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[timferius]

wow, ok, never actually ventured this low in the forums... but I have a question.
We're selling our car, and have a potential buyer, but he's insisting that he's only comfortable sending us money by paypal. Now, my wife read somewhere that he can issue a stop payment after he sends the money, and it will be taken back.
How do we guarntee we'll get the money and not get scammed using paypal?

[pisskop]

Ensure all the money is in your hands before letting go of merchandise.  That applys to any informal exchange of goods.  You are not a business, and businesses often don't finance loans themselves anyhow.

The only other way would be a binding contract signed by both parties... but thats another matter.  You may actually spend more money trying to recover what he owes in court fees.

[timferius]

Awesome, that's what I was thinking. I'm hoping this turns out to be legit, we really need to sell.

[Sergius]

I Googled, found a few nice links, I hope they're useful to you:

http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/How-to-prevent-paypal-chargebacks-related-to-fraud?ugid=10000000001645903
http://www.affiliateseeking.com/forums/payment-processing/543-a-way-to-avoid-chargeback.html
http://reviews.ebay.com/how-to-avoid-chargebacks-on-paypal?ugid=10000000005695639

[timferius]

Thanks for the help! With this information, I think I'm just going to straight up tell him no-go with the Paypal. Honestly, who has 10 grand on a credit card anyway? Just too many things about this guy make me nervous (big alarm bell, he just told us he doens't need to see it, he'll just arrange to have a tow truck or something come pick it up. According to the interwebs, this is common in certain money-laundering schemes, where we could get charged with fraud as well and they just never pick up the car).

[tootboot]

he just told us he doens't need to see it,

Almost certainly a scam, who would buy an item worth thousands of dollars without checking it out first?

[timferius]

AND, to top it all off, he can't come to see it because, you see, he's a Marine Engineer stationed out in Bermuda, that's why he can't come to see it.

We're sticking with cash and money order...

[Tellemurius]

AND, to top it all off, he can't come to see it because, you see, he's a Marine Engineer stationed out in Bermuda, that's why he can't come to see it.

We're sticking with cash and money order...

dude... that sentence itself tells me its a scam.

[DeKaFu]

Yeah, sorry to break it to you but "Marine Engineer in Bermuda/other remote place" is a common line in car-buying scams. Googling gives a lot of variations on...

Hello
how i wish to come and view this vehicle but am currently out of state....i'm a marine engineer who's on a ship right now at Bermuda......I would want you to know that i will be paying via PayPal and i would pay the paypal transfer charges too...due to the distance as i'm in Bermuda presently...I want you to provide me with the following information for me to proceed with the Payment...

I am from United Kingdom,How i wish to come and view it but am out of town now. Am marine engineer busy sailing,am in a ship right now at Bermuda,I'm satisfied with the condition of it. Email me with the actual price you are willing to sell it.

...Common targets are cars, boats, furniture, etc. It's a scam. They're most likely not interested in the car. A common scam is to send a fake payment and then try to get you to send them back some of the money they "sent" for shipping or other expenses. But of course, since the payment was fake, it's your money they're getting in the end.

[timferius]

Yeah, sorry to break it to you but "Marine Engineer in Bermuda/other remote place" is a common line in car-buying scams. Googling gives a lot of variations on...

Hello
how i wish to come and view this vehicle but am currently out of state....i'm a marine engineer who's on a ship right now at Bermuda......I would want you to know that i will be paying via PayPal and i would pay the paypal transfer charges too...due to the distance as i'm in Bermuda presently...I want you to provide me with the following information for me to proceed with the Payment...

I am from United Kingdom,How i wish to come and view it but am out of town now. Am marine engineer busy sailing,am in a ship right now at Bermuda,I'm satisfied with the condition of it. Email me with the actual price you are willing to sell it.

...Common targets are cars, boats, furniture, etc. It's a scam. They're most likely not interested in the car. A common scam is to send a fake payment and then try to get you to send them back some of the money they "sent" for shipping or other expenses. But of course, since the payment was fake, it's your money they're getting in the end.

Yeah, we figured that one out. Smelt fishy to begin with, the marine engineer was just the perfect evidence to bring it all together. Thanks for your help all though.

[Pnx]

Reminds me of that time my father's coworker was utterly convinced he'd be able to quit his job because he'd won the Spanish lottery.

[timferius]

It's funny, it's like the slow descent into madness. It starts as a perfectly logical thing "Hi, I'd like to buy your car" then slowly the "oh, but"s and such start to build up until you reach the point of insanity "Hi, I'd like to buy your car, oh, but I can't come see it, what condition is it in? Oh, i can send someone to pick it up, no, I can't fill out the paperwork in person, I'm a marine engineer stationed in Bermuda, I just really need a used car in Canada. Because how else will I commute to bermuda from Canada?". Then, in hindsight, you wonder just how you didn't notice this was a scam right away...