Can You Get Ripped Off Thru Paypal ??????

bunny10 · #1 12-05-2007, 08:02 AM

My question is. If you sell a bass and the buyer pays by PayPal. Is there any way that you can be scammed and not get the money.

I am fairly new to selling a bass, and I'm pretty savvy about all the scams with checks and other ways of making it look like you got paid, but not getting the money.

If the person pays by paypal is there any ways that paypal can be used to make it look like you got paid, but end up several weeks later finding out that you really didn't get paid.

Any help would be appreciated.

danomite64 · #2 12-05-2007, 08:05 AM

I sold an item on ebay, the buyer paid via paypal, the buyer got the item she paid for, then she decided she didn't want the item, and paypal refunded her money, leaving me without the item or the money. I eventually got the item back, but for a month there I was seriously upset at paypal, and now I don't use it any more.

kirkm24 · #3 12-05-2007, 08:06 AM

It's never happened to me. Just make sure you do not answer e-mails from PayPal that ask for personal information (phishing scams). Always go to www.paypal.com to make transactions that you know its the real paypal and not a fake setup. Phishers send out some pretty authentic looking e-mails but do not provide any information to them. just go to the paypal website.

Jeff K · #4 12-05-2007, 08:08 AM

I'm not qualified to answer, since I've never used Paypal. But my son and some friends have used it a lot. The general consensus seems to be that Paypal is excellent for the buyer; but not necessarily for the seller. Seems to protect the buyer more so than the seller.

kirkm24 · #5 12-05-2007, 08:08 AM

You have protection as a seller if your shipped to confrimed addresses and take payment from verified buyers. Also state in your listing that you will not accept returns.

Double Agent · #6 12-05-2007, 08:09 AM

I have used paypal money times, both to pay for an item and to recieve money for an item and haven't had a bad experience yet. Obviously, there are some horror stories out there but I think they are relatively few and far between. Still, use common sense and a little bit of caution.

azwhofan · #7 12-05-2007, 08:17 AM

One thing you'll need to mention in your ad/auction is that you won't ship the item until 24 hours after the funds have cleared paypal. Meaning that the funds have been deposited into your bank account from paypal, not just in the process of being transferred.
+1 on the shipping to a confirmed addy, but never ship to a P.O box or APO.

macmrkt · #8 12-05-2007, 08:18 AM

paypal is quite secure...I'm sure there's a way to get through their security, but I trust it as much as my bank account. The only issue I've had after 100's of large transactions was what danomite64 said - if the buyer wants to dispute the purchase after receiving the item (in my case, due to the fact that a small part wasn't working even though I offered to pay to fix it), paypal will debit you for the amount of the transaction until the matter is resolved. This happened to me a couple of times and it always resolved properly...but it took 4 weeks or so.

ibanezcollector · #9 12-05-2007, 08:20 AM

I have over a 110 verified paypal transaction not including the unverified ones, and I never had a single issue.

Common sense as double agent stated is the key, offer no returns, as-is, is a key.

Offer to only ship to verified addresses

And most importantly get the phone number for said buyer and CHECK IT by calling them. If you ask for them and someone says you got the wrong number then thats a huge tip off.

Where are you attempting to sell said item? here? ebay? If its outside of ebay then ask for feedback there is plenty of online selling and trading in forums and people should have feedback somewhere.

But a little common sense you wont have a issue.

Alexisonfire344 · #10 12-05-2007, 08:29 AM

Well there are a couple ways that one can be ripped off or one can scam other people. And its for D$#@ sure I dont condone this.

Say one has an active paypal account with and active credit card. And that person buys a bass from another person on eaby. So they use buy it now, and get all the crap out of the way and the seller ships the item. The card holder now calls up his credit card company and reports his card missing or stolen, so they hault all transactions with in the last 24 hrs. leaving the sellers pay pal account short XXX.XX for the bass, and that bad boy is already in the mail.

of course I have never had anything like that happen to me befor, (knock on wood)
and Ive made countless transactions.
Just make sure that the money is there befor you ship that bad boy

**baba** · #11 12-05-2007, 08:35 AM

I sold a power amp, received payment through Paypal, shipped the item.

Dude opened a dispute via Paypal saying it didn't work and either did the CD player!? There was no CD player in the deal and of course the amp was fine. I stated that via Paypal's dispute process he never replied. Based on their policy, after 20 days of no communication or reply, the dispute is cancelled. I got my money, but for 20 days I was sweating.

I still use Paypal.

Geddyfleaharris · #12 12-05-2007, 08:51 AM

I think Paypal is about as secure as you can get it. A lot better than sending a money order or wire transfer to someone you don't know. I use it. Maybe I have too much faith in their system

but not sure what the alternative would be.

bakeronbass · #13 12-05-2007, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geddyfleaharris

I think Paypal is about as secure as you can get it. A lot better than sending a money order or wire transfer to someone you don't know. I use it. Maybe I have too much faith in their system

but not sure what the alternative would be.

+1

**baba** · #14 12-05-2007, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geddyfleaharris

I think Paypal is about as secure as you can get it. A lot better than sending a money order or wire transfer to someone you don't know. I use it. Maybe I have too much faith in their system

but not sure what the alternative would be.

Paypal is great if you are the buyer since you can open a dispute on anything. However, a USPS money order is the best if you are an American seller.

kevin_lindsay · #15 12-05-2007, 10:10 AM

You tried to get a disputed purchase via Paypal resolved?

I bought a pair of Timberland boots form a seller, and they never turned up - contacted the seller who said "I sent them" but did absolutely nothing to identify their whereabouts. I complained via Paypal and all they did was e-mail teh seller to say "his customer has not received the goods"

2 months later, and e-mails every day - Paypal have done nothing since that 1 reply, and I am still out all my money. I have to say I am not impressed,especially considering the fees you get stiffed with every time you buy via Ebay, and then have to pay Payplay fees on top as well!!

Sarah5string · #16 12-06-2007, 03:07 AM

ALWAYS send the item with some kind of tracking or 'signed for' service. I've had a couple of people who have 'claimed' they didn't recieve the item and filed disputes with paypal (one the day after I sent the item *rolls eyes*) and because I couldn't give paypal a tracking number they automatically found in favour of the buyer so I lost the money AND the item.

Paypal.. great for buyer... full of red tape and 'get out clauses' for sellers...

wallarookiller · #17 12-07-2007, 03:36 AM

They can charge back after they pay you and get there money paypal tries to help out the buyer and the seller but the buyer usually wins so they can keep there good name in the public view.

warnergt · #18 12-07-2007, 07:57 AM

I was burned once as a buyer by PayPal and learned the hard way what you must do.

If you are a PayPal buyer and don't get what you paid for, first you MUST open a dispute within 30 days with PayPal. Then, PayPal emails the seller that there is a claim hoping that the seller and buyer work it out. If that doesn't get satisfaction, second, within 20 days you MUST escalate the dispute to a claim. After that, PayPal may ask for some information (like proof that you sent a defective item back). Then PayPal will make a decision based on the evidence and give the money to the person they consider more deserving.

If you don't do those two steps within the time windows that PayPal gives you, you get nothing. Furthermore, PayPal makes it very difficult to figure out how to escalate the claim -- there is no help on this step. And, if you request help, they send a canned email which does not answer the question. You must go into the transaction details and find the button to escalate the claim.

I've had scam sellers drag their feet saying stuff like "I can't ship it for 3 weeks." If they can get you to delay filing a dispute long enough, you will get nothing.