Some guy wants to buy my bike. Great, he’s gonna come and have a look tomorrow.

The issue is, he wants to pay via PayPal. I’d rather have a bank transfer, but he wants to do this so he can pay on credit card. Which I suppose is plausible.

I don’t have any real reason to doubt the guy, but I don’t wanna get burned, it’s a fair wedge.

He says he’s happy with either PayPal gift or normal PayPal (though there would be fees involved that way). I always thought that PayPal gift was irreversible but apparently not – people can apparently claim their account was hacked.

What’s the risk here and how do I avoid issues? Written receipt we both sign? Photo of the seller? Insist on seeing some ID?

Am I being paranoid? How do I avoid looking like a weirdo?

Ebay or other?

EBay would be fine as they now make you scan a qr code when you collect.

Other, might be legitimate, might not. Personally I’d not risk it, just seems like a potential risk for no reward unless it’s something you’ve really struggled to sell.

Not worth the risk, I even insisted on cash for a bike I sold. They’ll be another buyer soon enough.

It it a possible scam, where they later demand proof of delivery through paypal, but not I think if he pays with paypal gift.

I would snap a picture of him and his id, and of course verify the id matches the PayPal account, I have done this for someone who paid by paypal and collected, but I did tell him beforehand that is what I wanted to do.

I think there’s a code you can scan now when the buyer collects. Not used it myself yet though.

PayPal gift can only be claimed back if a stolen credit card is used, id ask him to bring the card, with a passport or driving license to prove it’s theirs.

I have bought and sold 2 bikes and a car exactly this way. Paypal is just a vehicle to use a credit card, you can easily get 18months intetest free deals so it makes sense.

The buyer comes to view, says yes please and pays by paypal using a phone. Money appears in your account. You say thanks and they walk away with the thing you sell.

If its ebay you have a collect in person option as above.

I did this when I sold my MTB 6 months back, some cash (£800, given he’d just sold his last bike), some PayPal gift for the same reason as you’ve said above (£1500ish).

No issues whatsoever, great guy, so can be legit.

I did what stevemuzzy describes to sell a bike. Met in car park – buyer keen on bike – sent money on PayPal there and then – checked it was in my account – gave buyer the bike. This was a sale on here though, so more trustworthy than eBay randoms maybe.

I think there’s a code you can scan now when the buyer collects. Not used it myself yet though.

Yes, last time I bought something I paid PayPal and got a QR code for the seller to scan when I picked it up.

Otherwise buyer can claim they never received anything, open dispute with PayPal, etc.

Edit: I was making the assumption we were talking about eBay here but reading back, possibly not?

If you absolutely have to accept credit cards then there are alternatives to PayPal. I’ve used squareup a few times.  An account is free and the transaction charges are lower than PayPal.

You can generate an invoice, send a link and the buyer can then pay by credit card.

I’ve bought and sold bikes using PayPal and tbh I worry just as much if someone wants to give me £50 notes – if it’s done friends and family I assumed there isn’t the ability to claim back- am I wrong?

I’ve done it for exactly the same reason, in fact i even bought a bike using PPal on here for a chunk of change as i was waiting for the current bike to sell on Ebay which as being used to pay off the CC a few days later.

if it’s done friends and family I assumed there isn’t the ability to claim back- am I wrong?

That’s what I thought too. But not so. They can’t claim for ‘item not received’ or ‘not as expected’ etc but apparently if they claim the account was hacked, PayPal will still reverse the transaction. Have seen reports of this online but don’t know how easy a scam it is.

Buyer found bike through eBay but contacted me outside of eBay and wants to pick it up.

PayPal Gift and get him to write a note on payment?

“Payment for Stumpjumper from Mr Superficial on 25.05.21..”.

I did this when I sold my jones , I wasn’t keen but I checked the blokes history and took the risk it all went smoothly, as you say it was as he wanted to use a credit card

PayPal gift can only be claimed back if a stolen credit card is used, i

I’d assume a charge back would still null the transaction.

Theres no transaction that’s produced through a debit or credit card that is safe for the seller. Only a direct bank transfer.

I’d assume a charge back would still null the transaction

Can’t generally charge back for goods paid via PayPal. Section 75 does not usually apply to PP transactions as there is not direct contract between seller and buyer.

I have accepted PP for this very reason when selling hifi kit. I just made sure the money was out of PP and in my bank account and let the buyer walk off with the goods at that point.

I’ve bought and sold using PayPal quite a few times. Sometimes through eBay others private sale. Never had any issues at all. Not asked for ID, a photo etc and never PayPal gift. Maybe I’m naive.

Cash isn’t risk free – sold a bike a few weeks back for £700. Guy turned up with Scottish £100s. No reason to doubt they’re real but I haven’t actually seen one since I worked in a bike shop nearly 20 years ago.

Can’t generally charge back for goods paid via PayPal. Section 75 does not usually apply to PP transactions as there is not direct contract between seller and buyer.

This may well be true, but PayPal were way easier to get my money back from a cancelled flight/holiday than my own bank’s creditcard chargeback, so they will obviosuly do this in some circumstances.

As others have said, ask him to bring hte actual card and ID, and take pics of him with the bike etc when he collects.

Buyer found bike through eBay but contacted me outside of eBay and wants to pick it up.

Be careful of this – I recently bought something and I’d offered to buy it outside ebay – I was going to collect so happy to pay cash/bank transfer. The seller actually asked me to complete the transaction through ebay as a mate of his did something similar a couple of days before, and ebay pinged him for the full transaction fee amount despite it being sold elsewhere.

Can’t generally charge back for goods paid via PayPal. Section 75 does not usually apply to PP transactions as there is not direct contract between seller and buyer.

Not true – I’ve had charge backs applied through PayPal and vice versa…..

Wanting to pay by credit card is definitely a legit reason for using Paypal – but remember one of you will have to pay the fees – same as if by goods & service paypal payment.

Written receipt we both sign? Photo of the seller? Insist on seeing some ID?

No harm doing all of this anyway