Purchasing via PayPal from a private seller

joeypesci

About to purchase a kitten from a private seller. All seems legit. They request a desposit as they've been let down before. All fine. I said I can do that but will only do this via PayPal so I, myself, am covered. They said they'd need to check if they can use their friends account. They've said yes, so all going ahead. A bit suspecious but then not everyone uses PayPal.

However, I'm unsure if PayPal is the best idea. I know the PayPal buyer protection is not a legal right and just PayPals internal policy. As this is a private sale, outside of anything like EBay, I'm unsure of any other method other than PayPal to get a small amount of protection.

Does anyone know of any other way to do the transaction that would cover myself if it turned out to be all a scam (I'm sure its not).

waamo

Have you been to visit them at their home? Have you clapped eyes on this kitten in the flesh?

knightstyle

First, have you seen the kitten with the mum in the sellers home? If not run a mile
Paypal friends payment request?  Run another mile!
If you are satisfied with where the kitten is coming from insist the seller raises a Paypal request for payment and they list what exactly you are buying.
Best of all get in touch with a cat charity and ask for free advice and perhaps pics of cats/kittens they have that need new homes.

davidmcn

joeypesci said:

Does anyone know of any other way to do the transaction that would cover myself if it turned out to be all a scam (I'm sure its not).

But obviously not that sure. Why do they want any money upfront?

gettingtheresometime

Please please don't do this - don't care whether it's a scam or not but don't encourage back street breeding.

if you really want a cat please visit your local rescue centre.

shaun_from_Africa

gettingtheresometime said:

if you really want a cat please visit your local rescue centre.

Or if you want a pedigree that can't be found at a rescue centre, do plenty of research into breeders and only buy a kitten after visiting and inspecting to ensure that it's a trustworthy breeder and make sure you see the kitten with it's mum. Don't rely on being told something like "the mother is upstairs or in another room". If you can't see them together or they seem unhappy, walk away.

theonlywayisup

Aside the disturbing subject of your OP, there is no buyer protection cover for a friends and family payment nor is there any when you pay a deposit (for anything).

Edit - Paypal policy change on 16 June removes the deposit wording. 

shaun_from_Africa

theonlywayisup said:

Aside the disturbing subject of your OP, there is no buyer protection cover for a friends and family payment nor is there any when you pay a deposit (for anything).

I had a look at the PayPal buyer protection policy yesterday and couldn't find the bit about deposits not being covered.
I know it used to say something along the lines of cover only applying if the full selling price was made in one single payment but from what I could see, this isn't stated in the UK PayPal agreement any more. (Then again, I may just have missed it)

theonlywayisup

shaun_from_Africa said:

theonlywayisup said:

Aside the disturbing subject of your OP, there is no buyer protection cover for a friends and family payment nor is there any when you pay a deposit (for anything).

I had a look at the PayPal buyer protection policy yesterday and couldn't find the bit about deposits not being covered.
I know it used to say something along the lines of cover only applying if the full selling price was made in one single payment but from what I could see, this isn't stated in the UK PayPal agreement any more. (Then again, I may just have missed it)

Indeed, I have just checked and it was updated on 16 June.  I will edit my post above, thanks for pointing that out.

Supersonos

joeypesci said:

About to purchase a kitten from a private seller. All seems legit. They request a desposit as they've been let down before. All fine. I said I can do that but will only do this via PayPal so I, myself, am covered. They said they'd need to check if they can use their friends account. They've said yes, so all going ahead. A bit suspecious but then not everyone uses PayPal.

However, I'm unsure if PayPal is the best idea. I know the PayPal buyer protection is not a legal right and just PayPals internal policy. As this is a private sale, outside of anything like EBay, I'm unsure of any other method other than PayPal to get a small amount of protection.

Does anyone know of any other way to do the transaction that would cover myself if it turned out to be all a scam (I'm sure its not).

Unless they're going to shove some poor kitten in a box and post it to you via recorded delivery, PayPal offers you no protection.

donnac2558

Agree with others.   Private seller so where did you find this kitten?   Facebook?   If so please it will not end well. Unless as I have seen there are breed groups and breeders can be on there and have their own page with their breeder registered name.  Example Coomshire Persians or something like that showing all their cats and previous litters.  Gumtree is even worse and I belong to a group trying to get all pets banned from sale on there.

If a particular breed you need to google the breed and their governing body should show up and they have a list of recognised breeders or phone around local vets they can have clients who are breeders.  Lockdown is opening so it should be easier to contact the breed societies.