Craigslist, shipping, PayPal, etc.

[wild_turkey 3,182]

I have a Paradigm center channel speaker I listed on Craigslist a couple months back. There haven’t been any great offers locally. I’m not in a rush to get rid of it but it is taking up space so I’d eventually like it gone.

 

Some guy from Florida now wants to buy it. He says he had the exact speaker but it got water damage and he’s had trouble finding a replacement. He wants me to ship it and is willing to pay all costs via PayPal or another method of my choosing.

 

I know there are Craigslist PayPal scams where people use a PayPal account that isn’t actually theirs. Any way to safely do this? I was thinking I would request a copy of his driver’s license and then proceed with Venmo, agreeing only to ship to the driver’s license address. Seem reasonable safe?

[beer 3,220]

Only agree to ship to his paypal verified address...I understand that gets you fraud protection but I never tested it from the seller side.  

Who would break into your account then ship something to your address?????

Dont estimate shipping...actual cost is never what you think on weird sized stuff and packaging costs are excessive (get off my lawn)

[woohorn 1,131]

If you hack account, can't you change email to a throw-away and then change the address to a vacant home?

[wild_turkey 3,182]

He offered PayPal. I figured I would switch to Venmo with hopes that someone didn’t hack both a PayPal and Venmo account of the same guy. Also, if he’ll agree to share his driver’s license, then I can be reasonably confident the guy is who he claims to be.

[dingleberryswitzer 2,724]

Its not that hard to photoshop a different name and address on a picture of a driver's license.  

  You could list it on ebay and tell him to "buy it now" then ebay shoulders a small bit of fraud prevention.  Theyll take a % but it might be worth it.

[jimmyjazz 46,166]

I've done it hundreds of times, both directions.  Got fucked over maybe twice.  At that time I couldn't get PayPal to refund, but maybe things have changed.  It's a risk.

I agree with beer -- charge actual shipping.  My transactions were similar to yours, as I used to buy and sell audio gear online.  You will get destroyed if you rely on "estimated" shipping costs.  Dimensional weight, etc. never seems to be taken into account by those "estimate" tools.

[Irwin F Fletcher 3,550]

Has there been issues when using Venmo? I believe it's tied to an actual bank account or debit card. Almost monthly I ship large boxes/packages via UPS ground and enter the weight and dimensions into their web portal to create a shipping label and get the costs associated. Through venmo, charge what you would for the speakers and the shipping costs, once you receive the money via venmo drop off the package with UPS.

In regards to the estimated shipping costs, on occasion I've had UPS come back and try and bill me at a higher rate, stating that the dimensions I had entered were off when the did a "random" check. I've contested each one and had them dismissed each time. I always round up to the nearest inch on the dims.

[pops 7,007]

Screw PayPal. Their fees are ridiculous. I know, they own venmo, but venmo is essentially free and only 25 cents if you want your money immediately. 

[dcbc 14,510]

I agree with putting it on ebay to do the not in person transaction.

 

Otherwise, ask him to do paypal gift.  No fees and no possibility that he will file a fraud claim with paypal once he receives the speaker.  You basically shift the risk to the buyer.

[Bernard 879]

How much money are we talking about here?

Bernard

[wild_turkey 3,182]

1 hour ago, Bernard said:

How much money are we talking about here?

Bernard

$200 or so. Not a lot of money really, just need to unload this speaker to someone else who will use it so I don't have to throw a perfectly good speaker away.