

 

Face it, the bad guys have won on this issue. I hear very little, if any at all, about people who get caught scamming others. The only way to shut them down is by only buying parts, paying cash (from buyer's wallet to seller's pocket book) and traveling to the sellers location. If you still use PayPal, US Mail, Fed Ex, ect., well you know the price and must be willing to face any negative actions from others, you don't have a leg to stand on when you are caught out. Crying about the situation will not help you cause, but "good luck" to you.

 

You never know. First, we drive 150 miles to look at a car ($3500) and it is a piece of shit. Nothing like he described. A guy contacts me thru the HAMB and says he has a car my buddy wants. So, my buddy calls him. Send $500 money order and pay the balance ($500) when you pick the car up in Colorado. 600 miles away. Seems to good to be true. But his wife has stage 3 cancer and he`s been looking for months. So off to Colorado he goes. The guy is a no show. To take his money is one thing, but to make him drive home empty-handed home is way below low. He did get to see his son when he was out there. So, 6 months pass. His wife has died by now. He finds an add 2 years back. For the same kind of car. He calls. Ya, we have the car. It can be for sale. My boss has the car cause I couldn`t afford it at the time. Never transferred the title 4 years ago. Rust free car from New York that runs and drives. For $3500. Send $500 for a down payment. The car had sat in a barn for 35 years. So off to New York we go. 1100 miles. Another wild goose chases. We get there, and it is rust free (from New York) and runs and drives. We haul it home and he gets the title from the previous owner and all is good.

 

I was selling an old Chris Craft engine on cl last year and some guy calls me, says he lives up north but wants to send me a check for the full asking price. I said you sound shady, I dunno. He said, man, I'm sending you money. Who's more likely to get screwed here? I said alright. He sent the check, cashed fine, and the motor is still sitting in my barn almost a year later.... Lol. Worked out awesome!

 

A suggestion. Become a member here. I will note that I currently am not either BUT despite having sold many things here I will fully understand someone not wanting to send a money order. It's been noted before that there isn't much the site can do if a person is not an Alliance Member.

 

I do not use paypal. I like personal checks or a Postal M.O. i like to sell here on the HAMB, i try to give HAMBers first shot at the stuff i get. if it doesn't sell here i might put it on CraigsList, occasionally on Facebook. most times i just put it back in the pile. thank you to all who have bought from me, and to those who are waiting for my lazy ass to get you a price, I apoligize.

 

Before pay pal - we use money orders. HRP

 

I live north of 49 and have bought the odd thing found at distance on KIJIJI that was not too expensive. I ask if they will take a postal money order for the cost plus the Canada post shipping. So far so good. The sellers have been good and fair. Same as the HAMB as it is easy to see how long they have been selling. Its funny that when a person finds a wallet that it hits the local news when it used to be the norm. My friend left his wallet on his truck hood and got distracted so it came off on his way to the store. A couple hours later there was a tap on the door and his wallet was returned. The internet has done as much harm or more at times then good.

 

Same here, never any issues. I just shipped a bike to Australia, shipping cost the guy a fortune. But with Paypal I had my money instantly

 

I just sold some parts and he's sending a check. Going OLD SCHOOL.

 

Why should you get recourse? You are jobbing the system to not have to pay their fees if you use friends and family for anything other than sending money to friends and family. You think they should give you a service for free and then have their people work for you to get your money back if something goes wrong.? PayPal is a business providing a service not a charity.

 

I agree with you, but some sellers will not complete the deal unless you send it as a family or a friend. My point there is no difference if payment is sent via a Money Order, which has tracing abilities.

 

The PP fess are marginal. Sellers primarily requeest Freinds and Family to avoid being scammed by the buyer. There are horror stories of unscrupulous buyers demanding refunds on used parts. Thing is, PP doesn't know from old parts. Buyer requests a refund and submits a picture of a dismantled dirty carb and says, "look at this POS the guy sent me" and PP says, yep, that looks terrible, here's your money back. Never mind that it's a rare Windfield carb sold as a core. Seller is out the money and the carb. So now sellers ask for FF payment, leaving the buyer no recourse. It's like you sent cash.

On the other side of the coin, when a seller requests a money order or personal check, he's stuck in limbo until the payment arrives and clears, which could be weeks. Or never. In the meantime, the seller could have others clamboring for it, saying I'll give you the money right now via Paypal. But the seller is stuck.

I also have to question whether postal money orders still carry the same weight that they used to. In this day and age, with the Post Office on the ropes financially speaking, are they really going to pull out the stops investigating a $100 money order disagreement? I mean, seriously, do they have the time? I don't know.

So it all comes back to what so many have said in this thread : Hamb buyers and sellers need to investigate each other. It's easy! Look at the user profile. How long has the guy been around? How many posts. What kind of posts? Does he have a feedback rating? Is he an Alliance member?

I'm going to think long and hard before entering into a transaction with a guy on his 3rd post. Ironaically, ten years ago I actually sold a car on something like my third or fourth Hamb post, and the guy sent me the entire payment before he picked it up. But we spent plenty of time on the phone together. Which is another thing you can do to validate a buyer or seller.

 

It would probably be a hassle to get anywhere with it, but isn't a bad check or money order that's sent through the USPS a federal offense?

To me, PayPal is a middleman I don't need. Sort of like the family sitting at the table and saying to your son, "Would you tell your Mother to pass the potatoes"?

Lynn

 

Clearly another case of first world problems...

 

One of my buddies had a 41 Ford sedan for sale on Craigslist. This guy calls him about it, comes by and looks at it, says he's from Chicago, but in town visiting family, which it was during the holidays. The guy says he wants the car, which was something like $3500. Leaves Tim $1000 and said he'll be back within 2 weeks to get the car and pay the balance. That's been about 3 years ago. The guy never came back and never called. I told Tim that maybe he got killed on his way back or something like that. Tim held the car for about 3 months, then sold it to someone else.

 

To me that is an immediate stop on dealing with someone.

 

To each his own but I don’t understand why some folks are so dead-set against using PayPal. I’m with adam401, I want to get the money (or send the money) right now, there’s enough delay waiting on the packing and shipping. I don’t want to do Friends and Family either, if you are selling and don’t want to absorb the fees tell me and I’ll include the extra money. I do sell on here occasionally and I will accommodate those who want to pay with postal money orders but I don’t like to, it means that sale stays on my list of things to do for weeks.
I have sent cash through the mail. I cut an article out of the local paper and wrap the bills in that with the headline out. Around here, at Christmas and Valentine’s Day the a-holes steal cards out of the mailboxes looking for gift cards. PayPal transactions avoid a lot of BS.

 

I like paypal

 

We'll see how people feel after Jan 1, 2022 or April 15, 2023.

I can see a lot of regular folks walking away from PP.

I currently have thousands locked up by PP and then, every transaction that followed added to that - I cannot access.

I'm not the only one. A pal's business has picked up and grown, he had 6 figures locked up and growing. Then he was limited in his withdrawals. This isn't the only situation I'm familiar with in the last 6 months, either.

I actually received a larger payment than what's usual for an item (an overseas purchaser). But it's not the largest this, year and not in the top 10 of the last two. It's peanuts compared to others, which is why I was shocked. There haven't ever been charge backs, no connection to questionable content and no complaints... no rules broken - ever.

When that starts happening to the regular Joes, buying stuff through unregulated venues like forums, locally, etc., there is going to be a pushback.

Taxes, I can see, even though we'll hate it for swap-meet parts, which leads to: if we use PayPal, some of us will have to charge tax or selling makes no sense.

I've been auditing how I use PP and what changes I need to make for the future.

Many won't have a future if PayPal is paid and they hold the money for no good reason, especially beyond the vague duration listed in their terms of service.

 

^^^^ You must do a heck of a lot more than sell a few items in the HAMB classifieds to get thousands tied up in PayPal. I can see how someone with an eBay store or something similar could have problems due to higher volume and amounts.
Clue in the clueless; what's happening on the dates you mentioned?

 

i became a j.c. whitney customer in about 1964 and always sent a check...

 

These last two years, I have sold as much as I can (most outside the HAMB, I love e-commerce) but what got me locked up was an amount that couldn't buy a set of magnesium front runners. It was not business related. I hate keeping track of that stuff, but I know better now. I know HAMBers who do very well here and on social media. I sell parts to pay for tools and my coupe project.

This is the first I have talked about it. Every single person I have sold and shipped to during that duration, I had fronted the shipping costs since PP was doing their thing. That wouldn't fly for 98% of folks and I agree with them!

By the end of 2021 PP and a couple other services want tax info and as we proceed through 2022, the IRS will be informed on transactions. And come April, 2023 there will be a lot of unhappy people who have to pay taxes on the transactions they've made.

Most folks don't even consider what's going on the impact this could have on them.

I have been vague to keep this hot-rod related and not political.

If you do sell, even modestly, read up to see the potential impact. Who knew hot rod parts would get me to attempt to figure out tax code as it applies to me? Haha.

 

Bob, say you sell $50 here and $125 there and then someone pays you for a motorcycle or a hot rod chassis, plus shipping. That difference in volume is all it could take for some.

 

"PayPal is required to report gross payments received for sellers who receive over $20,000 in gross payment volume AND over 200 separate payments in a calendar year." https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/irs6050w Most people not running a business shouldn't be affected.