Aargh!

spike241

Last night my mum informed me that she'd sold her rowing machine.
She'd listed it on eBay and someone had offered her £300.
They paid by Paypal straight away and collected shortly after.

I've checked her Paypal and her buyer is from Lincolnshire, we are in Kent.

She's withdrawn the money to her bank (not my advice) but it's only a matter of time before he opens an INR case.

catmiaow

Oh dear. I hope this doesn't happen, but seems likely.

AAAAA

spike241 wrote: »

but it's only a matter of time before he opens an INR case.

How is it only a matter of time?Just because someone pays by PayPal doesn't mean they are defiantly a scammer.There are many legitimate reasons to want to pay via PayPal.

JimmyTheWig

I agree with AAAAA that it's not necessarily a scam.
They may want the honest protection that paying by PayPal brings (e.g. ability to easily return item for refund if not as described).
We've sold a couple of things on eBay where people have paid by PayPal and collected in person with no problems.

I agree that the address issue makes it look a little dodgy, but it may be perfectly explainable. He may have been in Kent for work or visiting family, etc.

Either way, I'd suggest that your mum doesn't spend the money yet. Assuming that she sold the rowing machine because she didn't want it any more and it was in the way (rather than needing the money particularly) then any money she ends up with afterwards can be seen as a bonus.

spike241

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

They may want the honest protection that paying by PayPal brings (e.g. ability to easily return item for refund if not as described).

They'd have to send it back tracked in order to use that protection. For something small that's fine but a rowing machine would cost a fortune to send.

The reasons I think it's a scam are the timescale and amount of money involved (address just makes it look even worse) and unfortunately my mum could really use the money.

EDIT: Just googled his e-mail address and there are other results for rowing machines asking for people to send a payment request to his e-mail!

I really hope it's nothing but it doesn't look good

lindseykim13

Oh dear i'd make it very clear not to spend that money and if paypal start chasing her to pay it back quick and learn a hard lesson. If paypal come looking for the money it will cause all sorts of problems being she'll never get to use ebay or paypal again!

spike241

I know, I've heard about their debt collectors