SCAMMER WARNING: Due to a spate of recent scam attempts (some successful) recently, if you're doing a deal in the classifieds, ONLY USE PAYPAL GOODS AND SERVICES UNLESS YOU KNOW THAT INDIVIDUAL PERSONALLY. It's really not worth saving a few quid.
Selling advice; potential scammer?
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Evening guitar buddies, some advice please.
So aswell as having my Kotzen Telecaster advertised for sale here, I also have it up on FB.
I was contacted today by a dude asking if I could bring the guitar to West London (I'm East London- not a big deal, but unusual and not how I usually deal)
Guy says that he lives in Poland (alarm bells!...) is aware that I won't take PayPal (as per my ad) and says that he's willing to pay via bank transfer if ai meet his friend.
Passes on to me said friends nunbr to call and says his friend would be happy to meet in a public place as I suggested (coffee shop)
Does this sound like a common scam? Aprt from being robbed, is there any risk if I accepted a bank transfer from Poland?
Doesn't feel right to me, but curious if I'm missing an obvious scam?
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Retracted
Edit: then you haven’t wasted your time travelling across London if they don’t turn up or they want to pay you later etc. (i.e. an obvious scam)
Maybe suggest a refundable 20% via BACS in order to meet.
To my surprise the friend of the potentially Facebook buyer (Artur) actually messaged me on on here; user name Varun? (Hope you don't mind me mentioning here Varun; thought maybe some well know users could vouch for you/your friend?)
I've had someone back out of a sale because that approach 'made them nervous'.
But at some point, there is always risk. If someone buys through eBay they can make a false claim about the item they've received.
The same with PayPal and stories of people returning a guitar case full of bricks but using their courier info as 'proof'.
Cash can be counterfeit.
Now someone has said that a bank transfer paid via credit card can be reversed....
It's a tough one....
Cancelling a credit card payment could be done if say they paid over the phone then tried to say it was a fraudulent transaction (saw that on a JT vid the other day where a guy bought a cat and conned the salesman for $500, after claiming his deposit back...apparently that scam doesn't work if the buyer is in your presence paying by card uaing chip+pin)
I don't think you can make a bank transfer using a credit card (only pay via c card if someone has a chip'n'pin reader?
I did get scammed a few years back; it was a quite unpleasant experience, but I did get my money back.