Advice about selling a car, recieving payment via paypal.

[hasey]

I'm selling my car (not on ebay) and have had someone offering to buy via paypal and send someone for collection. I know all about these scams where buyers say I'll pay with a bankers draft and add shipping fees and the seller has to sort it out with the shippers. I've always disregarded these and said cash on collection only but this one says he'll pay in full via paypal and arrange for someone to collect. I just want to know where I stand on the security of the payment. Do I have to wait any particular time for it to clear? Can he cancel payment once cleared or request a refund?

You hear so many scams going on I just want to be sure, I'm already dubious due to the fact he's saying he'll send someone else to collect. Or am I just best sticking to my guns and demanding cash on collection? Please help.

[aksventures]

The best option is to use escrow.com - protectes both the buyer and the seller from fraud!

[meanders123]

Thank you! I didn't know Escrow.com has been around that long. I also have an offer on a vehicle, the buyer wants to use PayPal and have the car shipped to him, and after reading all these stories about issues with PayPal, I've told my buyer either we use escrow.com or he doesn't buy the car.

[DannyThomas5]

I have an ad on Craigslist of my car so I get a message saying they want my car and are going to pay with pay pal. So I ask if I would have to pay any fees in order to receive the payment for car he says no and states tht payment is made. Now here it is tht I receive an email saying $3200 was credited to my pay pal account. I'm only selling my car for $2500 which leaves extra $700. Thn states tht I have to pay the $650 shipping fee in order to receive payment is this normal am I safe or should I jus disregard

[ginsy4549]

I have just put a vehicle on Craigslist and within 8 hours I received a text message from a party that wants to buy the vehicle sight unseen for the full asking price. The only thing he asks is if I have a PayPal account. His area code says Virginia, and the vehicle is in Nebraska. This situation seems scarily similar to others I have read on this website. Should I not look at gift horse in the mouth, or should I steer clear?

[Sl1]

I am in same situation.  After reading negative comments, I am very hesitant to go through PayPal.

[4surrance]

Good afternoon:

Has this policy of not covering car transactions been changed? I have a buyer who wants to buy my car says that this has been changed to cover transactions of buying/selling cars which the sellers are protected 100%. I am trying to sell my car in Vancouver, Canada and the buyer is in Ontario with a U.S. cell phone. She can't be here to look at the car and she can only pay by Paypal.

Please advise,

Thanks.

Michael.

[Eli27]

This scam has been going around for several years. Always the same BS about being in the Marines or a Marine Engineer wanting to buy a vehicle sight unseen. They will always say their agent will come pick it up for full price and they will pay their money thru PayPal. This is a SCAM! Don't do it! I had a full price "Offer" on my motorhome a few  years ago, within 15 minutes of listing it on RV Trader.com. These crooks are very sophisticated and monitor the internet closely. Again, it's a SCAM! Stay away and don't give them any PayPal info. Can't say you haven't been warned!

[Quazi67]

Hi. My girlfriend had the same thing. We are in Kelowna and she’s trying to sell her car through Autotrader. Within a few hours had a person with a Texas area code text her about buying it with PayPal and having someone pick it up. He says he’s in Sudbury, Ontario. Seems fishy too me. Did anything happen with your sale?

[Gab_PCC]

I have just received a similar email (see below) and came looking for an answer to the very same question. Sounded very dubious as he wanted to buy the car without even seeing a picture. Sounds like a scam. Here's the email received:

Hi there, Thank you for getting back to me. I'm ready to pay your
asking price.To be honest, i wanted to buy
this for my father as a surprise birthday gift,he has being there for
me and doesn,t deserve something less but the issue is I'm a marine
contractor and i just got a contract which i am doing presently and
The contract is strictly no call,
due to the lack of reception on the sea area,,But I'm able to access
email anytime as we will make use of laptop so my only quickest
payment option is PayPal as i can send money via PayPal anytime.Moreso
i choose paypal for this transaction cause i want to avoid the scams
going down on the internet this days,and want the both party to be on
a safe side cause paypal security measure is unbeatable.Since
I'm requesting this transaction to be done via PayPal, i will be
responsible for all the pay pal fee/charges on this transaction 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 hope we can make
the purchase as fast as possible? I have a mover that will come for it
once payment clears and they will be handling the title for me.So i
look forward to hear from you soon.

[Farfugnugin]

I came here looking for an answer, because i have someone also wanting to purchase my car via paypal.  Having seen this post, i believe i have my answer.  While i personally can think of almost no way i could get scammed from what little imformation he/she/$%^# is requesting, i am not a con artist expert.  Either way, compare my problem with yours and i think we now know there is a new con running around, although i wouldnt mind knowing how it works, just out of curiousity.

The email i recieved:

"Hello,
Thanks for your quick response ,I will not be coming to view it because of my Job,i am a Marine and i am buying this for my Uncle.i am at sea right now and am satisfied with your firm/advert price,as am requesting this transaction should be done via PayPal so the PayPal charges is on me and Payment will be made via PayPal (if you don't have an account,its easy,safe and secured just log on to (www.paypal.com) to get one and get back to me with the email used.My mover will arrange for the pick up after payment clears and I hope we can make the purchase as fast as possible? I want you to get back with the following details

1: Your Paypal email ID or a paypal payment invoice
2: Your Last asking price
3: Your contact address for the pick up
4. More pics."

I personally love how they are both tied to the Marines (probably to elicit an emotional response as American tend to regaurd marines rather highly), and how they both, near verbatim quote, state that paypal is "safe, easy and secure".

I personally found the language used in my email to also be rather odd.  Everyone knows that if an email is written in very poor english, they are probably foreign, this however seems to be the opposite.  He is writting pretty formally, there are next to no typos (uncommon for your average personal email outside of work), and he capitalizes strange nouns like "Job" and "Payment".  Heck, i don't even reach for the shift key to capitalize "i" or most peoples names.  Just my .02