A word to the wise...

If you're selling high value items on the inter-web be aware of one particular scam that fraudsters employ if you accept Paypal.

In very simple terms the scammer will fund the transaction through Paypal via a credit card.

At a sufficiently later date, calculated to ensure the item has been sent a claim is made to the card company by the scammer that the purchase was conducted without their knowledge or permission, siting the card was stolen or paypal account was hacked etc.

The card company automatically withhold funds to Paypal who in turn refund the buyer from the sellers account, plus charge a fee for doing so… This is known as 'Chargeback'.

This scam applies to payments made either as a gift or otherwise. and it can equally hit sales made on forums or auction sites

You can appeal the chargeback with Paypal however proof of posting, tracking and even delivery are not guarantees that Paypal will be able to find in your favour… it is the credit card company who ultimately make the decision whether or not to release payment.

If they don't, Paypal aren't paid and the chargeback stands… you're out of pocket for the item, plus postage and the above mentioned fee.















 

I have been caught by this with a £300 hi fi I sold, charge back is up to 6 months after the sale

Apparently it's rife at the minute… I'm sure like a lot of people I thought taking Paypal from verified accounts only was safe until I looked further into it. Sorry to hear you got stung.




 

Oh blimey that's not good

Sorry you got hit ppc229w  and thanks for the heads-up bacardincoke

This was a few years ago when I was selling lots on eBay

Had 2 cases, both times I had signed proof of delivery. 1 went my way and the other cost me

Stopped selling on eBay shortly afterwards as it was so much hassle and potential for loss

Cash is King.. this loop hole must be stopped or pay pal will lose folks confidence there are some gits out there..

its the credit card guarantee that gets you.
its good in principle but unfortunately the world is full of not very nice people that ruin it.  

i no longer sell on ebay now, i used to do £1500+ a month in sales.

when you post stuff off now its just hoping they don't do the dirty on you, not a nice way to do business.

never send anything without a requiring a signature at least.

Just had a prediciment with a seller where i want to pay by goods, he only takes gift due to people claiming. Ive been stung on gift before so only do goods.

Though as helpful it is posting this in general chat, would it be better in members section where it cant be seen more public? In case somebody reads it then decides they wanna try it….

Possibly, I guess if someone is inclined to do it they'll already have sussed it

One solution could be to pay goods and offer to pay the fees once the goods arrive as described?

I don't think there's a way around this fraud - it relies upon the laziness of the CC company not thoroughly checking the nature of the fraud, but blanket applying a chargeback based on their account holder's word.

Of course, for the fraudster, they'll have their Paypal account mucked about with and lose the use of their credit card for 7-10 days or however long it takes to get a new credit card, after all the bank will cancel it and send another one out, probably with a completely new card number and definitely a different CVV.

I hesitated a few times before posting as I didn't want to put ideas into anyone's head, but thought others being forewarned outweighed the disadvantages.

It's another example of the few spoiling it for the majority and in more ways than the obvious.

I'd a set of Zender windsplits posted on VWVortex last week, with one guy seemingly genuinely interested but he had next to no history on the Forum.

Had to decline selling as there was no way of gauging if he was legit or not… If genuine he's lost out on getting what he wanted and I lost a sale.