Paypal confirmed address is suspicious

amd

I've just sold an expensive mobile phone tonight, and the buyer's confirmed paypal address turns out to be his 'office' at a Butlins Waterworld in the UK. He is from the EU working over here obviously, but ever suspicious of a scam I'm wondering if sending the item (already paid in full by paypal) by special delivery would be covered if someone other than him signs for it - ie. if it's his day off.

According to Paypal the transaction is eligible for their seller protection policy, but from reading on here it appears not worth the paper it's written on. I want to make sure I've covered all the bases before posting. I've even managed to contact one of his previous sellers for confirmation his other mobile purchases have not been 'chargebacked'. So far so good. What are these guys doing with the mobiles they buy - I was contacted by a Polish guy who'd bought a dozen or more of the same at over £200 a go.

soolin

There is a checklist for accepting paypal safely on the helpful hints sticky thread. As long as the paypal address is confirmed and you send goods within 7 days and track them to th epoint of delivery using a service 'allowed' by paypal you will be fine.

One of my paypal confirmed addresses is very odd as it is a country cottage that a relative hired for a holiday and I had to send them something urgently and the web site I used only accepted confirmed addresses.

amd

Hi Soolin,
I've read the sticky thread over and over. Visited paypalsucks forum too. The latest scam appears to be credit card 'chargebacks' and I'm terrified of that. Can take a month or so to happen and this guy has bought about 4 or 5 phones in the last month. Hi account is only a couple of months old and the other items are relatively small amounts compared to my phone so warning bells are ringing! All this on top of the fact he is Czech and living at Butlins!

The paypal safety thing appears quite flimsy as so many people are being hit by this and although they have done everything right, ie. send to confirmed address by special delivery, paypal will still try and recoup the money from their bank account.
I've already requested the money be transferred to my bank account and almost feel like closing the paypal account immediately just in case - or at the very least deleting the bank details so they can't do a direct debit without warning. Appreciate your encouragement that it will all be OK....;)

frivolous_fay

You won't get a balanced view from paypalsucks.

I'm sure that any minute now, Dave will be along to scare you over paypal further, but here are the realities:

- A confirmed address and confirmed seller protection offers you good protection against credit card fraud. In the event of an attempted chargeback, you have solid grounds for appeal.
- A confirmed delivery (signed, trackable) offers you protection against disputes. Make it Special Delivery to be sure.
- Waiting for the money to go in your bank account will not help you. If you delay 7 days before despatching (likely, if you wait for the cash) you will INVALIDATE your seller protection, and you might as well refund and not bother risking it.

Bottom line... if you're scared of paypal, refund and ask for payment another way - don't make a pig's ear of the process and mess up any protection that you do have.

amd

I had intended posting before the 7 days as required. In fact I was just hanging on a bit longer today to see if any more emails arrived from previous sellers. My listing states the item will be posted as soon as payment clears, which I'm regretting now as it appears this is what the scammers rely on - they can get loads of stuff before doing any charegbacks.

If this all turns out OK I'll feel so guilty for not trusting the guy! Sad state of things today.

amcluesent

>All this on top of the fact he is Czech<

Uh, oh. Don't take payment from a bouncing Czech

freddysmith

Another case of Ebay Paranoia.

Have you sent the phone Yet?

Skudrulacis

amcluesent wrote: »

>All this on top of the fact he is Czech<

Uh, oh. Don't take payment from a bouncing Czech

hey don't be rude... Czechs are OK, they have good beer