Is this a safe way to sell an item?

[arnophpc]

Hello,

I sell some items on a Belgium classifieds website. The payment and of items does not go through the website and when a seller chooses to contact through mail or phone, the communication doesn't even go through the website.

Normally only Belgium or atleast dutch speaking people contact me about items i have listed since the website's target audience are belgians and i list all the ads in dutch. But a few days ago i've received a text message from a 4 digit number, the same number that i've seen used account confirmation codes for facebook, google etc about a person asking in broken dutch about an item i've listed for sale for €200 and a hotmail e-mail adress where he asks me to contact him on.

I've contacted him saying the item was still for sale etc, and he sends me an english mail back asking what my best price is, how long i've had the item and if it has ever been serviced (i maybe should mention the item i'm talking about is a pair of speakers).

After responding to that mail pretty much answering his questions, he sends me back this e-mail (i think it's easier just pasting the mail then explaining the contents):

Hello ,

Thanks for your response.I'm ok with the price and the condition, As i already told you am urgently in need of the merchandise, but i won't be able to come to view the merchandise or come for the pick up but i have a shipping company who handles my shipping arrangement anywhere in the world, so they will be the one's to come for the  pick up, as soon as the payment has been complete which would be through PayPal and if you don't have an account with paypal, its pretty easy, safe and secured to open one. Just log on to www.paypal.com

, I need you to provide the following details so that i can proceed with the Payment...

Your PayPal e-Mail Address :

Your Full Name:

Pick  Address

So once i receive the details i will go ahead with the payment through PayPal and then i will contact my shipping company after you get the payment. I will need your home address for the item to be Picked Up by the Shipping Company..

Have a nice day.

Cheers.

I have never done business like this, and i honestly find this a weird way of doing business. What makes me suspicious is the way he made first contact, why (and how) does he use a generic 4 digit number asking me to email him when there is an email option right on the page of the advertisement? Also it's just how the last response is worded, like the way he specifies the item as "merchandise" and not specifically calling it what the object is (speakers), makes me think this is some sort of generic response.

Now he may very well be telling the truth and i'm just being paranoid, it's just that in the past i have had bad experiences and i'm generally cautious when doing business over the internet.

So my question would be, do you think see any problem here? Would you going through doing business with him? I see he wants to pay through paypal, is there opportunity for him here to scam me one way or another, like for example, after he has paid and i've given the speakers to his allegedly shipping company, could he be asking a refund through paypal? Because as far as i've read, paypal sellers protection in cases like this only works when you keep proof of shipment, but that would be impossible in this case since he would provide the picking up of the item?

In any way i wouldn't be handing anything over until i see the money on my paypal, i have read about those paypal scams where a fake mail from paypal is used that says the transaction is "blocked" or something like that and you need to make a payment first to supposedly unblock it.

Thank you for reading and responding.

Greetings

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@arnophpc

This is how a typical scam works ..................

They encourage you to accept a 'direct' Paypal payment and may ask you to send the item internationally.
They don't quibble on cost and may also say they can't view the item as they are disabled or working abroad etc etc but they will arrange a shipping agent to collect it.

You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't because they don't actually have a Paypal account and have no intention of paying you.
It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.

If the item requires shipping the 'fake' paypal email will tell you that the buyer has paid for the item + shipping costs but you must send those shipping costs to the courier/ shipping agent via western union, moneygram or walmart etc BEFORE the funds are released to you.
They are not interested in the item, they just want the western union etc funds and you will never see money in your paypal balance.

They also threaten legal action...have a laugh at that one and ignore it as its rubbish.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.
Paypal NEVER expect you to use a rival money transfer service eg Moneygram or Western Union etc.

Also their is no seller protection on paypal for any item that is collected by the buyer.
Delete any emails and ignore the scammers.

[arnophpc]

Thanks for your response, this indeed seems to be correct because just found out this is indeedly a scam. My suspicion that the response mail seemed too generic seemed to be correct because after copying and pasting some of the contents into google, i found some links to dutch, belgian and even german forums of persons being contacted in the same way under different names, emails and even addresses. The way you described how the scam works is indeed exactly how people on these forums have described it.

Now it sort of comes clear to me why the first contact came from a generic number, these person(s) probably have some automated scripts running that automatically scans these classifieds websites and contact people through this number, which is probably a paid for service number for bulk messages.

Thanks again for your response.