I got in a convo with a potential buyer of a product

after a number of messages we decided to take the sale outside of ebay,

it's for about £xxx (hundreds)...

It's a little naughty I know and the safeguards are here for a reason but that is not my point.

He has over 3000 pos reviews and I myself am genuine.

He wants to send money via paypal frineds and family for £xxx.

Then I box up goods and post.

The worry is he could get the goods and dispute it and get money back..

Should I ask him for some paper work or a signed document that concretes things..

They are records you see, very rare ones. So anything could happen.

Simple response to this...

Go back and do it through EBAY... Trust me on this one... You are leaving yourself open...

In what way?

If he sends the money,

and I send the goods,

all I have to do is take the £xxx out of paypal and if he requests money back there is nothing to take.

Plus it's the £xxx fees ebay take.

They shoot themselves in the foot with extortionate prices.

I understand that but what if you are left owing money to paypal because of a dispute etc

I have been stung myself and so has my brother...

We learnt the hard way - I understand why you want to do this - Save some money but at the same time - Id prefer the extra protection...

I don't think the buyer has any protection if using friends and family option via PayPal.

It's a bit like western union, that's why there are no fees.

If he claims of having received faulty records he can't get the money back,

can at best report you to eBay for concluding a transaction privately and eBay would take seller's fees, but nothing more.

In any case,

i almost lost money due to a fraudster claiming that my item was damaged

(he had an identical item so he needed a good one to swap parts).

Fortunately eBay listened to my points and refunded him out of their own pockets (wrong but didn't bother me).

Since then before sending anything to the buyer i withdraw money from PayPal and remove the bank account from the wallet.

I also cancel the direct debit with the bank.

if the buyer plays dirty and wants the money back and keep the item, it would be PayPal to lose, not me.

The only risk is that they freeze the PayPal account while on minus, but who cares?

I have asked the buyer to put half in by BACS and half by Paypal, that way the risk is split evenly and we are both committed.

We spoke on the phone and he seemed to have a genuine knowledge of the subject matter in hand.

I will report back.

I hope there no comeback from paypal that they see you've done a backdoor deal..

though luck on them..makes a change.

id do it all via bacs

stuff paypal

they cant do anything to you anyway...

totally powerless as they are in LUxy.

and any DCA they use are NOT BAILIFFS either.

as the goods will go to a different address than the one registered with paypal

the account owner can claim all of the money back

and you will have lost your records for nowt.

Ebay or not, doesnt affect this, you stand to lose a lot.

What about an old fashioned cheque or even better get him to meet up with you with a wad of cash.

I got in a convo with a potential buyer of a product

after a number of messages we decided to take the sale outside of ebay,

 

it's for about £xxx (hundreds)...

It's a little naughty I know and the safeguards are here for a reason but that is not my point.

 

He has over 3000 pos reviews and I myself am genuine.

 

He wants to send money via paypal frineds and family for £xxx.

Then I box up goods and post.

 

The worry is he could get the goods and dispute it and get money back..

 

Should I ask him for some paper work or a signed document that concretes things..

 

They are records you see, very rare ones. So anything could happen.

Half been paid in by BACS half by Paypal so risk is shared equally, as money can not be claimed back by BACS..

I have very few doubts about the buyer but you are wrong about the risks as an overall strategy.

For any item that is worth a goodly amount it is worth asking for cash only and allow the buyer to inspect the goods. If they are a long way away then meeting up somewhere in between is reasonable.