How to avoid a rip-off-not cobra related

Cobradad · #1 (**permalink**) 08-04-2011, 03:19 PM

I hope to avail myself of the forums collective wisdom. I'm selling my 1997 mustang convertible and I have someone who says they are in the UK and if they buy, would use paypal and ship the car over. I've read all the stuff about the Nigerian scams, etc. Can someone rip you off using paypal? I don't have an account and have never used it. The car is listed on outotrader.com, so no ebay stuff. She asked for my email that is linked to paypal. Said if I do not have a paypal account, it is easy to set up. Do I have any worries here? Thanks.

mpanten · #2 (**permalink**) 08-04-2011, 03:56 PM

If i understand you right they want to pay you using paypal? if so its pretty safe as long as you get the money first.

lovehamr · #3 (**permalink**) 08-04-2011, 03:58 PM

I've been using PP for years (buy and sell on fleabay) and have never had a problem but I do know others that have. That being said, once you have the money, you have the money. I wouldn't ship the car over there then count on someone sending the $$ but in any purchase like this there has to be a little trust both ways.

KirkV · #4 (**permalink**) 08-04-2011, 05:34 PM

I do believe paypal has a certain level of protection offered that I am sure you can read up on or call one of their reps. Ebay also offers $50,000 buyer protection program.

Call Paypal

redmt · #5 (**permalink**) 08-04-2011, 06:31 PM

Hmmm, Look at the big picture. Do you really think that some one wants to buy a used '97 mustang sight unseen and have you ship it to the UK? Really?

I have this bridge,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

One other thing to look at if you still think this is legit. Check out what Pay Pal requires for you to get your money from them. You have to be verified and have securities in place to remove money from your account. PP has their butts covered very well before you get your $$

JoeLafives · #6 (**permalink**) 08-04-2011, 06:36 PM

I would avoid it. What happens is that the payer uses a stolen card to pay via paypal. Then the payment gets refunded.

Skully · #7 (**permalink**) 08-04-2011, 07:17 PM

Paypal sucks, I do not buy anything over the internet if they use Paypal, got screwed by them and they did not want to make good on what I ordered, said I waited to long to contact them.

redmt · #8 (**permalink**) 08-04-2011, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skully

Paypal sucks, I do not buy anything over the internet if they use Paypal, got screwed by them and they did not want to make good on what I ordered, said I waited to long to contact them.

Pay Pal is good for what it is. I wouldn't use it for anything but small money transfers between known parties. I used it here as a primary form of payment for shirts and hats. Worked great. If you didn't follow their published rules and they have a lot of them , then it's on you.

MaSnaka · #9 (**permalink**) 08-04-2011, 07:34 PM

I think if the buyer offers you a link to set up your PP account you might be hijacked and give your personal info to the wrong people. If you set up PP I would do it independantly. I listed a BMW for sale and was approached through email by someone in the services overseas wanting to buy through and agent or some such. The big clue was they never even mentioned anything specific about the car I was selling, it was all very generic. Good luck.

John

tin-man · #10 (**permalink**) 08-05-2011, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skully

Paypal sucks, I do not buy anything over the internet if they use Paypal, got screwed by them and they did not want to make good on what I ordered, said I waited to long to contact them.

amen to that, PP sucks big time. tin-man

mrmustang · #11 (**permalink**) 08-05-2011, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cobradad

I hope to avail myself of the forums collective wisdom. I'm selling my 1997 mustang convertible and I have someone who says they are in the UK and if they buy, would use paypal and ship the car over. I've read all the stuff about the Nigerian scams, etc. Can someone rip you off using paypal? I don't have an account and have never used it. The car is listed on outotrader.com, so no ebay stuff. She asked for my email that is linked to paypal. Said if I do not have a paypal account, it is easy to set up. Do I have any worries here? Thanks.

Forget about this deal, it's a scam, been around for years.........

Only way to do an overseas transaction is a bank wire transfer.

1: Open new stand alone account
2: Speak with bank manager and get exactly what information needs to be sent.
3: Send this information only
4: Await funds to clear
5: Remove funds and close account (or leave bank minimum so you can use it again)
6: Send car on it's way.

Yes,it really is that simple and yes,it is the ONLY way to do such a transaction.

Bill S.

IndyCobra · #12 (**permalink**) 08-05-2011, 05:12 AM

There's only one option if you want to ensure you truly have the money, wire transfer. If the buyer is willing to wire tranfer the money to your bank, you are good to go. BTW, you don't really need a new account to do this. The only people who actually wire the money are bank employees. Give the buyer the name of the person from your bank who handles wire transfers and have them talk to each other. Safe and guaranteed the money is there.

ANYTHING else has some risk for you. I've sold airplanes overseas and this is the only way I will conduct business.

STEVE-O · #13 (**permalink**) 08-05-2011, 05:41 AM

The money transfer sounds like the best way to receive money but what about a person buying a car? I dont know if I would wire money to a bank account without having a car in my hands.
What guarantees can I do to make sure I am going to get the car? Sad that you cant trust anyone anymore!

Buzz · #14 (**permalink**) 08-05-2011, 05:49 AM

Living in the Caribbean means (among other things) that I do a lot of overseas purchasing. I use Paypal frequently for small to average sized transactions and it works great, but for anything larger like a car purchase, what the guys said about bank wire transfers is correct and absolutely the way to go.

I recently bought a right hand drive Caddy CTS from a dealership in the UK. Not really sight unseen, as an in-law relative checked it out in person; but everything from the purchase to the transportation and shipping was handled over the phone and via email. The bank transfer was smooth and secure and the whole deal was painless and hassle free.

If your foreign buyer is unwilling or unable to conduct business through a bank transfer, wave goodbye and move on.

redmt · #15 (**permalink**) 08-05-2011, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tin-man

amen to that, PP sucks big time. tin-man

I use Pay Pal both buying and selling. Used it for years. I've never had an issue. What am I missing? Is there something in particular to look out for?

John

mrmustang · #16 (**permalink**) 08-05-2011, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by STEVE-O

The money transfer sounds like the best way to receive money but what about a person buying a car? I dont know if I would wire money to a bank account without having a car in my hands.
What guarantees can I do to make sure I am going to get the car? Sad that you cant trust anyone anymore!

I've had a few people tell me this while attempting to buy cars from me in the past. One refused to send money but wanted me to send the car with his shipper. I of course refused and walked away from the potential sale as the risk was 100% mine. I did however sell the car one week later to another fellow who wanted to view the car in person, and flew in from Nevada. The second one was overseas, I sent him a number of links to inspection services, told him to either pick one, or do a google search of his own and pick one of his finding, final option was to check on the forum he found the car on and ask who could look at a car for him. he choose the last option and had 3 separate people tell him "since it was in northern, NJ (at the time) have "mrmustang" look at it for him", not knowing I was the seller

.......Anyone else who expected me to release the car without payment in full has been turned away, as that expectation is beyond comprehension in my book.

Bill S.

marco246 · #17 (**permalink**) 08-05-2011, 01:35 PM

I have a car for sale, and a couple of weeks ago I received an offer from a person who offered to pay full asking price, sight unseen, if I'd take Paypal and turn the car over to an "agent." The "buyer" was someone ostensibly on board a ship and had no access to a bank. It smelled bad. I did some research on Paypal and found that "charge-back" is a problem. In this scam, the buyer pays by Paypal, gets possession of the item for sale, and then claims to Paypal that either he did not receive the item or that it was not as advertised. He files a claim with Paypal, which goes into your bank account, or if you've already moved the money, to your credit card, and recovers the money. So you are out the merchandise AND the money. Of course, the "buyer" disappears with both.

SunDude · #18 (**permalink**) 08-05-2011, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marco246

I have a car for sale, and a couple of weeks ago I received an offer from a person who offered to pay full asking price, sight unseen, if I'd take Paypal and turn the car over to an "agent." The "buyer" was someone ostensibly on board a ship and had no access to a bank. It smelled bad. I did some research on Paypal and found that "charge-back" is a problem. In this scam, the buyer pays by Paypal, gets possession of the item for sale, and then claims to Paypal that either he did not receive the item or that it was not as advertised. He files a claim with Paypal, which goes into your bank account, or if you've already moved the money, to your credit card, and recovers the money. So you are out the merchandise AND the money. Of course, the "buyer" disappears with both.

Now THERE'S the explanation of the risk in this transaction...

Thanks for educating me on how this might work/go bad.

lal Naja · #19 (**permalink**) 08-13-2011, 09:30 AM

One other fraud to watch out for. I made a sale on ebay. Buyer sent me a business check. I deposited the check and shipped the goods. A couple of weeks later the bank notified me that the check was not ligitimate. It is so easy to print checks on your computer these days and I never even considered for a moment that someone would do this.

eBay was not able to do anything about it and I guess banned the buyer. I was out everything.

On another ebay auction I bought from an overseas buyer and received a box of junk. ebay advised me to send it back and they would refund me. Problem is that return shipping was almost the same cost as the transaction. This meant that after packing and shipping I would still be out of pocket 100%

Fortunately I have done about a hundred transactions on eBay & Paypal and only two have been an issue. So with my experience about 2% of the population are total Aholes.
Arthur