Question about potential sale that seems iffy

[HerMajesty]

I didn't mean to imply that everyone that asks for items to be sent to their children or another address is a scammer.

Just 99.9%

You are, of course, in the other .1%

]
Whoops - I wasn't replying to your comment - more to Sherry's..............I was just putting up a general comment on scammers in general. And yes, I am in the top .1%.......of something, or another.....................

[suesjools]

It hasn't happened to me, but I would certainly use the free listing facility here, maybe even put their name in the title so everyone knows it's for a specific person

Agree with Meebo, have done this myself, bought from an eBid seller who specified the item was for me. IMHO taking a transaction off-site is asking for problems. Just my 2 cents...

Good luck and best wishes for many sales to all,

[darklisruthven]

I'd only list it somewhere - here - and tell them exactly when the listing would go up, and put it up for the price they suggested, and make sure that you sent it registered, signed for, or whatever the most definitely sure-fire safe way to mail it would be, and I'd think about what sort of payment I would take.......

Yes, I had a similar thing a year or so ago on the other side where a chap saw an original Alan Rickman signed photo among the fundraising auctions for my theatre group - donated by Alans agent to our fundraising- , the listing had ended, and he asked to buy it off - site to save the listings fees, as he was in a hurry to get it for his wife's birthday if we still had it available. Basically I agreed. He paid via Paypal, I sent it tracked, and everything went smoothly. In fact I had a lovely email back three days later that he had recieved it and was delighted.
So it isnt always a scam.

In any case you could always list it here and tell the person the listing link so if they want to buy all is good. If you do agree to sell off-site then make sure they pay upfront and that all payment is cleared, and that you send it fully tracked and insured (considering that Iphones are pretty valuable). I would also keep photos of the item before and after being packed to be posted, and a note of the serial numbers.

[JJcards]

Thanks for all the input from all,

I did offer to list it on here and offered a time and even a number on my listing title so the buyer would know when and where to look but has passed

I did get another email back stating that the reason being is they do not have a paypal account(alarm went off) and offered to pay via western union or money order to which I replied I cannot do that as I have never sold to you and I need to be certain funds have cleared before I ship

The response was not very pleasant,basically telling me to stick it up me you know where so I am positive this was a scammer

I will get around to listing it here and make sure I put paypal only as form of accepted payment,I got stuck a few years back from a walk in client who used to come in and offer to pay half up front for framed sports and entertainment memorabilia for charity auctions,this went on for a while and all was good,always paid in full at the end,one day few months later comes in and asks if he can have a few pieces you know I am good for it type of thing,turns out his charity was a scam,he was selling the items towards the end for less than my cost and doing god knows what with the money

Took us almost 3 months to get the money back from him,which he paid in installments and the most disgusting thing is the charity auctions were supposed to raise money for cancer from which his own wife was suffering at the time

So I know there are good decent folk who may have their reasons for wanting to do something certain ways,I also know there are lower than low who will stoop to an all time low to get one over on you so I tend to side with caution when certain deals seem a little iffy in the gut

Thanks again for everyones time and input,only thing now is if this person joins this site will have no way of knowing (sure the name etc was bogus) so they may end up stinging someone else who may agree to their deal

[darklisruthven]

hmmm not wanting to use paypal, AND being rude to you? yes I would refuse to sell to them as well in that case!

What an awful guy that other chap you mention sounds like

[JJcards]

Yes on both counts,

That charity fella who we thought we were helping out as we were giving him the stuff at cost was doing who knows what with the money while his wife who indeed in fact have cancer,which is how he got the charity auctions up and running to begin with,playing on peoples sympathy meanwhile from the start he would sell items at the auctions get paid and either not give the item,or have a story,always had a story for everyone

We of course found this out months later and his whole scam crashed in on him but in my book the guy is a creep and I am glad to be rid of him,

[NathanG]

Get the cash in hand first. Cash in hand means no checks. Let them pay with a Wal-Mart moneypak or similar - something where you can actually verify legit funds right then and there. Western Union is good too, you just go to a Western Union outlet and take out your cash. If you don't have cash, you don't ship. Also, don't deposit anything in your bank account - it'll just bounce and then you'll have to pay the banking fees.

P.S. Anyone offering to give you EXTRA money for going off-site is just a scammer and is not worth your time.