Urgent Paypal help pls?

[52andblue]

I am selling a Pram on Gumtree (new to me)
A buyer wants to purchase it via Paypal and to arrange their own courier
I have an old paypal account which i never use but is live and they have asked me to send them my paypal email and registered name so they can send the money (its an unusual pram and a a good buy)

2 Qu's:
I cant work out how to find that info from paypal (doh!)
Is this a standard way of doing it? it's £250 so I don't want scammed?

right have now found info on Paypal (doh!)

just hope this is all legit !

I would say no. They have to collect the pram and can always do a bank transfer at collection or you can insist on cash.

No, this type of thing is a known scam. They collect and pay in cash.

They live quite a distance and are sending a number of things via courier to a family member, so that could all be legit.

I cant see how this could be a scam but I am quite new to this?

Once the money is in my paypal account and the items are available for the courier - organised by them - to collect it should be fine?

Don't sell it to them. Wait for a cash and collect buyer.

It's a scam.

It’s a scam .... don’t sell ...

urgh.... I'd sent my paypal email to them...

how can it be a scam? (so I know for another time)

They’ll open a dispute case with PayPal ... say they’ve not received/not as described .... PayPal will refund them, you’ve then lost your money.

If they pay you the money, just refund the full amount back to them and message saying sorry you’ve changed your mind. No biggie.

the only thing that worried me is they want to pay straight away and 'choose a good time for pick up after payment received'.

I said I don't want the money until the courier is arranged (as I need to know I am in etc)
Will they try to claim that I never sent the goods or something?

I get the same type of messages all the time ... but only when I list high value items.

Ah! I see.
Damn :(

Yes ... or they’ll arrange the courier, get the item then open a not as described case.

DO NOT SELL TO THEM.

Message them back now to say you’ve changed your mind. Even tell her you think it’s a scam - I always do and I never hear back from them.

*them (not her)

I've messaged saying: 'please don't send the money'

I advertised two prams last night:
1 x £100, 1 x £150. Got a message, via paypal, giving an email to respond, saying:
' please take the ad down I'd like both for my cousin. Can't view / collect as housebound but happy to buy as seen in advert. I will pay now and arrange courier'.
So it was being done privately rather than by paypal?

It sounded great: I need the space and the £ :(

Don’t let them arrange their own courier ever. Even in a genuine situation. You take payment via goods and services and you post only to their registered PayPal address on a tracked and signed for service (at their cost obviously). If you don’t have proof that the item was sent and delivered (which you won’t if they arrange the courier) then they will be perfectly within their rights to raise an item not received case and you’ll lose all the money and they’ll still have the pram.

Thank you, @NoParticularPattern, that is clear.

Looks like I have dodged a curveball, thanks to all above x

Hi @52andblue

There are lots of online news stories about this scam. To summarise, you'll get a fake email which appears to be from PayPal. It will say the money has been received by them and will be transferred to your account when you provide the tracking ID.

In good faith, you send your item off with the courier the other person arranged. You reply to the (fake) email, but you never receive the funds.

These scammers always follow a script. They can't take delivery themselves as they are sick/housebound and need the delivery to go to a different address.

As other posters have said, please insist on cash on collection only.

@goldierocks oh, ok, so I'd never even receive the £ yet alone have to refund it as the items 'never arrived'. ooof.

the 'script' is about right, too. this is what i was sent:

'Thank you for your quick response! i will want you to consider it sold kindly remove the ad as i am willing to pay your full asking price because i need to buy it for my cousin asap, i have read through the advert and i'm totally satisfied with it,sadly i would not be able to come personally to collect due to my hearing loss and I'm just recovering from heart surgery so I'm home-bound.I have a courier agent that would help me to pick it up at your preferred location after you have received your money and i'll pay you via PayPal today. Where is the pick up location so that i can inform the courier agent about it now?'

Yep, copied and pasted straight from the standard scam script. Sense of urgency plus sob-story = scam.

Goodness, that cousin is pretty entitled. Asking someone who’s recovering from a heart operation and has hearing loss to do them a favour and buy two prams.

(Lighthearted)

I had this scam. A person who couldn't leave the house, had heart issues, wanted a cabin bed! I just insisted cash on collection only. They then said they could only do PayPal as they were house bound (bank transfer anyone??).

And if you desperately needed a pram you would find a local one to buy.

You may have had a lucky escape here OP,

Definate scam