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Sellers Beware

#21
Templar said:
$0.02....

Ebay is still the safest place to buy/sell online. There are ways to get scammed, but using Paypal exclusively will eliminate most of the would-be attackers. You have a safety net with ebay/Paypal, as both a buyer and a seller, that you don't have elsewhere, including Reverb (don't ask :() or any of the various forum classifieds. Not to mention access to the biggest market.

Even so, buying safely off ebay is so easy that a chimp could do it, but selling safely on ebay requires some effort. Tbh, most of the ebay listings I see are rife with potential problems because the sellers don't bother to disclose enough info to protect against fickle or dishonest buyers.

For ripoff sellers, ebay is nowhere near as attractive for them as it was years ago. As it stands now, Reverb is a bit like the old ebay, where dishonest sellers can get away misrepresenting items without much consequence. Reverb is still kinda new, but over time the crooked sellers will realize the opportunity that Reverb presents.
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I have not had any issues with reverb so far. What are some of the pitfalls there? Seems like if you use PayPal there, you are ok.
 
#22
Has happened with every slightly expensive thing I've posted in the last couple years. If it's local it's cash only. Otherwise it's PayPal with some website that has seller protection. Dangerous stuff though
 
#23
petrus61 said:
I wonder if that would be different if there were photographic evidence of the transaction?
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I don't think so - I used to read the eBay seller discussion board, and there were numerous accounts of situations where PayPal is clearly is ONLY affected by electronic tracking - anything else, they pretty much ignore, no matter how much it might make sense. That may have changed, but I wouldn't count on it.
 
#24
Ya, the scammers. I will take wire transfer, Paypal, and several forms of check BUT!, if a check, I won't ship until it clears and I still wait a week after that. Most buyers don't like this but it has weeded out the baddies. Where I live there won't be a local sale so a tracking number is business as usual. I did get scammed on a Postal Money Order some years ago. Things may have changed, but there was a way to cancel a PMO and it took the Postal Service six months to determine the PMO was canceled. Mail fraud will get some serious federal attention, the PO is slow but relentless and prosecute for sure.
 
#25
That's why I do PayPal, no bass until I have the money...
That scam is pretty common on Craigslist, you get the check it clears you send the Bass than the bank contacts you after the fact that the check was bogus..you know it's a scam immediately when they say they will have someone pick up the goods, who the f$$$ does that...
 
#27
I had one of these scammers try to pull this stunt on me a few years ago. I knew on the first response that this clown was a phony by the poor English he used. When he sent me the check I shredded it and contacted Secret Service. I gave them all the info I had and also reported his email to CL. He emailed me a couple more times trying to intimidate me but he stopped when I told him the FBI was looking for him. Never heard from him again. What a loser! Now, when I advertise on CL, I give only a phone number and say to leave a message. Since doing this, I have never had a scammer contact me. :D
 
#28
PayPal is only safe to use when shipping, certified checks and money orders can be faked too, with funds being revoked a while later. Same with PayPal without a tracking number. If it was paid with a stolen card for example, they can revoke payment after you handed the instrument over. Check the seller protection info on their site.

PayPal only with a tracking number, cash only for the rest!
 
#29
guy n. cognito said:
Or personal PayPal transfer. No buyer protection.
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I've never heard this happen, but be aware of sending to someone using personal PayPal payments. If I hacked someone's PayPal account and buy something from you, a personal payment doesn't give you the verified address. So when it turns out that address you shipped to is a fake address, or some place that I'm just going to pick up the package when it's delivered, you have no recourse when the person finds out their account was hacked.
 
#30
MultiScaleMale said:
I've never heard this happen, but be aware of sending to someone using personal PayPal payments. If I hacked someone's PayPal account and buy something from you, a personal payment doesn't give you the verified address. So when it turns out that address you shipped to is a fake address, or some place that I'm just going to pick up the package when it's delivered, you have no recourse when the person finds out their account was hacked.
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Oh, I was only speaking of FTF transactions.
 
#32
Sell for cash and pick up from your home, thats the only way to really be sure for a legit transaction. Though in my country (don't know about other countries) they nowadays even scam you if they physically pick up whatever they buy from you or even rob you with weapons. Times has changed.
 
#33
I have bought gear with PayPal so that it would put the amount on my CC as a funding source.

I thought USPS MO’s were a safe bet until now; when I ask for them however the scammers clam up.

One day I’ll accept one of their checks and send them a nice gift box of ‘chocolates’ from my mastiffs!

Raz
 
#34
lbbc said:
I have bought and sold basses on this, and other, websites. I try to give accurate descriptions and reasonable prices. What burns me up are SCAMMERS! I had a guy offer to buy one of my basses. I told him I accept PayPal, Certified Check or Postal Money Order and gave him my address.
He said he would send a check with additional money, above my asking price, to cover the cost of someone to pick it up. I politely refused saying I would ship it and asked for his address...no reply. Yesterday, to my surprise, I received a check from a business in Utah, priority mailed to me from West Orange, NJ....red flags!! His eBay account says he's from Doral, FL. I contacted the business in Utah and they said it wasn't their check and redirected me to Fraudulent Investigations. The buyer contacted me saying he knows I received the check and to deposit it immediately. I told him, via email, that it was a fraudulent check and not to ever contact me again. MAN, people like this are just scum...if I deposited the check, my account would be drained (due to depositing a fraudulent check) and I'd be out of a bass. Sorry for the long post but just wanted to warn you that this is still happening!
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It's the world we live in today, very sad. Glad you were smart enough to catch it.
 
#35
Paypal is not necessarily safe either. I sold a set of bicycle pedals on ebay for $65. Buyer paid with Paypal. I had disclaimers up that I do not ship outside the country. I did not get insurance on the shipping. The pedals were shipped to Doral, FL.

Turned out it was shipped to a freight forwarding company, who was supposed to forward them on to somewhere in the Caribbean (Caymans I think). Supposedly the pedals were *lost*. Buyer disputed the sale / "lost" item. Paypal took the money from my account and gave it back to the buyer. I did not see the pedals ever again.

Lost the money and the pedals.

Since then, if I sell on ebay, I claim to not ship to freight forwarders also. I google map / street view the destination address to ensure it is not a business. And I don't ship without insurance, no matter what the amount.

You can't be too careful ...
 
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#36
I can't believe scammers are still working this tired old scheme. Someone must be dumb enough to fall for it.

Whenever one of these clowns asks for my name and address I direct them to the local police department, and my name just happens to be the same as the police chief.

I really do wonder what has happened to all those forged checks over the years.
 
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#37
I've seen people play pranks on these payment scammers before that were pretty funny. I think with the issues we have today on the used instrument market we'd all benefit if we could figure out some way to point these guys with the fake payments to the sellers with the counterfeit basses. Sort of a 2 birds with one stone situation. :bassist:
 
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#39
tekhedd said:
Yeah. A detailed listing definitely improves your ratings too, because people know exactly what they're getting. I've lost count of how many listings I've skipped because the seller didn't provide even the most basic information.
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Here's one that listed the bass as a 4 string and as a 5 string ... multiple times. Titled as a 5 string, picture of a 4 string, then mentions both 5 and 4 string in the description. What????

Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass V - Candy Apple Red
 
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