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Selling MBP on Craigslist, buyer is willing to paypal me money if I ship it. Sketchy?

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If he sent you the money, it's your money. Transfer it to the bank. When money is in your Paypal acct, he sent the money.
What do you think it is?

The risk here is on the buyer honestly. Send it insured with delivery confirmation to the
paypal confirmed address only.

Craigslist is whats very risky. Been many robberies, even in public parking lots.
 
Last edited:
skye12 said:
If he sent you the money, it's your money. Transfer it to the bank.

The risk here is on the buyer honestly. Send it insured with delivery confirmation to the
paypal confirmed address only.

Craigslist is very risky. Been many robberies, even in public parking lots.
Click to expand...

When dealing with Paypal, it's never your money.
 
I put up an old macbook pro on craigslist yesterday and i got almost the same thing, check this out:

Guys name is "Scott Jeffery" aka scott2888@att.net

Thanks for getting back to me,i need this item urgently for
someone as a gift,i am offering you $900 for the item
including shipping Via USPS Priority Mail Service,am offering
you this to keep other buyers off,so i will like you to get back with
your PayPal account email for the payment immediately and more over
i want to know why you are selling the item because i was introduce to
this site by a friend of mine at work.

Get Back Asap...

Scott...
Click to expand...

Keywords for RED FLAG: "Item", "Gift"

He's just spamming multiple sellers and putting item. Who the hell buys a 5 year old macbook pro for someone as a gift?

Its a total scam....why would someone offer me more than 200 dollars my asking price for this laptop?

READ THIS: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101130162627AAkX6us
 
spazma7ik said:
So I have a potential buyer. Emails went as such:

Still available for Sale??

Me: Yep!

Him: Thanks for the email..I will be shipping the macbook to the address below and am also paying you through paypal this is very secure,fastest and relaible way of making payment..am making an offer all total am paying now $2350 including shipping cost...Please i will like you to get back to me with your paypal email address so i can make instant payment..And if you dont have kindly log on to this link to create an account( www.paypal.com) ...My address is : (HE PUT HIS ADDRESS HERE).

His address is located in Stevensville, Montana and my listing is in California..

Anyhow,

Me: Will you paypal the money first?

Him: Okay i will...kindly send me your paypal email so i can make the payment instantly.


So now here I am, unsure on what to do.. If I show a payment in my PayPal for $2250, is that it, I just got paid? No loopholes or anything he can pull once that happens?
Click to expand...

Don't ship it!!!!!

All of the emails from him are the standard scam emails. "Still up for sale?" "Kindly send..."

They are all generic emails. I have been selling stuff on craigslist for awhile and anything of decent value gets those types of responses, sometimes from multiple email accounts. They will pay you with a stolen paypal account.
 
skye12 said:
If he sent you the money, it's your money. Transfer it to the bank. When money is in your Paypal acct, he sent the money.
What do you think it is?

The risk here is on the buyer honestly. Send it insured with delivery confirmation to the
paypal confirmed address only.

Craigslist is whats very risky. Been many robberies, even in public parking lots.
Click to expand...

This is not true. If the guy pays him with a stolen paypal account, paypal will recover funds.
 
skye12 said:
If he sent you the money, it's your money. Transfer it to the bank. When money is in your Paypal acct, he sent the money.
What do you think it is?

The risk here is on the buyer honestly. Send it insured with delivery confirmation to the
paypal confirmed address only.

Craigslist is whats very risky. Been many robberies, even in public parking lots.
Click to expand...

you've obviously never used paypal or ebay. he could do a chargeback on his credit card and keep the machine and OP would be out a machine.

i'm not a fan of craigslist at all but @least it's a cash pickup.
 
I wonder if anyone got paid with cash and was given fake (or however they call it) money.
If you're gonna get paid in cash a big amount of money (400$+ i guess), you should better do it in a place that has a bill checker you can use.
 
orfeas0 said:
I wonder if anyone got paid with cash and was given fake (or however they call it) money.
If you're gonna get paid in cash a big amount of money (400$+ i guess), you should better do it in a place that has a bill checker you can use.
Click to expand...

this is exactly the reason i prefer to just give sweet deals to family and friends so i don't have to worry about being scammed.
 
pricej636 said:
They cant withdraw money from your checking account without your permission.

That being said, its obviously a scam. Dont send him anything.

I tested one of these scams once. Was selling a cell phone on craigslist. A guy in florida wanted to buy it, said he would paypal me $100 more if I shipped it. I knew it was a scam from the beginning, so I shipped an empty box with a note saying "STOP SCAMMING PEOPLE". The box didn't even make it to its destination before Paypal pulled the funds, saying there was a problem with the credit card used. The guy signed for the empty package and I never heard from him again.

BTW, I turned him in to Paypals security department along with the name he signed with.
Click to expand...

Awesome- that story made my day.
 
pricej636 said:
They cant withdraw money from your checking account without your permission.

That being said, its obviously a scam. Dont send him anything.

I tested one of these scams once. Was selling a cell phone on craigslist. A guy in florida wanted to buy it, said he would paypal me $100 more if I shipped it. I knew it was a scam from the beginning, so I shipped an empty box with a note saying "STOP SCAMMING PEOPLE". The box didn't even make it to its destination before Paypal pulled the funds, saying there was a problem with the credit card used. The guy signed for the empty package and I never heard from him again.

BTW, I turned him in to Paypals security department along with the name he signed with.
Click to expand...
they can't take the money out of your bank account, but they can put a negative balance on your paypal and make you responsible for that. can make it to collections also.
 
sketchy?

as all get out. Avoid at all costs!!!! When I was getting rid of my old MBP, I got about 17 of these offers, and they all didn't reply after i mentioned how they were scamming me. They know what's up. Deal IN PERSON!
 
/user/me said:
sketchy?

as all get out. Avoid at all costs!!!! When I was getting rid of my old MBP, I got about 17 of these offers, and they all didn't reply after i mentioned how they were scamming me. They know what's up. Deal IN PERSON!
Click to expand...

did you notice that all the emails were from someone that HAS TWO FIRST NAMES? I sell stuff on CL and everyone that is a scammer has two first name, such as Adam_Mark or Beth_Ashley@gmail.com
 
Just have to be VERY careful.

At first the scam emails were VERY obvious but as the years go on they are becoming a little smarter and are at least getting their english right.

I have bought and sold NUMEROUS laptops and have sold my last 4 over paypal to the u.s. and I am in canada. NO problems. NO issues.

1. Speak to the guy on the phone. Not much security here but most people will not reply after you ask if they are trying to hose you.

2. Paypal veried address ONLY. Check his paypal feedback and how long he has been using it.

3. If you do ship you MUST follow guidelines on HOW you must protect yourself. Ship ONLY to his veried address. You MUST pay the extra for tracking and pay for signature if possible. PAY for the insurance. If he tries to hose you paypal will ask for verification for all this and if paypal gets verification of shipment they WILL NOT SEND HIM THE MONEY BACK.

theres more I can add but my break is over.. pm me if you have any questions I can help you out.
 
I live in the sticks, where virtually nothing cool (i.e. that I want) is for sale, so I have often bought things that were listed on Craigslist from a distance. BUT, that letter is so scammy sounding it isn't funny. Just the way it is written. So I wouldn't go through with it.

Miss Terri
 
Yeah I have had a lot of emails like this when I tried to sell stuff on ebay and craigslist. Scam. Especially if they ever ask for western union or ask you to deduct money from their checks or anything of the sort.

Sell it to someone local you can go see, meet, and/or ask for cash or personal checks with time for them to clear before you ship.
 
inhalexhale said:
This is not true. If the guy pays him with a stolen paypal account, paypal will recover funds.
Click to expand...

A stolen account doesn't ship to the verified and registered address on paypal. If you send to another address that is not verified, you are not protected. Shipping it with insurance, signature required, and to the verified address leaves almost no possible way to be scammed out of your paypal money.
 
trust the force..

lol

agree some serious f'd up scammers out there.. i will give you my experience from last week end

i would stick with ebay/payapl and i will tell you why:

i placed my 2010 vsn Macbook pro for sale on friday, its only 7 weeks old, with upgraded hdd and 8gbb ram, 3yrs applecare
sold it for £1350 - approx $2200 USD

i stipulated in that i will not ship outside the UK, and delivery would be by tracked courier with insurance

So, i sold the item on ebay for the 'buy it now' for $1350, the seller didnt want the upgrades, so i re-installed all the stock components and packaged the laptop ready to ship once payment was received.

The seller then sent me amessage on ebay, asking for further photos of the product, as she was spending a lot of money, she wanted to be 100% before going ahead with the payment, despite accepting buy-it-now 2 days before. This was a very cunning move as her concerns affords a certain degree of validity. however, this meant that she now had my e-mail address.

luckily, i keep my paypal/ebay registered to a different e-mail address.

Then on Sunday i received the following e-mail:

Hi Seller,

Thank you for notifying me about the condition of this item i won.I just
want to inform you that i have paid sufficient money for the shipment to
my Son address in West Africa that works with UNICEF when i won your
item and it has been deducted on my account.So i want you to ship the
item fast to his place because the item is meant to be his BIRTHDAY
GIFT.I would have sent it myself but i am out of town for An HIV/AIDS
CAMPAIGN RESEARCH.And i want you to send the item to him as soon as
possible FIRST THING TOMORROW MORNING so that it can get there on time because i want him to receive it ASAP for his BIRTHDAY purpose that is why i have paid for
fast shipment to his place through Royalmail 1st Class Recorded

International Signed For..

Shipping Information Address:
Name:Obukofe Kelvin
Address:5 Buluku Street,
City:Ughelli,
State: Delta
Country: Nigeria
Zipcode: 234333

Awaiting to hear your fast response about the shipment when it is done.
Regards
Edna

This felt very wrong to me, i was very unhappy about sending the item outside the UK, so i goggled the address on her paypal/ebay address (the UK one not Nigeria)and lay and behold it was a field in York, i knew this was a scam..lol

She then sent me this e-mail
https://files.me.com/johnnykenth/nimzo8
seems kosher paypal confirmation right?

I was immediately suspicious as this was not sent to the e-mail address i have registered paypal to!
so i checked the address closely.. noticed it was - "PayPal@service.co.uk" <online-fund-clearan-uk@in.com> lol wtf.. all other paypal transactions were service@paypal.co.uk..lol

so reminded the buyer that i had stipulated i will not post outside the UK, despite the supposed payment £85 for additional delivery
i also mentioned that my paypal account has not received the payment
and her registered address in the UK on ebay is a field...lol
It was Sunday 2300hrs so i guess they knew i couldn't call paypa.. but i did the following morn and they confirmed no payment had been made and indeed this was very suspicious.. this person had no verification, no uk registered residency and no bank account associated with the account - despite my setting on my account e-bay screening for all of this, she had truly fooled the system

i then received a battery of e-mails faked from payapl/ebay.. The one that really made me laugh was the one from ebay.. stating her account had been re-instated, and Mrs Edna is a good, honest, law abiding Christian housewife. We can personally vouch for her character.....rofl as if paypal would say this

i contacted ebay - who noticed this bidder had made several high price buy it now auctions - well in the end their account was suspended and ebay/paypal thank got where very nice and told me not to ship the item despite the several threatening e-mail i kept receiving from the fake ebay/paypal accounts..

moral of story - not to ship unless you 100% happy, and certain the money has cleared (as some people use stolen cards and the money might just be pending)

a negative feedback, or pissed of client, vs £1500 loss :confused:
 
I got pwned selling a laptop on eBay.

Transaction went like this:
Buyer buys, pays by Paypal.
I ship, buyer gets laptop.
Several days later I get a brick in a box delivered to my door.
Buyer initiates chargeback
I dispute with all information.
Paypal credits the buyer full priced based completely on the fact they had verified tracking info that a package was delivered from them to me.

Paypal could give a rats behind about the seller, they refused to respond to a single complaint and closed the case as resolved. I was out a laptop.

I've sold many since on CL. Met a few strange people but also some really good ones.
 
WonkyPanda said:
A stolen account doesn't ship to the verified and registered address on paypal. If you send to another address that is not verified, you are not protected. Shipping it with insurance, signature required, and to the verified address leaves almost no possible way to be scammed out of your paypal money.
Click to expand...

you must not use ebay/paypal much. almost anytime u change your address in paypal it still shows as confirmed etc. the person can also make payment with a CC without having to sign up for a paypal account. It will just show payment from an unregistered account.

any money sent to paypal is not a guarantee it will ever be yours for sure. charge backs can be done easily as well.
 
Ccrew said:
I got pwned selling a laptop on eBay.

Transaction went like this:
Buyer buys, pays by Paypal.
I ship, buyer gets laptop.
Several days later I get a brick in a box delivered to my door.
Buyer initiates chargeback
I dispute with all information.
Paypal credits the buyer full priced based completely on the fact they had verified tracking info that a package was delivered from them to me.

Paypal could give a rats behind about the seller, they refused to respond to a single complaint and closed the case as resolved. I was out a laptop.

I've sold many since on CL. Met a few strange people but also some really good ones.
Click to expand...

yeah always on the buyers side no matter what.
 
all this stuff is why I held onto my 3gs until this week. I needed to sell it for the ipad 2. so I posted it on craigslist. I got a msg in broken english wanting to buy my iphone i told him to meet at the mall in the food court he agreed. I went and sat at the mall for an hour dude didn't show or respond to emails. he emailed me again and said he really wanted the phone was late cause of traffic but also sent another one saying he was waiting for me there (2 hours later I was long gone) so I was like wtf were you late cause of traffic or there. wanted me to bring it to his home (super sketchy area). I said no way we can meet at the mall again but I only meet people in public places and wont be going to your home. he agreed to meet me again at the mall told me what he'd be wearing and he'd be with his son. so i went back to the mall today and walked around didn't just stand there holding the phone waiting to be ripped off if this guy was a theif. but just like he said there he was with his son. he was an old man just looking for an iphone. transaction went very smooth.

But because of scumbag scammers like the people you guys are talking about in this thread we have to be super careful of any type of weird request/email.

Im sure you've gotten the message but run far away. I almost got screwed on ebay selling electronic drums cause the buyer was a moron and filed a complaint and paypal took the money back.
 
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