Am I being scammed on TB?

[Stumbo]

The one good thing about him paying for shipping is that the responsibility for the bass passes to him as soon as you put the shipping label on it. It's his bass. Any problems/resolution will be between him and DHL.

You might mention that to Paypal and get them to agree to not take money out of your account if it doesn't get there or there's some other problem.

[mcnach]

Originally Posted by smeet

By the way, I can't ignore the buyer, as he just send a sizable sum of money to my paypal account. Just in case he is legit, I don't want to be a jerk and look like I'm trying to steal his money...

Share your feelings with the buyer. If legit he will understand. If not, return money and sell again.
If he wants the bass and you do go ahead, either return money and arrange a cash transaction in person when you both meet, or make sure you have proof of postage and photographs and a witness, ideally someone at UPS or similar, to cover your bases...

[miholc]

Am I the only one who's not sure how this scam 'works'. Is it that the scammer never gets bass on his paypal's verified adress? That's why 'buyer' wants OP to send bass somewhere else so then he can claims he never got it, right? Anyways I hope this all get sorted out, good luck to the OP.

[A-Step-Towards]

I know what bass he bought from you as he tried to buy the same bass from me, same guy, joined 2007 and has 1 post.

[jmclearnon]

Yeah sounds really sketchy ...

[ScottTunes]

Originally Posted by Stumbo

The one good thing about him paying for shipping is that the responsibility for the bass passes to him as soon as you put the shipping label on it. It's his bass. Any problems/resolution will be between him and DHL.

You might mention that to Paypal and get them to agree to not take money out of your account if it doesn't get there or there's some other problem.

This isn't exactly right... The shipper/seller is responsible for proper packaging. If not properly packaged for shipping, the shipping company is NOT responsible, and may deny the claim. A friend of mine derives his living from training manufacturers how to properly package items for shipment to minimize, and hopefully eliminate damage in transit.

Best to hand deliver, accept cash, and take your own receipts with you - one for the recipient, and one that you keep, that the recipient signs, acknowledging delivery of your bass.

Notifying PP and TB mods is also a good idea...

Although I've not been scammed, after 15-ish years on fleabay, I've encountered a few deals that "felt" odd... I simply returned payment, and relisted the item...

[lowendblues]

Originally Posted by smeet

By the way, I can't ignore the buyer, as he just send a sizable sum of money to my paypal account. Just in case he is legit, I don't want to be a jerk and look like I'm trying to steal his money...

Move the money immediately and wait it out. Try to get a phone number and talk to the buyer.

[eukatheude]

Move the money to your bank/credit card, contact paypal and insist for an in person meeting.

[PJRL]

What they can get you with is if a credit card is used the buyer can do a "charge back" ask paypal about it.

[Kmonk]

I recently setup a separate account specifically for online transactions. I deposit enough money in it to make a purchase. If I make a sale, I immediately move the funds which were deposited from the sale to another account.

My cousin is a postmaster with the United States Postal Service. He advised me to always make purchases using a bank check or money order and then send it via the U.S. Post Office. He told me that if the buyer doesn't send the item, it is considered mail fraud which is a felony and the postal service will investigate and prosecute.

[Dredmahawkus]

I dont understand the scam either.....is it because you are not delivering to his verified address? if you do sig required with insurance isnt that proof enough?

I sold a bottle of cologne on ebay once to like thailand or somewhere weird like that....and the guy said it wasnt the right amount or smell or something....and I know it was 100% legit I bought it for a ton of money from a dept store! anyway he ends up with my $100 bottle of cologne and his money back! Its like paypal automatically gives them their money back!

[jabsys]

Originally Posted by miholc

Am I the only one who's not sure how this scam 'works'. Is it that the scammer never gets bass on his paypal's verified adress? That's why 'buyer' wants OP to send bass somewhere else so then he can claims he never got it, right? Anyways I hope this all get sorted out, good luck to the OP.

A common scam is that the buyer claims he never received the bass, because the buyer arranged shipping or collect it, you've got no proof of shipping, paypal will refund the money and you're left with no money & no bass.

Cancel the transaction & move on, don't transfer the money to your bank, paypal will simply take it back when the buyer complains.

[St Drogo]

I don't understand why a lot of people here are advising the op to immediately move the paid amount to his bankaccount. As if to move it beyond grubby scammy fingers. Granted, i have zero experience with paypal, it just seems strange conduct to me.

I mean, sure the whole thing feels kinda like a scam, but as it stands, the guy paid for a bass the op has yet to send. There seem to be some red flags that would warrant caution, but what is moving the money to your bank account, not sending the bass and inquiring/reporting the buyer accomplish other than making the op into a thief? After all, if that is how things went down, he got to keep his bass and receive payment for it. Satisfying in a 'i scammed a scammer' way perhaps, but it doesn't feel right to me.

Op is obviously trying to do the right thing and imo should take care not to come off as disingenuous, especially if things do happen to go south and he needs paypal to look into things.

Though as i said, i don't know anything about paypal and might be a bit naive about it.

Edit: just to clarify; I'm not saying 'ignore the signs and cross your fingers', as it does smell fishy. I'm saying do what you can without moving the money. Call the guy, insist on dropping the bass off at his friends', things people have suggested.

[obimark]

All I know is moving it to your bank account will only result in PAypal REFUNDING it right back out of your back account when the guys scam goes through. By the way cough, EB*Y is the worst with this, you have ZERO protection as the seller.... had them refund money out of my back account two times before, not pleasant.

My 2 cents for bass equipment now, use CL, cash on delivery- PERIOD> Meet at a neutral place, exchange goods for cash, DONE. I am nver paying E*** rip-off fees,PayP's commission, and then getting rip-offed at the shipping ($72 last time I shipped a bass) for selling stuff again, it comes out to like 10-20% now!!

[hover]

Man, I truly hate PayPal and the like. This certainly rings of a scam. Not a surefire way to cover your ass, but I suggest if you go through with it:

1) contact him one last time for verification of info in line with the ORIGINAL agreement.
2) if not furnished within a certain timeframe, refuse the PayPal transaction and relist the bass.
3) If the transaction DOES go down in person, have a significant other at the ready at your PC, with steps to transfer the money from PayPal to your bank account the second you call them and PayPal to confirm the bass traded hands / transaction completed...even going so far as to take a photo of said "friend" holding the bass / case in his hand w/ your bill of sale before you leave.

Sorry to make it sound all espionage-flick crazy there, but it's a good way to cover your ass and avoid a chargeback or something.

[jacojbass]

I just dealt with something like this, I refunded $$ and slept better.

[Crazyeelboy]

Seems like you have an easy enough way to deal with this:

1) Send the money back to the buyer.
2) Get some ID from the buyer.
3) Get full info on the buyer's friend.
4) Have the buyer send funds to his friend.
5) Meet the buyer's friend in person and exchange the bass for cash.
6) Sign a receipt for the cash and the bass.
7) Enjoy the money.

[Siggy]

Originally Posted by Crazyeelboy

Seems like you have an easy enough way to deal with this:

1) Send the money back to the buyer.
2) Get some ID from the buyer.
3) Get full info on the buyer's friend.
4) Have the buyer send funds to his friend.
5) Meet the buyer's friend in person and exchange the bass for cash.
6) Sign a receipt for the cash and the bass.
7) Enjoy the money.

+1

oh, and if it appears to be a scam, leave a cautionary feedback

[dbd1963]

Originally Posted by hover

3) If the transaction DOES go down in person, have a significant other at the ready at your PC, with steps to transfer the money from PayPal to your bank account the second you call them and PayPal to confirm the bass traded hands / transaction completed...even going so far as to take a photo of said "friend" holding the bass / case in his hand w/ your bill of sale before you leave.

Sorry to make it sound all espionage-flick crazy there, but it's a good way to cover your ass and avoid a chargeback or something.

This won't work. Guy can still claim he never got the bass and PayPal will refund the money immediately, taking it from your linked bank account. THEN you can try to go through the hassle of proving he really got it. Have you ever dealt with PayPal? They begin with a presumption that you are the one ripping someone off.

[DWBass]

Dude.......refund the money and ignore further contact from the scammer!

Do NOT, under any circumstances, keep the money and move it to your bank account!