I'm selling a power meter via a Facebook sale group, and the buyer has paid via PayPal...the full fat version with fees etc. I'm probably being paranoid but I don't get a cosy feeling..the buyers Facebook profile is almost non existent..no pictures or anything other than a blank space. The address he provided seems to match up with the few friends he has on Facebook so that's some sort of reassurance. Once I've posted, and all is as described in the ad, what are the risks to me as a seller? I'll be sending signed for and guaranteed to full value.
He says it’s not working and he wants a refund, you say send it back, he send it back, you give refund. Only the one he’s sent back isn’t the one you sold, and it’s buggered. Take a pic of serial numbers etc before you send.
The lack of a public Facebook profile isn't cause for concern in and of itself I wouldn't have thought. Plenty of people friends-lock their posts rather than post publicly (or, y'know, don't use Facebook very often).
Of course, that doesn't mean he isn't a shyster either, as Tom says.
I would insist buyer pays for tracked postage.
I got stung for £600 on a pair of forks I sold to a guy who was adamant he didn't want to pay for tracked postage. Naively I agreed and he claimed he never got the forks. Guess who Paypal sided with?
Parcelforce eventually tacked down that the forks had been delivered to the work address he had given me but Paypal still weren't interested.
Generally the buyer is pretty well protected, the seller less so. If you are at all worried I'd give it a miss.
I've started using Squareup to take payments instead. It still has the risk of credit card chargebacks but takes paypal out of the equation. Bit cheaper at 2% fees too.
Shooterman, who did you send the forks with?
Thought with the size of forks it have to be something like parcel-force and tracking inc in price?
If it was extra for insurance I could understand.
They let it sit in the mail rool and claim they never received it.
I got stung for £600 on a pair of forks I sold to a guy who was adamant he didn’t want to pay for tracked postage. Naively I agreed and he claimed he never got the forks. Guess who Paypal sided with?
I’d factor it into my selling price, then use it regardless of what the buyer wants as it’s my responsibility to get it to them. Can’t fathon why you wouldn’t?
@MTB Rob sent with Parcelforce to a work address in Austria.Threatened Parcelforce with legal action and that's what it took them to investigate it properly.
By the time Parcelforce came back with the details Paypal had refunded the £600, debited my account and were no longer interested.
@tomhoward, I was in the middle of starting a business and had my mind on other things. Just didn't see it coming.
The main two are mentioned above - seller 'returns' his knackered cranks/iphone/forks and keeps your nice shiney ones. Or the even better version where they send an empty box thats tracked so they can 'prove' you got them back.
Or they 'never' get there in the first place.
Golden rule, if it is electronic or fragile or both, don't bother. Served me well.
I got scammed on EBay last year selling a GoPro where EBay/PayPal sided with the buyer
He claimed it wasn't working on arrival and insisted on a return
He shipped back a broken GoPro and failed to include the WiFi remote which I sold with it (chased him about it, but he claimed he couldn't find it)
I didn't have note of the serial numbers so couldn't prove anything
They just assumed I must have sent a faulty item (even though the photos in my listing showed the GoPro turned on with the display showing) and accepted he couldn't find the remote
I only send things that I can write off the cost off now
I've never had any problem with any scammers so far but I do insist they pay into my bank account.
If they refuse then I wont send it.
Typically the stuff I'm selling is very rare or a one off (music gear) so I don't have problems, if they want it then they want it
Having been scammed out of nearly £900 the first time I sold via facebook I wouldn't go near it if I were you. It seems the thieves have realised that the police don't have the resources to chase them so are getting more and more blatant.
If it was me I wouldn't be accepting ANYTHING other than cash for a FB sale. Im assuming its a local group, so message the guy, explaining that you'll refund his payment and you'd like to meet up with him somewhere public like a Costa and he can pay cash instead.
If he doesn't want to do that, walk.
As others have said, take photos of any serial numbers and distinctive marks / scrathes etc on it for reference.
The main two are mentioned above – seller ‘returns’ his knackered cranks/iphone/forks and keeps your nice shiney ones. Or the even better version where they send an empty box thats tracked so they can ‘prove’ you got them back.
I had some cheeky f*cker do this over a set of £175 wheels. I could probably half understand why if it was a £1500 item, but for something of such little value, why?
Anyway, he did the whole returns thing, after claiming they wern't as described (yet left me good feedback & asking me cancel the sale as he couldn't afford them) & low & behold, he sent me a box of rubbish (literally rubbish inside the wheel box) & escalated the claim within minutes of the item arriving and being signed for - he got a refund. I had no item.
I appealed the claim, followed Ebay's proceedure & within a couple of days, after filling out some form & sending some pictures, they reversed it.
In a bizarre twist of fate, I had exactly the same situation with another seller, on an equally low value item. Ebay sided with me on that one too.
People, eh?