Getting paid through Paypal

bungaro79

Hi
I've never used PayPal to get paid for something before but I'm selling something small and the buyer up in Dublin said he'd pay me through Paypal and he'd arrange the courier. Having never gone through this process before, is there anything stopping the buyer from saying he never got it and making a claim through Paypal for his money back??
Thanks

CeilingFly

Be very careful when they say they will arrange the courier as there's no proof of delivery.

You can set up a PayPal account very easily in a couple of minutes.

You then add his email to a payment request and he sends payment to your PayPal account.

Do not follow any links or PayPal emails the buyer sends to you, always log on yourself and see the payment.

Snotty

Tell him you will arrange courier or postage if it's small. Get proof of postage and you are covered.

stronglikebull

Snotty wrote: »

Tell him you will arrange courier or postage if it's small. Get proof of postage and you are covered.

Proof of postage is worth nothing. You need traceable delivery for Paypal to cover you.

If a buyer says they will arrange a courier, it's 100% a scam. What (genuine) buyer arranges a delivery?

ahnowbrowncow

No there's not. When selling an item an online don't accept paypal unless they send it as a gift otherwise there's too much risk.

Snotty

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

No there's not. When selling an item an online don't accept paypal unless they send it as a gift otherwise there's too much risk.

What?? Dont accept PayPal unless it's a gift? what kind of moron pays a complete stranger using gift and what kind of con artist expects a buyer to pay via gift.

fryup

does paypal redirect the money to your bank account? or does it stay in a paypal account ?

ahnowbrowncow

Snotty wrote: »

What?? Dont accept PayPal unless it's a gift? what kind of moron pays a complete stranger using gift and what kind of con artist expects a buyer to pay via gift.

What kind of moron accepts a payment, that can be withdrawn at any moment at the whim of a total stranger, leaving them without the item and the payment?

Snotty

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

What kind of moron accepts a payment, that can be withdrawn at any moment at the whim of a total stranger, leaving them without the item and the payment?

Suppose just us honest sellers then

ohnonotgmail

For the seller, allowing the buyer to arrange transport leaves them very exposed. for the buyer, sending the money as a gift/friends payment leaves them exposed. the only solution is for the seller to send the item by registered post and add that cost to the cost of the item.

ahnowbrowncow

Snotty wrote: »

Suppose just us honest sellers then

It'll happen you sooner or later, I used to use PayPal too until I got burned.

the_syco

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

No there's not. When selling an item an online don't accept paypal unless they send it as a gift otherwise there's too much risk.

Perhaps say what you use instead of Paypal?

If they are sending a courier, let them send cash with the courier

stronglikebull

Snotty wrote: »

What?? Dont accept PayPal unless it's a gift? what kind of moron pays a complete stranger using gift and what kind of con artist expects a buyer to pay via gift.

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

What kind of moron accepts a payment, that can be withdrawn at any moment at the whim of a total stranger, leaving them without the item and the payment?

These two posts sum up the problems with Paypal in a nutshell. It's possible to scam from either the buyer or seller side, and you always have to be on the lookout for potential signs that the other person is scamming you.
A seller has much less protection than a buyer, and just about the only way to protect yourself is by using the gift payment option. This leaves the buyer completely exposed though, so you'd be hard pressed to find anyone willing to use that option.

Meet in person and pay with cash, it's the only guaranteed way (except for counterfeit cash of course). Anything else opens the possibility of a scam. It's when the item you're selling (or buying) is expensive that you need to be careful. Cheap items aren't worth worrying too much about. Far to easy to scam someone out of a brand new phone if you know what you're doing.

CeilingFly

ahnowbrowncow wrote: »

No there's not. When selling an item an online don't accept paypal unless they send it as a gift otherwise there's too much risk.

you have it totally wrong - if paid as a "gift" you ahve zero protection

ohnonotgmail

CeilingFly wrote: »

you have it totally wrong - if paid as a "gift" you ahve zero protection

no they dont. you have just misread their post. If you are selling and the buyer sends the money as a gift you are completely covered. the buyer cannot dispute later. the buyer has zero protection but the post you quoted was looking at it from the sellers POV.

bungaro79

Think I'm going to just sell it to someone who can see the item in the flesh 😁 thanks for all the replies!

stronglikebull

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

no they dont. you have just misread their post. If you are selling and the buyer sends the money as a gift you are completely covered. the buyer cannot dispute later.

One caveat if accepting a payment as a gift, it can be reversed if the payment was sent from a stolen card, or a hacked account. The seller would have no way to know if this is the case until it was too late.

ohnonotgmail

stronglikebull wrote: »

One caveat if accepting a payment as a gift, it can be reversed if the payment was sent from a stolen card, or a hacked account. The seller would have no way to know if this is the case until it was too late.

hmm, thats a good point. so paypal is basically useless for private sellers.

wmpdd3

I often buy this way, sellers don't want the hassle of arranging a courier, though often they ask for postal order!

It's true about PayPal and chargebacks,it is a major flaw and has been raised many times on the PayPal forum but the company hasn't offered a solution.

stronglikebull

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

hmm, thats a good point. so paypal is basically useless for private sellers.

If you sell goods, you're effectively a business from the payment processors point of view. Any business takes a risk in accepting payment, be that credit card, debit card, cheque or cash. Any of those could be forged or stolen, and if that turns out to be the case then the business takes the hit.

As a private individual selling stuff and accepting payments through Paypal or some other processing agent, your protection is not great. Cash in hand is the safest method, but of course there is still fake money out there. At least you have to opportunity to check it though. Online payments can't really be checked until it is too late.