PowerBook G4, eBay, and PayPal

i've been scammed on ebay, but only by people not paying for an item they won - nothing as extreme as someone claiming fraud AFTER i'd shipped the item.. (though i have heard of this before, as well).

if you search around these forums, there are other threads addressing safeguards and precautions to follow when using eBay... my best advice: don't ship anything until after payment has cleared, and when you DO ship it, make sure to either get delivery confirmation (USPS) or some sort of tracking number on it..that way, if the person tries to claim they never received it and then tries to get their money back from PayPal, you have some proof to show PayPal otherwise.

The problem with PayPal is that if someone pays you with a credit card, and then calls their credit card company and says they want a charge back (and gives a legitimate reason I assume), PayPal takes the money right back from you.

As for the most cost efficient way, I would suggest craigslist.org first of all. It's free to list something and you can sell it local, meaning an in person transaction and no shipping. DO NOT accept cashiers checks, money orders, etc. People may try to give you fake ones. Accept cash only.

Yeah don't do money orders. I almost sent my PSP to some guy that said he sent a money order, but that order never showed up on their database. I recommend local pickup and cash ONLY via craigslist. Don't let anyone convince you to ship the item, because chances are that they will try to send you a fake money order.

I believe this is the safest auction technique...

You'll want to list on eBay and only accept Paypal. Once the auction ends and payment is received, you should immediately transfer the funds into your bank account and then wait the 2-3 days this process takes to occur before actually shipping the Powerbook. In the rare instance that some douche bag buyer charges back his credit card, your Paypal account will just go negative (since it will be empty at the time of the chargeback). While you show delivery confirmation and argue with Paypal about the scammer's actions, you won't be out any real money. Worst case scenario - close the Paypal account. I'm fairly certain that they can't take funds from your linked bank account or credit card without authorization.

If this makes little sense or is entirely incorrect, I apologize in advance.

ChrisRC said:

You'll want to list on eBay and only accept Paypal. Once the auction ends and payment is received, you should immediately transfer the funds into your bank account and then wait the 2-3 days this process takes to occur before actually shipping the Powerbook. In the rare instance that some douche bag buyer charges back his credit card, your Paypal account will just go negative (since it will be empty at the time of the chargeback). While you show delivery confirmation and argue with Paypal about the scammer's actions, you won't be out any real money. Worst case scenario - close the Paypal account. I'm fairly certain that they can't take funds from your linked bank account or credit card without authorization.

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What I read is Paypal has sometimes been known to pull funds out of your bank account even without your authorisation, because as you may know, when you add your account in you have to essentially verify that you (the paypal account owner) owns the account you added. In a twisted sense when you verify your account you have authorised paypal to take funds as they wish!

What I'd do is have two separate accounts, one specially linked to paypal, and use that paypal account to protect your "real" account. Also try to make sure that account you use for paypal can't be overdrawn, so when they do try to pull a fast one on you all they'd get is a transaction declined rejection.

Use Craigslist

As another memeber suggested, Craisglist is the best option. You can get anything sold in a quick, efficient manner and you'll have the cash up front

I prefer cash transactions because my goal is to stay faaaaarr away from credit. For me, it doesn't hit home that I'm buying something for X amount of dollars unless I see myself handing over the cash.

I have sold old bikes, clothes, an old tv. Like ebay pictures are your best tool in getting what you need sold. (Send them via email)

xfiftyfour said:

i've been scammed on ebay, but only by people not paying for an item they won - nothing as extreme as someone claiming fraud AFTER i'd shipped the item.. (though i have heard of this before, as well).

Click to expand...

I had exactly this happen. Someone claimed I send them a "highly dangerous" item, because there was liquid stains on it (that I 100% do not remember being there). It was a Radeon 9200 for PC.

He didn't ask if he could have a refund either, he immidiately filed claim the day he got it and sent a lot of very silly attempts at sounding intimidating emails. Kept referring to it as "highly dangerous" and saying things about lawsuits and millions of dollars over this $20 item.

So ridiculous.

dpaanlka said:

I had exactly this happen. Someone claimed I send them a "highly dangerous" item, because there was liquid stains on it (that I 100% do not remember being there). It was a Radeon 9200 for PC.

He didn't ask if he could have a refund either, he immidiately filed claim the day he got it and sent a lot of very silly attempts at sounding intimidating emails. Kept referring to it as "highly dangerous" and saying things about lawsuits and millions of dollars over this $20 item.

So ridiculous.

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yeah i've had some bad things happen on ebay as well. I sold an xps gaming machine and the winner with 2500 feedback believe it or not, sent me an email telling me he would send paypal payment in 2 days and that he would use his own fedex account for shipping. He agreed to my shipping when he bid. So i emailed him and said in order for me to be covered by paypal i need to use my own shipping and ship to a confirmed address. He got furious and said he didn't want to pay it. So i said fine I'll report you and offer a 2nd chance to someone else. He immediately sent payment. ONLY to find out when i check the transaction.....his confirmed address zip code wasn't correct to the city he was actually in. So paypal's mistake was to declare that it was the real zip code and confirm it. Well on the bottom of the transaction where you can type a comment to the seller. He put the real address with the correct zip code telling me to ship there. So when you entered the confirmed zip into google maps it couldn't find the address. But when you typed the address he had in the notes that wasn't confirmed it showed up on google maps and usps as being the real address. I immediately emailed him telling him i wasn't going to ship bc his adddress really isn't confirmed. He got furious again and filed a dispute with paypal and IMMEDIATELY got his money back no questions asked. HE filed a non-receipt of goods. so luckily i caught what he was doing and didn't ship otherwise i would have been out of a computer. Paypal immediately refunded him his money and my account went negative bc i had already sent the funds to my bank. Be very careful when using ebay. Accept money orders only and wait til it clears your bank before you ship.

Good idea but...

KingYaba said:

As another memeber suggested, Craisglist is the best option. You can get anything sold in a quick, efficient manner and you'll have the cash up front

I prefer cash transactions because my goal is to stay faaaaarr away from credit. For me, it doesn't hit home that I'm buying something for X amount of dollars unless I see myself handing over the cash.

I have sold old bikes, clothes, an old tv. Like ebay pictures are your best tool in getting what you need sold. (Send them via email)

Click to expand...

Craigslist is a great idea ONLY if you want to try to sell the item locally - you meet the buyer and get your cash. You also dont have to pay ebay and paypal fees (another big bonus).

If you go the paypal route, make sure and get the paypal debit card (its free if you have an account and only takes about a week to get (in the US). As I have sold a bunch of laptops on ebay, make sure that a) you list that you have the right to cancel any auction for questionable feedback b)never ship the laptop before receiving payment c) only accept payments from paypal and only from verified members (and state this in your auction). You dont want to get paid from a buyer who has a paypal feedback less than 10. You should also check their feedback rating and see who they have done business with recently. Once you get paid, use your paypal debit card to go to any ATM and get the cash or just go straight to the Apple Store and get your MBP. Be sure to use your original apple packaging that came with your PB and ship it insured.

only one problem with the bank account being empty or you pay pal account going negitive. Paypa will just turn you over to collection agency and it put a huge black mark on you creited.

I was 'had' on eBay once. Purchased a laptop for like $1000, and the guy took the money and ran. Luckily, I had put it on my credit card. The credit card company did a chargeback on the idiot's account and reversed the paypal charge. I'll never do business directly to my bank account again.

I've sold a lot over the years on eBay (probably over 150 items) and purchased around 5. My advice is this: don't make big purchases over eBay. Stick to inexpensive items or to really legit sellers (people with 100+ feedback) to minimize the probability of being ripped off. I've had NO problems with making big sales over eBay.

Watch out on ebay I have been paid with fake cc and fake checks and money orders. I usually only happens on high en products.