Selling using Paypal

Vacumatic

Vacumatic

Testy
I have just heard of a scam against sellers, it may be old news for you but better that you hear of this twice as opposed to not at all.

Seller advertises an item for £10

Buyer makes £110 Paypal payment, then messages seller alerting them to the overpayment and gives them their PayPal address to refund difference.
Seller sends the excess £100 back to the buyer, and posts them the item

All very simple and straight forward, up to now.....

Seller receives a PayPal dispute against them from the account that sent them the £110, saying it was an unauthorised transaction.

Paypal take £110 from the sellers account to refund the claimant.

Seller tells PayPal they already returned £100 of that money

Paypal inform them that the £100 they sent was to a different account to the one that sent them the £110, so no refund had actually been made.

So the seller is now at a £110 loss. The seller hadn't realised that the buyer had paid £110 from one PayPal account, but asked for the £100 refund to be sent to a different account, hence why PayPal don't recognise it as a refund.

Naughty, but very simple scam that could catch anyone out.
 
JamieM

JamieM

Extreme sharpness is ephemeral!
I have never heard of the scam, although having used Paypal for more than 16 years with 1000+ purchases I have never had an issue with them, always easy to call them on the phone If you suspect any scams.
 
Vacumatic

Vacumatic

Testy
I appreciate that for many people they will say 'It hasn't happened to me' and in fact, I can add my name to the It hasn't happened to me list'

My purpose in this thread is to put people on alert if they have a large overpayment, followed by what looks to be an innocent email (the buyer will have taken this off the ebay message system) asking for a refund and providing an address for that refund.

I hate scammers, in every shape and form, if I can do one little thing to make life more difficult for them then it is job well done. I have a different approach to the above poster, I prefer to be aware of the issue and stop the scam rather than ask paypal or others to fix it after the event, personal choice.
 
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