Need help with Paypal!

[cwright]

If anyone is very familiar with selling via Paypal, I could really use your help! I've never sold anything before on Paypal, and for my first sale I need to make sure that I'm not being scammed. I'm a little wary of this one, since the seller (who lives here) wants me to ship the item overseas as a gift for a friend. Anyway I told her that I'd ship it as long as I receive payment first. So, I sent her a payment request via Paypal, and sure enough I get an e-mail saying that the payment has been sent and is being held by Paypal. All I have to do is ship the item before they deposit my money. Is that the way this always works?

I got the following e-mail:

••••••
This is to confirm to you that we have received your payment of $***.00 USD from ********** for FaceBook item: ******** The money has now been deducted from the buyer's account and is ready to be deposited into your account. It will be debited into your PayPal (cwright3@mac.com) account as soon as we receive the shipping reference / tracking number from you.
The number is to be sent to (services_paypalcustomercare@emailaccount.com).
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PAYMENT WILL NOT APPEAR IN THE "PENDING" TAB IN YOUR ACCOUNT UNTIL YOU SEND THE SHIPPING REFERENCE NUMBER TO US.
This is due to new policies at PayPal to protect both the buyer and the seller in the face of the growing number of fraudulent activities perpetrated via the internet. Your payment is intact. You are encouraged to complete this transaction.
Here at PayPal you can be assured that your security and safety is our topmost concern.
If you have questions about this payment for your sold item or service, please contact PayPal directly by replying to this email. Your query will be answered promptly .
We hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
••••••

Of course it also has the official-looking Paypal logo and banner at the top and the "Paypal Verified" seal and other info at the bottom, but I'm still not convinced...Because:

I replied to the e-mail address they wanted me to send the tracking info to (services_paypalcustomercare@emailaccount.com) in order to verify this, and the e-mail was immediately returned (multiple times) saying the address was "temporarily inactive".

Can anyone tell if this is legit? Is it an elaborate scam or is Paypal just somewhat sketchy?

Thanks!

 

[techlover828]

If anyone is very familiar with selling via Paypal, I could really use your help! I've never sold anything before on Paypal, and for my first sale I need to make sure that I'm not being scammed. I'm a little wary of this one, since the seller (who lives here) wants me to ship the item overseas as a gift for a friend. Anyway I told her that I'd ship it as long as I receive payment first. So, I sent her a payment request via Paypal, and sure enough I get an e-mail saying that the payment has been sent and is being held by Paypal. All I have to do is ship the item before they deposit my money. Is that the way this always works?

I got the following e-mail:

••••••
This is to confirm to you that we have received your payment of $***.00 USD from ********** for FaceBook item: ******** The money has now been deducted from the buyer's account and is ready to be deposited into your account. It will be debited into your PayPal (cwright3@mac.com) account as soon as we receive the shipping reference / tracking number from you.
The number is to be sent to (services_paypalcustomercare@emailaccount.com).
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PAYMENT WILL NOT APPEAR IN THE "PENDING" TAB IN YOUR ACCOUNT UNTIL YOU SEND THE SHIPPING REFERENCE NUMBER TO US.
This is due to new policies at PayPal to protect both the buyer and the seller in the face of the growing number of fraudulent activities perpetrated via the internet. Your payment is intact. You are encouraged to complete this transaction.
Here at PayPal you can be assured that your security and safety is our topmost concern.
If you have questions about this payment for your sold item or service, please contact PayPal directly by replying to this email. Your query will be answered promptly .
We hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
••••••

Of course it also has the official-looking Paypal logo and banner at the top and the "Paypal Verified" seal and other info at the bottom, but I'm still not convinced...Because:

I replied to the e-mail address they wanted me to send the tracking info to (services_paypalcustomercare@emailaccount.com) in order to verify this, and the e-mail was immediately returned (multiple times) saying the address was "temporarily inactive".

Can anyone tell if this is legit? Is it an elaborate scam or is Paypal just somewhat sketchy?

Thanks!

hmm... that does seem odd

 

[Eraserhead]

It could legit but usually they'd have to challenge the payment first, have you said that you're sending the item insured?

 

[cwright]

It could legit but usually they'd have to challenge the payment first, have you said that you're sending the item insured?

I hadn't thought about it actually. The buyer requested USPS Priority Mail to Nigeria (and offered to pay the shipping), so I looked up the shipping rates online and tacked $42 onto the total.

I should note another concern... I listed this for sale on Facebook, and only asked $100 for the item. The seller (who appears to be an older woman, from the wording in her e-mails) offered to pay $300 plus shipping. Now I did mention in the description that the retail price (that I originally paid) was $300, so it's possible that that was the only number she saw.

But if it's too good to be true...

 

[Eraserhead]

It looks like the purchase a scam, they are overpaying and its to Nigeria.

That is probably why Paypal wants the tracking information, though you could well lose your money, though if you do submit your tracking information to Paypal do so by typing in paypal.com into your web browser.

 

[killerrobot]

That's a scam.

With Paypal they pay and it gets deposited into your account
and then you decide to ship whenever.

Plus, never ship anything to Nigeria - that's the biggest scam going on now.

EDIT:Also, the only reason something says pending on a paypal account is because it hasn't cleared payment yet, either through paypal, buyer's bank or yours.
I'd also report them to Paypal

 

[cwright]

That's a scam.

With Paypal they pay and it gets deposited into your account
and then you decide to ship whenever.

Plus, never ship anything to Nigeria - that's the biggest scam going on now.

EDIT:Also, the only reason something says pending on a paypal account is because it hasn't cleared payment yet, either through paypal, buyer's bank or yours.
I'd also report them to Paypal

Yea, I called Paypal also and they told me the same thing–that the money should be deposited before shipment. Oh well

 

[Lyle]

Maybe it's just me, but in my experience any time you have to ask, "Is this Paypal transaction a scam?", the answer is "Yes".

 

[yg17]

Maybe it's just me, but in my experience any time you have to ask, "Is this Paypal transaction a scam?", the answer is "Yes".

Pretty much, yeah.


That has scam written all over it. The second you're instructed to ship something out of country as a gift, especially to Nigeria, run away as far as you can. That is the biggest indicator of a scam.

I should note another concern... I listed this for sale on Facebook, and only asked $100 for the item. The seller (who appears to be an older woman, from the wording in her e-mails) offered to pay $300 plus shipping. Now I did mention in the description that the retail price (that I originally paid) was $300, so it's possible that that was the only number she saw.

2nd biggest indicator of a scam. They want to offer you a good price so you take them up on their offer. Everyone else is offering your asking price of $100, they're offering $300. At first glance, who would most people deal with? The guy offering 3 times as much. Except he's not going to give you a damn cent.

And by the way, that's not a nice little old lady you're dealing with. It's some scammer over in Nigeria.

 

[adk]

I can't believe you even have to ask about this one.

If you want to ship your item to nigeria before any funds are in your paypal account, be my guest. It'll sure teach you a lesson.