buying from people online

[ng12345]

someone e-mailed me about selling a 2405fpw for a good price

he has a yahoo e-mail account and wants me to put up $500 up front

seems unwilling to use an escrow service

states he got my e-mail address through at from a friend who is a lurker

has sent me some "references" (aol and free e-mail accounts)

what are some methods that I can verify him as a credible source?

he sent me pictures of the item (all were pictures of the dell box)

 

[tec699]

jus do it!

 

[Triforceofcourage]

If he has a yahoo email address he must be legit :roll:......

 

[FleshLight]

I'd exercise caution. If he has ebay feedback, heatware, is a respected member of a respectable forum, or lives in the local vicinity, I'd check that out first. Otherwise, I wouldn't do it.

 

[JoeKing]

how much is he asking for it?

 

[aplefka]

I wouldn't... sounds shady to me.

 

[minendo]

You'd be an idiot to go through with this. Especially since he will not use an escrow service.

 

[dquan97]

No heat or ebay?

 

[ng12345]

yah right now i'm not going to do it
i'm saying how would i go about verifying the source

no heat and no ebay

750 for the 2405fpw ...

 

[chuckywang]

ask him to ship first

 

[TheShiz]

"seems unwilling to use an escrow service "


red flag, especially if you are willing to pay the fees.

 

[ng12345]

ok

yah he won't ship first ... he was asking 500 before and 250 after

he sent me a list of refernces (2 aols, 2 yahoos, and 1 e-mail.com) ... so i'm still pretty iffy on this

does paypal provide any buyer protection of any kind that could protect me from being frauded?

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Triforceofcourage
If he has a yahoo email address he must be legit :roll:......

Yeah, right.

 

[CRXican]

email addresses are not references

 

[AccruedExpenditure]

I read "buying people online"

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: CRXican
email addresses are not references

I'm sure he was joking.

 

[ng12345]

well yah ...

the end situation:

the guy complained he had to do more work to sell to me than he had to do with any of his other sales

one of his references replied saying he was a good seller, but that the buyer didn't use ebya or any form of feedback

i said if we do escrow i'll do it and i'll pick up all the fees

he said he thought me paying 500 first and 250 later was a good compromise and he would try selling elsewhere

 

[shilala]

Originally posted by: ng12345
well yah ...

the end situation:

the guy complained he had to do more work to sell to me than he had to do with any of his other sales

one of his references replied saying he was a good seller, but that the buyer didn't use ebya or any form of feedback

i said if we do escrow i'll do it and i'll pick up all the fees

he said he thought me paying 500 first and 250 later was a good compromise and he would try selling elsewhere

Have we learned anything from this???

 

[NiKeFiDO]

at the very least get a phone # and talk to him. for whatever good that might do...