i have never sold anything on the internet before.so i am leery.
i recieved a potential buyer. It is from a 3rd party and I stated i would only accept a personal check or a cahiers check, and i would have to have the money up front before i shipped. well their response is that the coat is going to their client in africa and they are paying for shipping and handling and they will send the money first and they have no problem paying. they seem to want my name and address and phone number. In the ad i placed my phone number in already, and i have recieved no call.. am I being suspicious?? this whole thing seems shady.. what is the best way to handle this??
2006-10-17 04:56:59 · 52 answers · asked by sissybombay 3 in Business & Finance ➔ Personal Finance
Most overseas purchase offers are scams. Especially ones involving money orders and cashiers checks. The best way to spot a scammer is to ask them for their phone number. If they give you one and are able to talk to them - ask them where they reside, where they want to meet (make sure this is a super public location). Try to sell items locally. Be very careful of paypal as well, there have been the occassional paypal scam as well. Make sure you have some type of seller's insurance in place & shipping insurance if shipping overseas. Ebay is an awesome method if you can't sell it locally.
2006-10-17 05:22:12 · answer #1 · answered by professordimenna 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Craigslist and Ebay are a bit different when it comes to buying/selling. On Craigslist you really only want to sell/buy locally and take CASH only. A check could bounce and if they have the money to buy a cashiers check they have enough just to give you cash alone.
What happens is this - they will send you a cashiers check and it will look real, you'll deposit it into your bank account, send the jacket to them, and then the bank will contact you to let you know the cashiers check is not real. Furthermore, if you went ahead and spent that money you will now be responsible for any overdrawn charges that may occur once the bank deducts that amount from your account. The bank will not always catch right away that the casiers check/money order is fake until it is too late, but be assured that once they do they withdraw the funds from your account.
Another scam to watch out for is along the same lines of an email that is sent to you from a 3rd party company that says they have received a money order from the buyer and the company requests you ship your package and give them your tracking number. Once the company has that tracking number they will send you the money order. The email looks real but again it is a scam. Most of them will talk about how they lost money through Pay Pal and this is a safer transaction to protect both buyer and seller.
If someone is offering to pay more than what you are selling for that is a scam. They say they'll just send a money order for more than the selling price to motivate you to ship right away or they word it so that you will send them the remaining difference for whatever reason.
I can only stress that in dealing with Craigslist that you should deal locally and with cash only.
2006-10-17 05:23:22 · answer #2 · answered by betsymaemae 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Use common sense. Why would somone in Africa need to buy your coat. There are coats there. Is yours THAT special? If so, you should sell it for far more money.
Lots of people outside of the coutry are scammers. Be weary. Also, do not accept personal checks. Only cash forms of payment, such as paypal (which only useses and email address), money orders (which can me mailed to a neutral address, never use your own). There should be no need for an exchange of personal information if these methods (especially paypal, qhich also has insurance for the buyer) are used.
I've been doing ebay online for years and it's the safest way. All someone needs to use your name fruadulently is name and address (sometimes phone) it's surprising how easy it is. Be careful. If you're not sure, tell them you're not interested.
One more thing to watch out for is people who only email you because they want to have your email address when you respond. If there is no reason to respond, don't! Only if they are genuinly interested and you can tell that from their email.
2006-10-17 05:46:39 · answer #3 · answered by Orange 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
That is a scam. And let me give you my answer for you selling on craigslist. You never ever accept checks, mo, credit card, paypal, cashiers check from anyone. Never accept from out of state only accept buyers in your local city so you can meet them in a public place and only accept cash but bring one of those counterfit detection pens with you and mark the money before handing over the merchandise to make sure they are not scamming you and if they get offened tell them your reason why you're doing that.
2006-10-20 23:13:22 · answer #4 · answered by Kaley 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That sounds WAY shady.
Most likely they'll send you a check for too much and ask you to send the excess to them via Western Union. The check they send you will bounce in about 2 weeks. By then, you'll be out your jacket and the amount you wired to them, but you'll have to cover the check with your bank.
This is a VERY common fruad. NEVER agree to send money via Western Union, either to refund an overpayment or for something you are buying!
NEVER accept a cashier's check or money order either! These can be faked and often are. If you do accept one, only accept ones that are drawn on a major US bank with a branch in your area. Cash the check directly at one of the bank's branches -- NEVER deposit it into your account! Or use PayPal and ship only to the PayPal verified address.
2006-10-17 06:15:40 · answer #5 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If it sounds to good to be true it is.
You listening to your inner voice reasoning is way on cue!
Remember when dealing with foreign countries always ask for USA funds, not the foreign country! Could be a loss if foreign funding undermines the USA DOLLAR.
Go with a PayPal account! Accept no personal checks ever. Could be a stolen check or a counterfeit. You could accpet Western Union couldn't you? Look into that!
In the end cancel the transaction, start over with PayPal account. Put in your ad USA shipping only.
2006-10-17 05:30:36 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Obviously a scam. Someone in Africa that wanted a leather jacket would go down the street and buy one. They definitely would not hire a third party to broker their leather jacket deal. I would send them a response that involved cursing and as many insults as possible. You likely will receive a form letter back from them indicating that they are ready to send the money, they will not read what you write.
2006-10-17 05:51:31 · answer #7 · answered by jbarucca 1 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Set up a paypal account. It's worth the extra fees. Get the total price you asked for deposited in the paypal funds. If the buyer defaults, paypal will back the funds. When you get the money in the paypal account, the total price you are asking for, then you ship to a CONFIRMED addess. Best to send it with confirmation, so that the person buying the jacket has to SIGN to pick it up.
Afterwards he can do whatever he wants with the thing. But you don't send until the paypal funds hit your account, and you only send to a confirmed address, and you send the jacket receipt requested (talk to the postoffice).
Good luck.
2006-10-17 05:48:45 · answer #8 · answered by ZenPenguin 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I've sold things on E-bay a lot, and I imagine it's pretty much the same thing. They really shouldn't need your phone number at all, but they will, naturally, need your address. You did the right thing by requesting the money upfront, always do that. Then, when shipping, just make sure you get delivery confirmation on it, that way they can't try to scam you and say they didn't get it....you'll have proof that they did through the Post Office. You shouldn't have a problem.
2006-10-17 05:03:50 · answer #9 · answered by freyas_kin28 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Don't accept a peresonal check. Just becuase you can "deposit" it, doesn't mean its good. The bank has up to ...21 days I think, and they can 'reverse' it and take the money back if the original check's bank does not honor it.
Believe it or not, counterfeit cashier's checks and moeny orders are the same way. You'd have to know its real. It would be better to do the paypal or credit card or something like that.
Name & Address of course they would need to mail you a check, silly!
2006-10-17 05:16:55 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋