Safe to accept bank transfer payment?

Henry_Parry · 10 March 2017 at 5:44PM

Okay so I've listed something to gumtree and someone's asked to purchase it but they live in London. I don't have Paypal and I let them know this, they've offered to pay via bank transfer. The value of the item is £135.

I'd like to know if this is safe for me to receive? Is there any way they could charge back? How can I be sure that the payment they've sent me is definitely a bank transfer and not a credit card payment or similar which can be charged back?

Apologies if this is the wrong forum.

Hasbeen · 10 March 2017 at 6:18PM

Gumtree is meant to be face to face for cash.

But bank transfer is safe, wait until money is in your account before parting with item.

soolin · 10 March 2017 at 6:27PM

Bank transfers are safe but always wait to post until the working day after receiving payment. if you are not clear when you check your bank statement online whether payment was sent as a bank transfer (and in reality most banks show this clearly) then phone your bank and check.

paulc333 · 10 March 2017 at 7:15PM

Whilst I agree that bank transfer should be safe i'd also be asking myself a couple of questions.

Is the item you are selling rare or unique in some way?
Is it not possible for the buyer to get one nearer them for the same price?

In short why are they willing to go more than the norm to get your item?

If it's a unique or different item then fine,

if not it would still worry me, even with bank transfer

Henry_Parry · 10 March 2017 at 7:53PM

Hasbeen wrote: »

Gumtree is meant to be face to face for cash.

But bank transfer is safe, wait until money is in your account before parting with item.

soolin wrote: »

Bank transfers are safe but always wait to post until the working day after receiving payment. if you are not clear when you check your bank statement online whether payment was sent as a bank transfer (and in reality most banks show this clearly) then phone your bank and check.

Thanks guys. I phoned my bank and checked that the money had gone through (it was FPI) and asked whether it was safe for me to send, to which they replied that it was. I won't be dispatching it until Monday and it's being sent insured/tracked. I'll also be phoning my bank again for further confirmation on Monday before sending. Checked the guy out on Facebook and he has lots of religious posts which gives me further reason to believe that all is well.

paulc333 wrote: »

Whilst I agree that bank transfer should be safe i'd also be asking myself a couple of questions.

Is the item you are selling rare or unique in some way?
Is it not possible for the buyer to get one nearer them for the same price?

In short why are they willing to go more than the norm to get your item?

If it's a unique or different item then fine,

if not it would still worry me, even with bank transfer

The item isn't unique, but I listed it at a decent price.

If I were to sell it on eBay I'd expect around £160, I listed it for £135 which is what I'd expect to get out of it after paying eBay/Paypal fees and postage. He was happy to pay postage on top of that though. I think the retail of what I'm selling is about the £200 mark.

Thanks everyone for your input.

theonlywayisup · 10 March 2017 at 8:53PM

Henry_Parry wrote: »

Thanks guys. I phoned my bank and checked that the money had gone through (it was FPI) and asked whether it was safe for me to send, to which they replied that it was. I won't be dispatching it until Monday and it's being sent insured/tracked. I'll also be phoning my bank again for further confirmation on Monday before sending. Checked the guy out on Facebook and he has lots of religious posts which gives me further reason to believe that all is well.

The item isn't unique, but I listed it at a decent price.

If I were to sell it on eBay I'd expect around £160, I listed it for £135 which is what I'd expect to get out of it after paying eBay/Paypal fees and postage. He was happy to pay postage on top of that though. I think the retail of what I'm selling is about the £200 mark.

Thanks everyone for your input.

"But they live in London" - is that relevant? You haven't said where you live in relation to London.

Religious posts on FB? How is that reason to believe all is well?

forgotmyname · 11 March 2017 at 2:21AM

Lots of religious posts.. A massive warning to me.

All the Nigerian scam emails are all religious and trusting and did i mention religious? Because they often mention it several times as they try to extract money from you.

LadyDee · 11 March 2017 at 2:39PM

Accepting bank transfer is safe for you as the seller. I would never pay by bank transfer if I was buying anything from a stranger as there is virtually no way to get my money back if things go wrong.

Silvertabby · 11 March 2017 at 3:02PM

£135? Beware of receiving £1,350 and then an e-mail from your customer saying 'whoops - hit an extra digit - please refund the extra £1,215 immediately or I'll not be able to feed my kids this weekend'............ Then the full £1,350 is pulled back from your account.

I know not all people are crooks, but it's a sad reflection of the times we live in that we have to be so aware of possible scams.

glentoran99 · 11 March 2017 at 3:05PM

Silvertabby wrote: »

£135? Beware of receiving £1,350 and then an e-mail from your customer saying 'whoops - hit an extra digit - please refund the extra £1,215 immediately or I'll not be able to feed my kids this weekend'............ Then the full £1,350 is pulled back from your account.

I know not all people are crooks, but it's a sad reflection of the times we live in that we have to be so aware of possible scams.

on what basis?

soolin · 11 March 2017 at 3:29PM

Silvertabby wrote: »

£135? Beware of receiving £1,350 and then an e-mail from your customer saying 'whoops - hit an extra digit - please refund the extra £1,215 immediately or I'll not be able to feed my kids this weekend'............ Then the full £1,350 is pulled back from your account.

I know not all people are crooks, but it's a sad reflection of the times we live in that we have to be so aware of possible scams.

As per Glentoran this scam no longer works as a bank transfer is safe. If seller received too much it can't be withdrawn purely on the say so of the sender.

This used to be a cheque based scam before the 2 4 6 system in that a cheque payer would deposit too much into a recipient's account and ask for the over payment back, and then of course the whole lot would bounce later. With the 2 4 6 system even this no longer works.

Safe to accept bank transfer payment?

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