Hey guys,
I am selling my old laptop on Ebay and the current bidder is a guy from Pakistan with no rating. Obviously that has caused alarm bells to go off in my head but thus far he has responded to e-mails and seems legit. Whats the best way for me to get payment from him? I know enough not to give out any of my bank information or anything like that. Is Paypal the best way to go or should I demand something more solid like a money order.
This might not be popular advice, but I’d advise against it. Too many scams from other countries, and it’s hard to know who is legit and who isn’t. Plus, dealing with shipping can be a big pain, too.
International bidder with no rating? Get him to WIRE you the money, western union, and don’t send it out until you have cash in hand.
Also, I have no idea if this still (or ever) applied, but there were export prohibitions on technology equipment to countries like Pakistan in the past…they were put in place to prevent them from developing missile guidance systems capable f delivering ICBMs or something like that.
in terms of ease of use from your end, a paypal payment is best. Money orders may be problematic to get in some places and you’d still have to wait for it to clear before you could ship it. Paypal, you’d have confirmation of payment quickly and you can ship and forget about it ASAP. YMMV
I’m sure you are smart enough to know this already, but for the unwary, DO NOT under any circumstances let them persuade you to accept a money order for more than the amount due with you to forward the excess to someone else.
This is a well known scam and will always leave you holding the bag.
If I get a paypal payment does it mean that the money is mine no matter what he tries to pull? Assuming of course I can provide evidence that I shipped the item.
Yeah, within the first day of posting my item I had 4 Nigeran scammers respond. I have no intention of shipping the package until I have the money in hand.
Will the payment be cash or credit card? If it’s cash, there’s nothing the buyer can do to get the money back if you take it out of your PayPal account, i.e., don’t leave a balance that he can touch. If it’s credit card, the buyer can go for a chargeback against you, but if you can prove that you’ve shipped the item and it was delivered to his address, then you’re probably fine.
Don’t sell to anyone overseas.
If you ignore 1, don’t use PayPal. The buyer can declare you never sent it, get his money back and that’s it. Even if you transfered the money out of your PayPal account, they’ll take it out of your linked bank account. (Which can then be hit with fees if it’s gone negative.) Trying to get PayPal to fix such problems is essentially impossible. 0 customer service. PayPal is totally buyer friendly.
If you are somehow still desperate enough to sell to this guy, use Western Union’s BidPay. Once you have the dough, it’s yours. Note that since BidPay is a wonderful alternative to PayPal, eBay (owners of PayPal) hate it and smear it every chance they get. Not exactly a surprise.
The kicker is with proving it was delvered to his address…with international shipping to a residence, that might not be so easy.
Again, I vote wire transfer. I’d never accept a money order, even for the exact amount of the purchase.
In general, I don’t open my e-bay auctions up to international bidders due to problems with shipping, etc.
Thanks for the help guys. I have decided to restrict international bidders to only those with good ratings.
That sounds like a reasonable option. I find sellers that don’t open up international options really really annoying - I can understand it when it’s a laptop, but I’ve seen listings for a book - yep, a regular secondhand book - where the seller said they wouldn’t sell outside the US because of the risk of fraud :rolleyes:
FWIW, over half the stuff I’ve sold on eBay, always small stuff such as CDs I no longer want, has gone abroad, and only a small portion of it to America. If you’re refusing to ship outside of your home country, you’re missing a huge market.