Paypal

[Greg]

I have just been offered a very good price for a Subaru Legacy I have been offering for sale in Australia (GTB E-tuned, 2000cc, twin turbo, Bilstein shocks, etc). The amazing thing is that it is from a bloke in the UK.He says he is happy to pay my asking price plus shipping Aust - UK.

While amazed, I am also keen to lock him in. He says he is somewhere "offshore" - drilling rig, or something perhaps?? - and can only pay by Paypal.

Which is fine by me - I have an Australian paypal account - but I have never used paypal to RECEIVE money.

Can anyone with experience please give me a quick advice about any costs that might be incurred by the vendor in cases like this? He has agreed to pay any paypal costs incurred, but I'd be interested to know what the ballpark percentage might be.

Any thoughts gratefully received.

Cheers
Greg

[Nige]

I'd check the small print on your Paypal account regarding charges, there is probably a calculator for it on the site. I think the % differs as the money amount increases. I prefer a electronic bank transfer as it would be much more secure for you as the seller. I think paypal can on their own whim credit the amount back to the buyer if he's not happy with the goods, you'll then be stuffed with your car in the wrong country.

I'm not a paypal expert but I'm pretty wary of it and only use it for low rent ebay purchases and stuff, but then only if the seller accepts the charges as often something that seems good value soon loses its appeal once you've paid the charges, P&P, etc.

Plus there must be loads of Subaru Legacys of similar spec over here for him to choose from, you got to ask the question why bother. I should imagine he'll get stung to tax, VAT, Duty, etc to make a non viable purchase when it docks. Seems odd.

[Helen]

no idea of the cost involved via Paypal as like you i've never used it to receive money.


i would have thought a Bankers transfer would be cheaper by a long way. and can also be done via the internet. so i don't understand why he says Paypal his only option.

[Bootsy]

No no no!
They can retract the payment quite easily and paypal sides with the buyer. I'd say no

[Nige]

Or take the money and just send a toy version of the car

[middlefour1]

No no no!
They can retract the payment quite easily and paypal sides with the buyer. I'd say no

And no no no again. Go for a bank transfer, much, much safer and cheaper.

[Greg]

Many, many thanks all for the super quick responses.

Obviously I cannot ignore your experienced comments. I'll go back to him and see if I can suss out why he can't do any other form of payment.

It did all sound a bit too good to be true. Will be interesting to see what he has to say. Or if he just vanishes from the radar screen.

Much obliged.

Greg

[PhilGarner]

This is almost certainly a scam. We have tuned Legacys in the UK so why would he want to import one from Aus?

[Bootsy]

You get your money via paypal and ship
buyer detracts payment and money is withdrawn from your account
I get offers on watches from overseas suggesting paypal as soon as I say no and suggest bank transfers the buyer dissappears

don't risk it!

[Nick Moss]

It sounds dodgy to me. I have done tens of thousands of £££s business through PayPal but would never go for that deal. If he works offshore then he will have a bank account that he can use to make transfers.

[TDK]

It's a classic scam, typically using a hacked Paypal account - I have a friend that was a victim of this only last year. Avoid!

Simon.

[Mike Usiskin]

run like the wind my friend, run!! Paypal is fine for little things, I've received payment without issues BUT there has always been another option. If this buyer has no other options one has to ask why?

m

[gridgway]

I sold an item on ebay which was GPB5k. It was sold successfully, the buyer paid with paypal and then I shipped it (to Japan).

Because the value was over the money laundering legislation threshold, when I tried to get the money out, paypal had to go through a set of checks to get more id. It all went horribly wrong. It took 3 weeks to get my money, countless hours on the phone, shenanigans with trying to turn my account into a business accoun...the paypal hellhole.

I will never use paypal again for any amounts above a few tens of pounds.

And that's all with the buyer being above board.

Yours is def a scam anyway!

Graham

[crisc204]

looks like ddk has covered it... This one does sound like the classic ebay scam.

I have a good personal experience of Paypal for Business use and buying 'stuff' we dont really need of Ebay.

As our company is only small we have a simple rule for e-buyers, over a certain amount is paid via bank transfer only. Or cash on collection.
We know what we are selling is the real deal or good working order ect and provide contact details for the buyer.
If they don't want to buy with the given 'rules' then 9/10 times they didn't want to buy it anyway!

Just to put your mind at rest because it would also make me wonder if I have just turned down cold hard cash. check out www.autotrader.co.uk for a similar car to yours here in the U.K. and compare values then ask if you could be bothered with the faf and bother for the difference in £££'s

factor in the import duty, vat, shipping and the new Government's buy yourself a treat tax which im sure Clegg'ers and Cammy are working on....and there is your answer... naughty Ebay scammers tut tut

[Greg]

I'm sure you're all quite right about this proposed deal. Of course, his story is that he has tried heaps of them in the UK, and they all have . . . . history of accidents, rust, various mechanical faults, etc., etc. He wants a more "pure" one straight out of Japan.

In any case, I have now gone back and told him paypal is out of the question and suggested other means of transfer.

Perhaps the last I hear.

Thanks all. Once again DDK has been a great resource to be able to access. And not just on the mechanicals of my beautiful Brunhilde.

Cheers Greg