My friend was selling a phone on Gumtree – for 55 quid, payment by Paypal as a gift.

Somebody buys it, but pays £125 then asks her to post to Nigeria.

Now this would sound dodgy to me if she had sold on ebay – as buyer could file a dispute and get the money back straight away – or if it was bank transfer therefore they have her details.

But since it's by Paypal, what can they do? Or is it just a bit racialist that I'm assuming they're a scammer because they're Nigerian?

what can't they do ?

Well, with no personal information other than an email address…

If that's all you need then surely we'd all be shafted?

there is no such word as racialist

I think they'll find a way to retract the payment

Yup Ally as SFB says. Item not received through paypal = phone plus refund.

there is no such word as racialist

Yes there is. It's very last century though.

> Yup Ally as SFB says. Item not received through paypal = phone plus refund.

I thought that was only valid if it was listed as payment for an ebay transaction though? AFAIK the payment went through as a gift.

> there is no such word as racialist

Yes I know, I did go to school. But it became famous when a certain not-so-bright female who died this year used it.

Oh excuse me, it appears that ernie is on the ball
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/racialist

LOL Was going to add might be Ok if as a gift! No idea then!

so, which century do we live in now? this one or the last one

So when they change their mind and you admit to Paypal that it wasn't actually a gift but a payment for goods received how sympathetic are they going to be ?

so, which century do we live in now?

and all the old words are revoked ?

Do you have trouble reading books, articles, etc, which are more than 10 years old because they contain words that no longer exist iDave ?

So when they change their mind and you admit to Paypal that it wasn't actually a gift but a payment for goods received how sympathetic are they going to be ?

Good point there. She's not planning on sending it anyway, but I'll keep note if it ever happens to me.

the wording that i just got in an email selling something and using paypal as a gift:

Dear MEIKLLE,

A RANDOM just sent you money with PayPal.

Reversals:
Please be aware that your payment can still be reversed, (e.g. if it is subject to a chargeback), even after you have posted the item to your buyer. Complying with PayPal's protection programmes and following the trading guidelines, in our Security Centre helps to protect you from things like chargebacks.

so there is some easy way for a buyer to reverse it. easy enough that you need to be warned to protect yourself from chargeback

Opens the question as to what's the safest way to sells goods – even to "trusty" folk on here.

There's always an uneasy feeling about given your Bank A/c and sort code for a direct transfer. But if a buyer can recall money from Paypal at the drop of a hat, which is the lesser of 2 evils?

Also, may be a hacked account i.e. paying with someone elses money. As soon as Paypal realises the account has been hacked they will take the money back off you, plus you will be down a phone.

Don't go through with it. With no proof of delivery/receipt, you'll get bum raped as the people above have stated.

You have a few options

Ask for cash instead

Don't send the phone and refund the money

Don't send the phone and keep the money

If you send the phone, they will wait for the phone to turn up, then say it didn't ask for a refund (by Weston money transfer due to a paypal issue in Nigeria) and then wiz it back off paypal too leaving you with no phone and no 125 quid for and 125 quid down too. 😕

be careful

Just turn the scam around
say yeah etc etc & then simply don't post it – see what happens

TBH – I'd probably just refuse the payment through Paypal

there is no such word as racialist

Ali G disagrees…..Aiii!

From 1.45 on

Must be a nightmare trying to do legitimate import/export from Nigeria!

I'll never trust a Nigerian financier or any member of their royalty again. Terrible state of affairs.

I quite like the reference to Nigeria in this

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/breaking_news_all_online_data

😀

They have the Internets in Nigeria ?

If they did want paying back I do have some Nigerian checks to play with 😈