Is this a Facebook selling scam?

[1hamwich4]

Advert appears on my local selling group, I reply asking to buy the item.

Message comes back to collect from a town which is 15-20m drive away. Slightly surprising as rules of the group are that it's local to the town where I live but this location happens to be on my way to work. So I replied saying I could pick up the following evening.

Get another message back saying that's no good as it's late night shopping and all the roads will be closed. (Seems a bit odd, particularly as said location only has half a dozen shops)

Then seller offers to post if I have PayPal. I reply offering another time which they first agree to, but then message back saying they've lost the item.

Sound dodgy to you? Or am I being unnecessarily suspicious here?

Trivial I know but I can't help wonder...what would have happened if I'd Paypal'd it?

Sounds a bit odd, but as a buyer, you're the one with more rights than the seller. As long as you don't pay 'friends and family', PayPal should refund you if it doesn't arrive.

I don't suppose I'll ever find out but I doubt they have a business account on PayPal. It's only a local selling group- nothing formal.

Thanks for the reply- it's useful to know these things!

It's not a business account - you can either pay money as 'goods & services' which costs a tiny bit more, or friends and family, which is essentially a transfer. Doing it as goods and services offers a bit more protection for you (but costs slightly more!). www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security