Swift PayPal Help Please

[aener]

Been trying to sell my van for a while and finally got a nibble.

It's a person in Scotland who can't come down, and says they can ONLY pay me with PayPal and send a courier to collect it.
I said I didn't want to because of the fees (to avoid directly accusing them of being a scammer), and they said they would send the money before sending the courier, and would send it Friends and Family to avoid the charges.

Is there any possible way to be scammed when RECEIVING money via Friends and Family? I read things published this year saying that FaF immediately means you have no protection as the sender, but nothing coving this case.

Something about the phrasing used in messages just feels suspicious, but I don't know how it could be a scam - please help lol thx

[AdamR28]

Hmm. It did sound dead fishy until you mentioned the Friends & Family bit. I too was of the impression that the buyer was at 'full risk' in this situation. Perhaps worth a call to PayPal and see what they say?

 

Edit: Seems fairly clear here..... but still seems a bit fishy. That would be extremely trusting of the buyer! https://www.paypal.com/ke/cshelp/article/whats-the-difference-between-friends-and-family-or-goods-and-services-payments-help277

[aener]

36 minutes ago, AdamR28 said:

Hmm. It did sound dead fishy until you mentioned the Friends & Family bit. I too was of the impression that the buyer was at 'full risk' in this situation. Perhaps worth a call to PayPal and see what they say?

 

Edit: Seems fairly clear here..... but still seems a bit fishy. That would be extremely trusting of the buyer! https://www.paypal.com/ke/cshelp/article/whats-the-difference-between-friends-and-family-or-goods-and-services-payments-help277

Thanks.

Just found a source saying that there's a way they can grab the money back even via FaF by going to the bank, saying they were scammed and to do a charge-back from the bank to PayPal, and then PayPal would take it from me.
That coupled with some weird phrasing and linguistic quirks (possible typo's like "thanks you" etc), I'm pretty certain it's a scam.

 

 

Update: Tried calling their bluff and said I'm fully happy to drive it up to Scotland for them to see it before purchase as I want them to be confident in it, and they asked for that to... not happen It's a scam.

Edited September 5, 2023 by aener

[J.KYDD]

Its becoming a very common scam. FB marketplace if rife with it. 

As soon as anyone mentions them organising their own currier now I just stop responding and flag their account as scammers. 

[AdamR28]

Good to know, cheers guys.

[MadManMike]

Another courier related scam is where they say they'll send a courier who will give you cash.

They'll then follow up with you needing to pay insurance before the courier arrives, but they will cover it - for example if you're selling something for £5000, they say they will give you £5200 cash if you can pay the £200 insurance up front.

Of course, no courier ever arrives and you've just given away £200.

[AdamR28]

Yeah had that one before. Pain in the ass. They strung it along for ages and then just went quiet when I said I wouldn't pay the insurance up front.

[aener]

I've said it before and it'll never stop being true: I f**king hate humans.

[MadManMike]

29 minutes ago, aener said:

I've said it before and it'll never stop being true: I f**king hate humans.

I make an effort to be a bit more positive these days, but it's hard to disagree with you here.

[DYAKOV]

On that note, I’m sure you all know that in Europe we do have couriers where as a sender/seller you would go and drop off your parcel in their office. It gets weighed, put in on the system and you can choose from the following:

 

- send the parcel and pay for the shipping beforehand

- send the parcel and buyer pays for the shipping upon receipt (delivery to the company’s office at the other end)

- send a parcel and buyer pays whatever amount you’ve requested as a payment in order to be able to receive the parcel

- send a parcel and request the buyer to send another parcel from their end travelling the opposite way. Once available for collection, the two parcels need to be reviewed by the respective receivers at the same time and if both happy, a quick call between the offices authorises the trade/swap

- you can also select the option to let the receiver inspect the parcel before they decide to pay and receive it

- since everything is dealt with by the courier and in their offices both sides are completely safe

- or you can simply use the courier to collect from an address and to deliver to an address by paying for the service beforehand (as we do in the uk)

And as a receiver you can:

- review the item in your local courier office and decide that you’d like to return if the item arrives “not as described” or if you’d agreed on a price and all of a sudden the seller puts a higher amount for you to pay in order to receive

Essentially the company combines PayPal/western union + a courier service but allows lots of flexibility for both sides and usually deliveries are overnight e.g. drop off parcel before 5pm to be available for collection at 9am the day after.

Wish we had this type of a service here in the uk….

Cheers,

Nas