foreign ebay buyer, how not to get screwed?

santaliqueur

Member
Feb 8, 2005
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i sold an old alphastation for a decent amount of money tonight, and my buyer is in south korea. may not have been such a wise move to sell worldwide, but i didnt want to exclude a high bidder. the red flag went up with his first statement regarding paypal. here is the meat of his email back to me.
Thanks for your answer. I can't pay you via Paypal. Beacuse I can not register VISA in Paypal.(Paypal is only register MASTER Card or AMEX) So I can pay you via Bidpay or VISA or Wire transfer. Can you? If you want only Paypal, I can pay you through my agent in US. And I have a DHL account #xxx. In this case, I can pay shipping cost in Korea. If you want USPS, Please notify me shipping cost
no visa for paypal? news to me. is this guy trying to pull a fast one on me? ive heard of people getting screwed over with bad checks and the like, and i'll be damned if i'm the next one. but i need help from you guys how can i protect myself, if he is out to get me? is his line about paypal not accepting visa an attempt to weasel out of the protection it gives me as a seller? it looks like he may own/run a website dealing with selling computers - mooksabal.

*just thought of this...my dad has a merchant account with visa and a few other cards, we use it to rent out a couple machines we have. would this be an option? could i accept visa directly, and not through paypal? i dont care much about the fees. that may be an option there. i'm just looking to have protection in case he tries to fug with me. thanks much.

CJ
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
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Aug 23, 2003
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Are you asking to be screwed?

Foreign buyer + PayPal = Fraud

He's doing you a favor by requesting BidPay. BidPay payments cannot be reversed...PayPal payments are very easily reversed. You think PayPal is going to spend 2 seconds on investigating a Buyer Protection Policy claim from a foreign buyer? Hell no.

Here are a few quick tips for those of you who do use PayPal:

Only accept domestic PayPal payments.

Make sure your item has tracking/delivery confirmation (and signature confirmation if it's worth more than $250).

Only accept payments from Verified PayPal users.

Only ship to PayPal confirmed addresses.

Never leave a balance in your PayPal account...withdraw the money as soon as you recieve it.
 

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
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Two options

Don't sell - save yourself $$$ and time

Sell - get ripped off and waste a lot of time.
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
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Originally posted by: RossMAN
Two options

Don't sell - save yourself $$$ and time

Sell - get ripped off and waste a lot of time.

RossMAN, I have to disagree with you here. If the guy pays first through a non-reversible payment method, like BidPay, international money order, wire transfer, etc., then you have zero risk for fraud.

Fraud happens when you ship first (a big no no), or when you leave the payment open to chargebacks (which can happen if you use PayPal, merchant accounts, etc.).

Resellers who know what they are doing typically request BidPay for international sales (or international money orders, although that can add a week in transit time).
 

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
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My Visa is attached to my Paypal account.

See if he'll do a Western Union cash transfer..cash the check at the receiving location, and you're all set. :)
 

santaliqueur

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Feb 8, 2005
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well if i dont sell, there goes my 100% rating. it's only 35+, but you gotta start somewhere. what about charging him directly on our merchant account? those payments able to be reversed? most of these scammers go for the big ticket items such as laptops. my machine did sell for almost $600, but i dont even know of one other person who even knows what an alpha CPU is. while foreign buyers + paypal may equal fraud in many cases, i dont think this guy is necessarily a scammer. his business is selling HP/alpha servers and workstations, so he is probably looking to resell the machine. that said, he may as well be a scammer, and i'm going to treat him like one, shy of not selling him the unit. good thing he isnt from nigeria.

i guess what i'm asking is, what is the most secure way i can get this guy's money? i dont have a bidpay acct, but i suppose i could get one. would it be any worse or better (than paypal) to use our merchant account and have him tell me his credit card number over the phone?

CK
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
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Aug 23, 2003
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Originally posted by: santaliqueur
well if i dont sell, there goes my 100% rating. it's only 35+, but you gotta start somewhere. what about charging him directly on our merchant account? those payments able to be reversed? most of these scammers go for the big ticket items such as laptops. my machine did sell for almost $600, but i dont even know of one other person who even knows what an alpha CPU is. while foreign buyers + paypal may equal fraud in many cases, i dont think this guy is necessarily a scammer. his business is selling HP/alpha servers and workstations, so he is probably looking to resell the machine. that said, he may as well be a scammer, and i'm going to treat him like one, shy of not selling him the unit. good thing he isnt from nigeria.

i guess what i'm asking is, what is the most secure way i can get this guy's money? i dont have a bidpay acct, but i suppose i could get one. would it be any worse or better (than paypal) to use our merchant account and have him tell me his credit card number over the phone?

CK

Merchant accounts are open to chargebacks. BidPay is more or less a online money order (the service is run by Western Union). Sign up for an account; it takes a few minutes. You can add a bank account to BidPay if you want, but you don't have to. Once the payment is sent by the buyer, the order takes about 24 hours to be approved by BidPay...once it's approved, the money is either mailed to you by check, or deposited in your bank account (if you added one). You are not vunerable to chargebacks if you use BidPay, so you're taking no risk by accepting his payment terms.

As long as he pays before you ship, you should have no problem.
 

santaliqueur

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Feb 8, 2005
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i read them too, but i cant believe there isnt a single way to securely sell to this guy. i'm looking into bidpay now, thanks to jpeyton.

CJ
 

edmundoab

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Apr 21, 2003
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get him to pay either by bidpay or western union to keep u on the safe side

only that way, u know u can have the money in hand.

And yes, I agree that paypal payments can be easily reversed. I've been a victim myself so I know.
Try get those MO or bank transfers worst come to worst (wire transfer)

I wont say its all gonna be a bad idea to ship overseas. But seriously, paypal is not very friendly outside North America and Europe. All the best in your transaction
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
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Aug 23, 2003
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Originally posted by: santaliqueur
so if i accept bidpay (and wait for bidpay's money order to get here before i ship) i should be straight?

CJ

Correct. A money order is guaranteed by the issuer (which would be Western Union), and not the buyer. That is as good as cash.
 

santaliqueur

Member
Feb 8, 2005
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Originally posted by: edmundoab
get him to pay either by bidpay or western union to keep u on the safe side

only that way, u know u can have the money in hand.

And yes, I agree that paypal payments can be easily reversed. I've been a victim myself so I know.
Try get those MO or bank transfers worst come to worst (wire transfer)

I wont say its all gonna be a bad idea to ship overseas. But seriously, paypal is not very friendly outside North America and Europe. All the best in your transaction

i thought there was some nigerian scam about western union, some kind of money order being false, even the bank couldnt tell? i dunno. i suppose it wasnt the smartest idea to accept overseas bidders, but i didnt want to limit it to just the US. thanks.

CJ
 

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
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Originally posted by: santaliqueur

i guess what i'm asking is, what is the most secure way i can get this guy's money?

CK

...

Originally posted by: CadetLee

See if he'll do a Western Union cash transfer..cash the check at the receiving location, and you're all set. :)

:)
 

santaliqueur

Member
Feb 8, 2005
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Originally posted by: jpeyton
Originally posted by: santaliqueur
so if i accept bidpay (and wait for bidpay's money order to get here before i ship) i should be straight?

CJ

Correct. A money order is guaranteed by the issuer (which would be Western Union), and not the buyer. That is as good as cash.

very good, thanks for your help.

CJ
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
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Aug 23, 2003
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Originally posted by: santaliqueur
Originally posted by: edmundoab
get him to pay either by bidpay or western union to keep u on the safe side

only that way, u know u can have the money in hand.

And yes, I agree that paypal payments can be easily reversed. I've been a victim myself so I know.
Try get those MO or bank transfers worst come to worst (wire transfer)

I wont say its all gonna be a bad idea to ship overseas. But seriously, paypal is not very friendly outside North America and Europe. All the best in your transaction

i thought there was some nigerian scam about western union, some kind of money order being false, even the bank couldnt tell? i dunno. i suppose it wasnt the smartest idea to accept overseas bidders, but i didnt want to limit it to just the US. thanks.

CJ

The Nigerian scams only work on the dumbest of the dumb computer users, which is still quite a large number.

Nigerian scammers on eBay will typically offer to pay hundreds of thousands more that what your item is worth, and they will send you a spoofed Western Union e-mail saying that their payment was sent.

Some might even offer to mail you a check (which is a fake, of course).

Using BidPay is bulletproof, because you can login to the website to confirm that the payment was actually sent.
 

santaliqueur

Member
Feb 8, 2005
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Originally posted by: CadetLee
Originally posted by: santaliqueur

i guess what i'm asking is, what is the most secure way i can get this guy's money?

CK

...

Originally posted by: CadetLee

See if he'll do a Western Union cash transfer..cash the check at the receiving location, and you're all set. :)

:)
i must have missed that post. i guess this would be the same as bidpay, just directly? what info do i need to give him in order to do a WU cash xfer? where are the typical WU locations, do they have "branches"?

CJ

 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
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Aug 23, 2003
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Originally posted by: santaliqueur
Originally posted by: CadetLee
Originally posted by: santaliqueur

i guess what i'm asking is, what is the most secure way i can get this guy's money?

CK

...

Originally posted by: CadetLee

See if he'll do a Western Union cash transfer..cash the check at the receiving location, and you're all set. :)

:)
i must have missed that post. i guess this would be the same as bidpay, just directly? what info do i need to give him in order to do a WU cash xfer? where are the typical WU locations, do they have "branches"?

CJ

Go to WesternUnion.com and click the link near the top to find a local agent.

A note, Western Union Money Transfers cost much more to send than a BidPay payment. BidPay fees are typically in line with PayPal's.
 

santaliqueur

Member
Feb 8, 2005
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0
i reread his email, and he said he can pay me with "wire transfer" but CadetLee said "cash transfer", is there any difference? are there different types of wire transfers? who pays the transfer fees? off to google, but i'm getting some good info here, i thought i was hopeless when i saw my buyer was from SK. thanks guys.

CJ
 

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
106
I'm not familiar with Bidpay's system..but we send/receive WU's at work. The only info you need to give him is your name and the location you expect to receive it at (city/state). If he can give you the money transfer control number (MTCN), a WU location can look it up directly..

Your profile is disabled..so no idea where you live -- but Publix Supermarkets (850+ stores in the southeastern US) receive WU transfers..some gas stations probably do as well -- try westernunion.com and see if they have any more info :)
 

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
106
I guess Western Union may be called a wire transfer -- I can't recall at the moment..but it is definitely much more expensive. Strangely enough, it's cheaper to send from the US to another country than it is to send from a US location to a US location..*shrug*
 
Jun 6, 2005
194
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the fact that he says he can't sign up with paypal with his visa card is pure bs, so yes he raised a redflag, and you should stop wasting your time on a jerk off like that, because he probably still have something up his sleeve that he'll pull on yah.
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
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Aug 23, 2003
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I still say BidPay is a better option (because you can confirm payment online), but Western Union agents are everywhere. In my podunk town, we have about 5 within 4 miles of each other.