Sold a phone a few weeks ago to Alexandro (Alexander Mackmin)for over a hundred quid. The guy paid by Paypal Gift, which I know is bucking the system but most of us do it.

I sent it Special Delivery, and got a signed confirmation that it was received along with an e-mail from the buyer confirming this. As soon as it was delivered, he reversed the payment to Paypal and they took it straight out of my account. To cut a long story short, after he said he would look into it almost a fortnight ago I haven’t heard from him so consider myself to be well and truely scammed!!

I always thought you couldn’t reverse the payment on PPG, hence the reason for no fee – but I was obviously wrong. Paypal are just saying they have done nothing wrong and acting on the instructions from the buyers bank. I have sent them his e-mail plus proof of receipt but they are saying there is nothing to answer for and the case is now closed pending my complaint.

I don’t suppose anyone knows this guy, or has dealt with him in the past??

That’s clearly not on. Paypal now owned by Ebay is renowned so I hear for being on buyers side but forget that sellers get dooped all the time.

🙄

Thank my lucky stars I have never had a problem with buying/selling.
But it’s not luck at all, as I always deliver within 24hrs or 48hrs and for a decent price and well packaged etc so I feel for you if you had this covered as standard as so many do not understand the concept of buying/selling etiquette.

Chin up.

conned! what a bastard.
Phones seem to be ripe for scamming, whether on here or on ebay.
i guess it will serve as a warning to others thinking of doing similar.
Doesn’t help you unfortunately.
Did you post to his home address?

https://www.facebook.com/alexander.mackmin

Yeah, you gotta watch out for thses shitehawks who only use this for classifieds, no one knows them so there is no reputation

Paypal are just saying they have done nothing wrong and acting on the instructions from the buyers bank

It’s possible he paid by debit, but didn’t have enough in the bank to cover the transaction, so it got reversed on processing. I don’t think a gift can be reversed as a user controlled paypal process, but this does seem a way around it whether deliberate or not.

Sometimes I wonder if selling stuff is worth it.

While this is shittyness of the highest order, don’t Paypal have some sort of point? As far as they are aware nothing has been bought, money has been sent as a gift, so unfortunately in this case there is no seller to protect.
The lesson is that the scammer knows that the target will jump at the chance of saving a couple of quid.
Hope you get sorted and your money back.
Edit: is in not possible that he’s on holiday? #lookingatbothsides

The guy paid by Paypal Gift, which I know is bucking the system but most of us do it.

A bit like speeding – we all do it, but it is breaking the law…

Another search reveals…

http://www.192.com/atoz/people/mackmin/alexander/

Roadie huh?

http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/points?person_id=68908&year=2008&d=4

Do you have a record of the imei number so you can block the phone?
Edit….to slow

Cheers Stu – already seen the Facebook page, but other than a reference to Bradley Wiggins there isn’t really enough to say he’s into cycling – saying that, he probably isn’t. Plus, not a great deal I can do anyway as I am already e-mailing him.

Have his address and mobile, but unless I travel down to Dorking it isn’t much use! Plus he reckons it was his girlfriends address anyway. Mobile phone just goes unanswered, whether I withold number or not.

Luckily I didn’t have the full amount in Paypal anyway so my account is in the negative, still v.annoying though!!

http://virgintech.org/how-to-block-lost-mobile-phone-by-imei-number.html

I was always under the impression that Paypal gift was a way of the person making the payment to be liable for the ( extortionate) fees that Paypal charge, rather than the person selling an item.

Maybe a letter to his local police station can sort things out!!!

Paypal willmtake it out of your bank

You may not live in Dorking, but others on here probably do….. 😉

Don – was thinking the same about the holiday, but he has always kept in touch via an iPhone/iPad so would have thought he’d be able to keep in touch. Plus, he e-mailed me twice and I wouldn’t have though he would bugger off on holiday without sorting it out – may be wrong on that one though!

Yep – I admit to trying to save myself a fiver or so by using Paypal Gift so am accepting part of the blame myself, won’t be doing that again!!

there isn’t really enough to say he’s into cycling – saying that, he probably isn’t

He definitely is – you only have to google his name.
Plenty on here are around the Dorking area.

Small Claims…

Don – was thinking the same about the holiday, but he has always kept in touch via an iPhone/iPad so would have thought he’d be able to keep in touch. Plus, he e-mailed me twice and I wouldn’t have though he would bugger off on holiday without sorting it out – may be wrong on that one though!

Yep – I admit to trying to save myself a fiver or so by using Paypal Gift so am accepting part of the blame myself, won’t be doing that again!!

I kind of like to give the benefit of the doubt on these things as I bought a seatpost of classifieds when I was living in Spain. It went missing for a while and might have looked like one of us was trying to scam the other, eventually it turned up at the sellers house, he resent it and it all ended peachy.
That’s not to say that there aren’t any scummy people out there.

Good luck with it all.

Thanks for all your comments guys,I don’t really want to block the phone as there may be a reasonable explanation why all this has happened – plus I think it will knock any chance of me getting my money firmly on the head!!

The really annoying thing is I bought some handlebars off Bridger2 from the classifieds,paid PPG a month ago and never received either the bars or an email. Complained to PayPal who said,in a roundabout way, tough – you paid by PPG so aren’t covered!!

Duh!

Report as theft to the police and get the mobile IMEI added to the list of stolen phones so it’s barred on all networks

You’ll probably find out its nothing to do with it been a PayPal gift but more to do with the fact that the buyer didn’t have funds in his account. As PayPal send payment instantly and then request it from the buyers bank. If there isn’t money in the account then PayPal take their payment back from the seller.
Still a crappy thing to do but you have his address so get your payment or goods back

A bit like speeding – we all do it, but it is breaking the Law …

Which Law ?

Prob the law of paypal/ebay enterprise international joke machine.
😉

I thought instant payments required the buyer to have a credit card registered to their account in case they didn’t have available funds in their bank account?

Which Law ?

Theft – Using a service which you don’t pay for

Out of interest then, what is the best/favoured method of payment in the classifieds?

Out of interest then, what is the best/favoured method of payment in the classifieds?

Paypal (goods/services).

I thought instant payments required the buyer to have a credit card registered to their account in case they didn’t have available funds in their bank account?

nah those of us who got in there at the start dont have a linked bank account and just a debit card 8)

Whatever PP claim they need my permission to take money and if I challenge the bank will return it and PP would need to small claims court me.

It is an awful service , expensive and all the charges are on the seller on ebay for example and the buyer gets all the protection
I avoid it at all costs tbh…ok if you are a buyer in ebay but that is it.

Licence to print money for a piss poor service

Paypal gift can be tricky if the seller is dodgy.Usually pay by Paypal goods/services and pay the charges my self-this gives you the option of raising a dispute in case things go awry doesn’t it? Problem with this would be if you’re a seller and the buyer is dodgy and raises a bogus dispute.
Bought a bash off Pinkbike recently and the guy sent me an invoice first via Paypal and paid the fees himself!

No more paypal gift for me either as i bought something recently on a forum clasifed ad what was busted , paid with PP balance and funds from my cc and now i have no comeback , nothing i can do is there …

oh look. another.

You didn’t have to pay by gift, instead you could have paid the fee yourself. If the buyer refuses to let you pay the fee then walk away, simple.
I always offer the buyer the option to use paypal gift or buyer pays the fee why should the seller suffer. You’ll find paypal has lots of flaws that expose both buyer and sellers to fraud. If you want protection then stick to shops and mail order where you have some.

At the very least you need to be posting who the perp is and also on their FS threads.

At the very least you need to be posting who the perp is and also on their FS threads.

Completely agree, name and shame.

IMHO if a sell wont accept paypal rather than gift its a barge pole moment if you want X at the end of the transaction add Y for the fees, if someone then does cash cheque or transfer your on a winner seems pretty obvious to me really……..

There is already someone selling stuff today in the “For Sale” section. No history with plenty to sell but most people won’t do some basic work to ensure if it’s genuine or not. Please look out for yourself instead of expecting others to do it for you.

Paypal gift is only for people you trust, simple as that. Now personally, I’m quite a trusting person so I do use gift at times when it’s not 100% a good idea- frankly I’d sooner be trusting and get burned occasionally than paranoid. Over time, i’ve still saved more on paypal fees than I’ve lost on the very rare scams.

But if you’re in any doubt, then don’t do gift.