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Iamnobody · January 2014

Just a quick piece of info please. I'm selling an SG on EBay to UK only and a chap in Hungary wants to buy it and have it delivered in London.

So the proposal is the friend in London buys it as they have a UK eBay account, but Mr Hungary pays on his PayPal.

My little knowledge suggests that I should be careful about shipping to an address other than the verified PayPal account holder. Correct?

So is the safe alternative that the London friend buys and pays? And they sort the rest themselves.

It doesn't smell like a scam to me but just checking I'm not walking into a trap!

Both have good feedback and have messaged me. They aren't trying to buy outside eBay or anything like that - it's just a consequence of my UK only auction.

Your knowledge is appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I'm sure the PayPal and eBay help sections might assist me do I will try that aswell.

stickyfiddle · January 2014

Smacks of 419 scam to me.

ThePrettyDamned · January 2014

scam. He could give the money to his friend, then his friend could buy it, which protects you.

ICBM · January 2014

NO.

Never under any circumstances agree to a deal involving different people, accounts, addresses or anything, especially not involving Paypal.

You *must* only ship the item by an online trackable, signed-for delivery courier service to the same address as given in the Paypal account which pays you, *period*. Anything else - including taking payment by Paypal and allowing the buyer to collect - leaves you wide open to a chargeback scam with zero protection.

I would *maybe* agree to it if the buyer sends you actual cash, but even then I'd want it checked for authenticity before sending the goods.

Iamnobody · January 2014

ThePrettyDamned;127769" said:
scam. He could give the money to his friend, then his friend could buy it, which protects you.

Yep that's what I'm suggesting...

Iamnobody · January 2014

Cheers folks you've confirmed my take on it.

Rox · January 2014

luscombe · January 2014

I'm personally sick of potential buyers assuming that because they've read the Paypal hype saying how wondefully easy it is to use, then it must be all milk & honey for the seller as well. It really isn't. The seller is still responsible for finding a reliable courier, packing the guitar in a manner that will protect the instrument and satisfy the couriers requirements for providing any insurance cover. Then the seller will have to wait in all day for the courier to collect. For all this Paypal will charge the seller about £30.00 for the average Strat, Tele or gibson SG. To add insult to injury potential buyers will often contact me to say if you accept 25% less than your asking price, I can pay with PayPal, today!!! Whopee, that's just fantastic I always think. I invariably tell them I would rather they came to collect the guitar, so they can see exactly what they're buying, save me the trouble & worry of posting a valuable instrument, and paying me in Her Majesties drinking vouchers (legal tender anywhere), so saving me silly charges. paypal has to be the biggest con ever.

funstuie · January 2014

I once sold an iPhone on eBay. Buyer paid with PayPal and then came to my house to collect the phone. About 4 hours later the money was yanked out of my account as it was paid out of a hacked account. PayPal nor eBay nor the police did anything to help me. Apparently what I did - accepting the money through PayPal but handing over the phone in person was against their policy. The police just said fuck all we can do about it as you handed him the phone. eBay also charged me the seller fee.

I lost a phone/£500 through that. I fucking hate PayPal and eBay (who are the same bloody company but you get charged twice for using them as a seller. But we are stuck with eBay and I still use it weekly.

usedtobe · January 2014

I had a guy in France after a guitar I was selling last year. I always specify no posting abroad in my ads - it's just one more complication I can do without. He asked if I could post to his mate in England if he won. I said sorry, but no, I only post to buyers confirmed address. Mate in England bid and won on his mates behalf and posted it on to France. Got nice messages from both after saying how chuffed they were with the guitar, which was nice. There are decent people out there, but you really need to protect yourself from the wrong uns!

ICBM · January 2014

usedtobe said:

I had a guy in France after a guitar I was selling last year. I always specify no posting abroad in my ads - it's just one more complication I can do without. He asked if I could post to his mate in England if he won. I said sorry, but no, I only post to buyers confirmed address. Mate in England bid and won on his mates behalf and posted it on to France. Got nice messages from both after saying how chuffed they were with the guitar, which was nice. There are decent people out there, but you really need to protect yourself from the wrong uns!

The decent ones will also understand that - and why - this is the only safe way to do it, and won't get snippy if you refuse to sell it directly to the foreign buyer. At that point the buyer in the UK is your buyer, what he wants to do with it afterwards is between the two of them is their business. If you want to be really safe, put the foreign bidder on your Blocked Bidder list just to avoid them trying anything - some do. If they're decent they'll never know because they won't try to bid.

thermionic · January 2014

When I use ebay I never stray from the script, even for seemingly innocuous things:

Will you end it early for £xx? No.

Will you send to <any country outside the UK>? No.

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