Would you transfer money upfront for holiday let no protection?

Cake_by_the_sea

I'm in a quandary!

In the age of trip advisor and air b&b is it risky to trust paying someone without the protection of these companies. Or protection from paying with your credit card.

How can I check the holiday let is legitimate?

I have found a let on the IOW through trip advisor for the October half term. I have called the gentlemen on his mobile and he as asked for full payment and £100 deposit to be transferred directly.

His decision for this is that he doesn't want to pay 10% commission to them. Apparently PayPal also carries a fee. I've only ever used it for eBay so don't know if this is correct.

There is obviously room for negotiation here. Although still I am reluctant to transfer money to someone I have never met And for a home I have never seen and don't even know if he owns it!

silverwhistle

Short answer is no.

If he's legitimate he wants to be protected from time-wasters and you want to be protected from scammers and I understand this is a classic area for scamming.

Has he got a landline, place of work or any other on-line presence? It would be strange if he hadn't. You could offer to pay cash for the balance on arrival if he's worried about the commission.

Castle

Are there any reviews on Tripadvisor?

Cake_by_the_sea

You're right it's not a good idea on the face of it.

Yes there are reviews on trip advisor it's a new property to his portfolio so only 4. He's going to email me later with lots of info on his other properties for peace of mind, so I'll see what he comes up with.

Also since googled PayPal fees and it says the following.

Free when funded by the sender’s PayPal balance, bank account or debit card. If you use a credit card to send money, a fee of 3.4% + 20p applies.

So there is a way for us to PayPal without causing him fees.

Thank you for your responses

sheramber

I think you will find that is only for sending money to family or friends. However, you do not have the Paypal guarantee with that transaction.

Keep_pedalling

I have done this for the last 4 years renting some quite expensive private properties in France and Italy. I alsways look at the reviews first, then ask lots of questions about the property and area before booking.

Scam artists don't tend to know anything about the local area, so can't tell you about things to see or the best local restaurants.

MataNui

Copy the url for the image (i assume its on a website etc) then paste it into a google image search. This will show where else that picture has been used. Its not bombproof but its a pretty good defense against scammers who just steal pictures of places. If its on some other site with different contact details or its a stock image then its going to be a scam for sure.

flashg67

I'm no sure i'd be happy making an unprotected payment to someone who is happy to avoid paying commission that he's agreed to as part of his deal with tripadvisor or whoever. When I rented an apartment out, I factored these costs into the price, as he should. Wants his cake and eat it it seems, with you taking the risk.
Fine if this sort of thing doesn't bother you.

silverwhistle

Quite. The only person taking a risk here is you.

Enterprise_1701C

Do you know the address of the let? Can you google that, also might be a good idea to find out if it is on Streetview, to see if the pictures match?

If he has 4 properties then I would be surprised if he doesn't have to deal with payments regularly, surely he would need to be able to take cards etc?

Why not also have a google of his name, see if anything comes up.

It is not strange that he wants full payment, what is strange is his method.

If you can afford to lose this money, turn up, find it's fake and have to find somewhere else, then fair enough. If not, go to someone running a legitimate business.

martindow

Cake_by_the_sea wrote: »

Also since googled PayPal fees and it says the following.

Free when funded by the sender’s PayPal balance, bank account or debit card. If you use a credit card to send money, a fee of 3.4% + 20p applies.

I don't think this is right. For a transaction with PP protection the fee you quote is charged regardless of the source of the funds. There is another payment to pay friends and family with no fee, but this is only to be used to sending to people you know and trust.

He is wanting to use Trip Advisor to advertise and then not pay their fee for doing so. I would be very wary of this person, but if you decide to go ahead I would only pay via TA and make him pay his fees.