Swank4

So I've been selling some stock car parts on the internet lately. Mostly listing on Ebay (for the more expensive/smaller ones) but also Craigslist (for the cheaper/larger) ones. I've used both in the the past for several transactions (both buying and selling). But recently, when I went to list my laptop for sail on Craigslist, I started getting a lot of sketchy email replies. Do computers (and electronics in general) inherently draw more scumballs?

Here's an example, "Hello ,
I am from USA.I'm contacting you concerning your item on Craiglist .However i'm presently serving our beloved nation here in UK and i intend sending this item to my wife who works with a daycare in USA.So i will like you Ship the package via EMS, or USPS DAILY POSTAL SERVICE Shipping to Brownsville,USA and I will like you to go and know the Shipping cost and calculate it and with your asking prize of the item for Payment get back with the amount i will be paying immediately..I will be sending you my payment via PayPal,So kindly send me your (PAYPAL EMAIL ADDRESS) So as to immediately make out my payment.Make sure you get the package ready for immediate or next day shipment okay?.Expecting your reply so as to immediately make out my payment."

Sounds like a scam to me but how do they run it? I mean, I would never ship before PayPal payment...so if I receive payment how would they scam it?

Ram@S4-MTM

I have some dick**** doing that to me now to the tune of $500 and Paypal are v.unhelpful...

Sent him a vag-com cable, had tracking info, now paypal are holding my account hostage while this guy tries to get money back as well...

iconoclast

well thats what they use with the info they catch.

theyll use someone elses account, have you drop ship to a dif. location. and thats it.

Swank4

either way it's a smudge on your record.

OBSESS4

I receive 5 emails like this each day from scammers.

If the credit card used in paypal was stolen or the paypal account was hijacked or the buyer claims the credit card was used without their knowledge they can file a chargeback with the credit card company or paypal. Or, they can claim that they ordered the merchandise but either did not receive it or received something unsatisfactory. Once the chargeback is initiated Paypal will take the money out of your account and hold it until the issue is resolved through their "dispute resolution" process.

However, if you qualify for paypal's "seller protection policy" they will help you to resolve the issue and even reimburse you for the chargeback. This has happened to me twice in the past few years and paypal has actually saved me a few thousand dollars from scammers. If I had a merchant account through my bank I'd have lost that money. So if done right paypal is actually a very useful tool for merchants.

If you plan on selling often and using paypal then I recommend you become eligible for paypal's "seller protection policy". You can read about it here:<ul><li><a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/cps/securitycenter/sell/SellerPPOverview-outside">paypals seller protection policy</a></li></ul>

Swank4

I had heard about some of this but didn't know how prevalent it was. How does PayPal figure out who is lying in these types of disputes? Seems fairly difficult. I guess I'll take pictures of my packaging and keep the tracking number and such. Thanks.

OBSESS4

the purchase is eligible under paypal's "seller protection policy" as outlined earlier.

It's the nature of the credit card business and not specifically a paypal issue. Most people do not know this but it's alwasy the merchant who eats the loss.

lemieux@curbside

and traveled all the way to Nigeria and Benin to trace these ***** , they finnaly met someone (nigerian dude)in Swiss , the reporter uncovered the whole scam and the person walked out , they could not do jack-**** to him there ..it was FLOCK UP !!!