Gumtree - Advice and reassurance?

[paulwain]

HI guys.

Sorry if this has been asked but never done this before

Basically i'm selling my laptop on Gumtree. Someone is interested and paying extra for postage.

He cannot collect himself as he's not local, and he's buying the laptop for his co worker.

Ive explained my concerns but to me everything seems genuine.

Ive requested the money via payal - do I need to create an invoice or just request the money? What's the difference?

Ive said I will only send to your registered paypal address. Is this right?

How do I know hes a verified paypal member? Once payment is received?

Item will be dispatched Recorded delivery via Royal Mail.

With all this being said, and IF it was scam, how am I protected by doing the above as a seller? Anything Missing?

Any tips would be great

Thank you

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@paulwain

OK this has suspicions of a Scam so read the below common scam and see if anything fits now or in the future.

 A TYPICAL PAYPAL SCAM.

They encourage you to use paypal 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 for various reasons but pay over the odds for the item or postage.

You will get/got a "fake" email that looks as though it is from paypal.....it isn't.
It will say the buyer has paid ...you won't have been paid.
They will tell you that the payment is released when you provide paypal with a tracking/shipping number......this won't happen.

Paypal NEVER tell you to send an item before the payment is showing in your paypal account.
Paypal do not tell you to send trackable, they advise it for selling protection but it is not compulsory.

[paulwain]

@kernowlass

Thank you for your response.

Hmmm so reading that I should be cautious? I've just cancelled the request money just in case.

1. He wants to use paypal

2. He said he will pay extra £50 for postage

So it must be/ sound like  a scam?

[kernowlass]

@paulwain

Well i can't say yes or no, all I can advise you is how the scam works so you are aware of any pitfalls. 

[paulwain]

Thank you for your help. I’m just going to leave it and offer collection only Thank you for your advice

[kernowlass]

@paulwain

CASH on collection..........don't use Paypal for items that are collected as you would have no seller protection

[paulwain]

Once again thank you for all your help @kernowlass

It was indeed a scam, I'm happy I posted on here before hand.

Once I cancelled the request for some reason he sent me the money anyway (FAKE), and I had an email saying money sent (looked like an official email from paypal) but wasn't. I didn't click anything on the email, I went straight to my account but nothing was there. I emailed him and his attitude soon changed and he was making out that he was out of pocket. SO SNEAKY.. I advised I got told this was a scam from Paypal (little lie) and had no response back since. Thank you for your time in helping me.

Is there a way to report his paypal account to someone? I have his email address and his address from the fake email I received.

Paul

[kernowlass]

@paulwain

He won't have a paypal account, he would never have paid that money request you sent, he would just have sent a fake email that looked as if he had.

The money request would have just gone to his email address and it would show he had to set up a paypal account to receive it which he would have no intention of doing.