A Paypal Offer - Is This Secure?


Hi All,

I am selling a CAT amplifier and have a paypal offer from a buyer who has very little feedback (only one transaction) and does not speak english well and communicates only small bits of information at a time. I am nervous about this. I spoke with paypal and they told me that as long as:

1) I am selling something of substance
2) I ship to the paypal address, no other address
3) I can document the shipping of the product

I am protected as a seller. If this is true, I should be able to accept his offer and make sure that I am shipping to the address listed in paypal, and I should be fine shipping pilot air insured (with tracking and all, including photos of packing, etc). What do you guys think? Is this too much of a risk, or not really a risk at all?
peter_s
I also keep a seperate account just for Paypal. I transfer funds from Paypal into that account, and then from that account to another account. I keep a zero balance in the Paypal account. Yes, as Muzikat shows, you can let Paypal bully you into using their services, but you don't have to.
Depending on how much $$$ and what I thought of the buyer, I could live with a negative balance on Paypal, and just stop using that Paypal account if I had to. Maybe set up another Paypal account with a different e-mail address and bank account if I was desperate. Leave that negative Paypal account rot into eternity. :)
Just curious,.... Paypal is a credit card/ banking institution. Correct? Can Paypal damage a persons credit report if a persons account is charged a negative balance and said person refuses to work with Paypal to remedy the problem in a timely manner.

When a person signs up for a Paypal account isn't the person required to electronically sign an agreement?
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Muzikat,

Did Paypal email you a monthly statement showing your account was in a negative status? In other words you owed Paypal money?

For Paypal to show your account in a negative status wouldn't a like amount of funds have to show up in some type of a dispute holding account?

The books have to balance out.
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There was no money in my account so they put it in the negative until dispute was resolved. In my case it was $2000, so if I wanted to buy something for $10 I would have to deposit $2010 into the account. When dispute was ruled in buyer's favor, I had to cover negative amount. This dispute process took 2 months.
Jea48, good question, I've never thought of that. Paypal is not a credit card or banking institution, but they may have sway on a credit report, I don't know.
I understand the negative, but if there's nothing in it the negative only means that paypal will send it to collections if not paid during the alloted time. The bad part is that if you do not pay the collections agency you can ruin your credit. If you have bad credit to start with then the Turnip has no blood for paypal. I don't use credit very often but I have credit better than 95% of the country and I plan on keeping it that way. Muzikat did the right thing and honestly sold a good item and got burned due to buyers remorse. I had a buyer strip a PC manual and demagnetizer off of a perfectly good working Cassette player that he claimed was not good. I had a Sheriff come over to my house to make out a report and I still had to repay him due to his credit card company that makes the final decision. Next time I have a return on an item I know was good when I shipped it, I'll have it returned to the post office and open it in front of wittnesses. I still use paypal, but have made enough deals off line to compensate for any losses. It sucks to have to put selling as is especially on an item that is not electrical to avoid the not as described crowd. Most people are honest, and it's a shame a few have to screw things up. It is kinda fun putting their names and information in swingers magazines then calling them. You wouldn't beleive the SPL of some phone receivers when I have a girl call and the guys wife answers.