Question about paypal and shipping a game (Possibble Scam?)

BrokenTrace

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Question about paypal and shipping a game (Possibble Scam?)

So I got hit up about an arcade game I have for sale. The guy asked a bunch of questions, says something about trust and then responds after that that he'd like to buy the game. He says that he's in Florida in the military and that he wanted to pay me via PayPal and have it shipped. That's all well and fine but my question is can this guy file a PayPal claim after the games shipped to him and lock up the funds? It like the billionaire in Nigeria who just needs your bank information to send you half his fortune.

These are the emails I received...

- "Do you still have the ad available for sale?"

- "Okay... what is the present condition? Are you the first owner of it? Why are you selling it? what is the final asking price,i believe this should base on trust and understanding am very sorry for my to much questions."

- "I really appreciate your response, am Ok with the price and condition, i will love to pay you via PayPal,I work with the Military and am presently located at MacDill Air Force Base florida, United States, so i wont be able to come but i will make the payment and will contact the hauler that will come down to your location to pick up after the payment clears...Do you have a paypal account?"

Me: "Ok. This part needs to be worked out over the phone. Send me your number and I'll give you a call so we can work out the details."

- "Thanks for the text i work with the US army located at MacDill Air Force Base florida, United States am unable to make call now because am currently at the* base and we are not allowed to make phone calls"

<So you can send emails over Craigslist on a military facility but cant ever make calls? And you can't give out your number cause you never leave...militay prison?? So I figured I'd try to get the guy to talk shop.>

Me: "That makes sense. Are you a collector? Do you have any other games?"

- "Alright thanks..what is your full name on paypal and kindly get back to me with your paypal email address for me to make the payment and we will fix the pickup date and time once the payment as been made and confirmed.and i will also need your phone number so i can text you after the payment"

-- End of line --

No response or acknowledgement to my arcade question. Has anybody ever heard of a scam like this? I'm sure it's b/s but how do they scam your paypal account?
 
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This is an obvious scam. I have worked with the military for over 20 years now; I have never been somewhere where I can access craigslist and not a phone. Also, the poor English is a huge red flag.
 
Yeah, that's what I figured. But what's the angle? How do they get you with PayPal? The guys talking about waiting for the payment to clear before having the game shipped and tries to make it sound good but I just don't understand how they can rip you off that way?
 
Yeah, that's what I figured. But what's the angle? How do they get you with PayPal? The guys talking about waiting for the payment to clear before having the game shipped and tries to make it sound good but I just don't understand how they can rip you off that way?

They file a claim that the game is not as described or damaged and PayPal sides with the buyer. Now you have no money and no game. If you want your game back you have to pay return shipping. And your shipping both ways is out of pocket to you.
 
I thought it was something like that. I just wasn't sure on how they worked the scam. I thought it was their
dime to ship it back. They look for more expensive items and try to get you that way. I was emailed within the hour about the game. What about insuring the shipped game? Can you recover anything by having it insured? Not that I want to deal with a scammer, just to know.
 
I thought it was something like that. I just wasn't sure on how they worked the scam. I thought it was their
dime to ship it back. They look for more expensive items and try to get you that way. I was emailed within the hour about the game. What about insuring the shipped game? Can you recover anything by having it insured? Not that I want to deal with a scammer, just to know.

You have to read your shipping related policy very closely. No one EVER does. In most cases you have to prove damage or non-receipt by affidavit or other proof. If the other side stole from you they will hardly sign documents for an insurance policy. In other words - you may be stuck in a circular reference of a loss you can't prove despite PayPal ruling against you and taking your money away.

Insurance policies only have value if you understand them and/or have a friendly party on the other side helping with the claim. If you don't know your buyer or deal with a scammer you likely will have still have issues. Doesn't mean you can't recover but it could be a real crap show.
 
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take their paypal money. Take almost all the money out of your paypal then so their is nothing for them to get back when complaining. Close your bank account tied to paypal if you still have one. I do not have a bank account tied to paypal anymore.
Let them come forward and complain. get their names and report them later.
you may have not ship the item yet but now you have their money,names.
I doubt they would complain when you did not give their money back for too long if real names,addresses had to come out.?
I know a guy who use to take the checks when they sent checks just to get them waisting their time. He would have a stack of bad checks but would never send anything to them.

It is one thing for me to spout this about taking their money and actually doing it. Since i do not use paypal as a scam like these people are, i do not know the law on them coming after you. Their addresses, numbers may change all the time with paypal, yours does not!
It would be nice to see some one do this or has done this to see what happens.
 
take their paypal money. Take almost all the money out of your paypal then so their is nothing for them to get back when complaining. Close your bank account tied to paypal if you still have one. I do not have a bank account tied to paypal anymore.
Let them come forward and complain. get their names and report them later.
you may have not ship the item yet but now you have their money,names.
I doubt they would complain when you did not give their money back for too long if real names,addresses had to come out.?
I know a guy who use to take the checks when they sent checks just to get them waisting their time. He would have a stack of bad checks but would never send anything to them.

It is one thing for me to spout this about taking their money and actually doing it. Since i do not use paypal as a scam like these people are, i do not know the law on them coming after you. Their addresses, numbers may change all the time with paypal, yours does not!
It would be nice to see some one do this or has done this to see what happens.

Wow!!!.....just wow!!

...and a "Holy scam the scammers, Batman!"
 
At least one part of this discussion is dead on craigslist WILL side with buyer as with Ebay they almost always side with buyer! I've been using both for years an now shying away from both when I can.....I've have over 1200 positive feedback with no neg. Any I still have got screwed by ebay an PayPal from a buyer who knows how to use them to get your money and keep item! Sucks because it is a great avenue for selling most of the time....still looking towards Etsy an such
 
If you feel the need to post this thread than don't do it. One thing I learned in my lime of work is to trust your instincts. Run from this transaction.
 
If you feel the need to post this thread than don't do it. One thing I learned in my lime of work is to trust your instincts. Run from this transaction.

Totally, I decided same day that it was bogus. But had to mess with the guy a little bit, asking about his collection, shipping, if the game will be on base, does his girlfriend like games, I bet she's hot, does she have a sister? and kept getting the same response to kindly send money. He finally stopped responding when I asked about the sister ;)

At least one part of this discussion is dead on craigslist WILL side with buyer as with Ebay they almost always side with buyer! I've been using both for years an now shying away from both when I can.....I've have over 1200 positive feedback with no neg. Any I still have got screwed by ebay an PayPal from a buyer who knows how to use them to get your money and keep item! Sucks because it is a great avenue for selling most of the time....still looking towards Etsy an such

I agree, PayPal and eBay are the worst. Then of course you got the jagoffs that are screwing people over because they can...as many on here can attest to unfortunately.

What if the 'buyer' pays with paypal gift? Theres surely no comeback from that?

At this point in the game, it's definitely a scam and makes no sense to try to make the b/s transaction work. I really doubt you could get them to send it friends and family anyway. There's no real interaction with them, Im sure they're reading from a screen like when you call the cable company and they give you the same monotone answers over and over again. And even if you did get them to agree to it, I'm sure they would still send it goods and services. As tempting as it sounds to try and "scam the scammers" and spend my extra time f'ing with someone on an Air Force Base in Florida, the United States of America, I think I'll put my time and energy into something more fruitful like making healthy cereal for mice or banging my head against the wall.
 
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At least one part of this discussion is dead on craigslist WILL side with buyer as with Ebay they almost always side with buyer! I've been using both for years an now shying away from both when I can.....I've have over 1200 positive feedback with no neg. Any I still have got screwed by ebay an PayPal from a buyer who knows how to use them to get your money and keep item! Sucks because it is a great avenue for selling most of the time....still looking towards Etsy an such

Ebay sides with the seller. I recently sold something for $300... Had tracking through USPS. Showed as delivered. Guy claims it wasn't delivered. I told him to contact his local post office, some times they mark something delivered but leave it at the post office. Guy tells me the person at the post office "wasn't helpful" and that the item wasn't there. He was asking me for a refund constantly.

I contacted Ebay and told them to go ahead and escalate the case. They approved the transaction so the funds were released to me. They also marked the guy's account. I was 100% in the clear because the tracking information stated the item was delivered and that was enough evidence for them to side with me. (the seller) The funny thing is that if the guy was being honest with me, it means he is not only out $300 but also the item... and also has a negative mark on his ebay account. Which kind of sucks... But I fully believe he was scamming me, because his constantly asking for a refund instead of bothering to look for the package on his end was sending up red flags.

The issue with going just through paypal and an outside shipping service is that paypal will only side with the seller if you ship through their website and they have that tracking info on hand. So you can only ship through USPS or UPS that way.

To paypal, his payment is just going to look like a simple money transfer for goods, and if he claims he didn't get the goods, you're screwed... because paypal has no evidence the goods arrived. Unless you go through the hassle of collecting the tracking info from whatever shipping service you used, then reaching out to paypal and giving them this info, then waiting for them to look into the case... etc. It's a pain in the ass.

edit: Also on a positive note with Ebay, after the whole case ended, they make sure the buyer can't leave negative feedback on my account... Which is fantastic. Last thing I need is the guy claiming I screwed him out of his item or something. That would kill all of my future ebay sales.

It is a bit worrisome that I could have literally sent him a brick and he couldn't contest it because ebay just verifies the package was delivered, and not necessarily what was in it... With that said, he probably would have been able to leave negative feedback for that... I dunno.
 
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It is a bit worrisome that I could have literally sent him a brick and he couldn't contest it because ebay just verifies the package was delivered, and not necessarily what was in it... With that said, he probably would have been able to leave negative feedback for that... I dunno.

All a buyer would have to do is file a "Item not as described" and ship the brick back and they will ALWAYS get a refund.

The guy was just not smart. The good scammers know to file a "not as described" and steal your item and money.
 
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