Is it possible not to get scammed?

[santa]

I was wondering if there was any way to sell an account to someone who uses paypal and not have them just dispute the money? This has happened to me 3 times...I recieved the money into my paypal account, and when i gave them my info they simply disputed the funds and i had no way of arguing...is there any way to do it without such a situation occuring?

[Hide]

Well, I traded with a smart trader once.

He sent me emails saying to me that if I agree in buying this account, I had to give him my address, phone number and real name.

Just make them sign something and copy it into an image, so if they do dispute you have something to argue against.

[kendrah1]

Yes, interview your buyers and sellers carefully. Call them, trace their IP address, their landline numbers, and make sure the paypal info matches as well.

As a seller, you should have had the upper hand in paypal disputes. Simply providing a detailed link of the account information, claiming intangible goods is proof enough since paypal doesn't support virtual items. Paypal by default will usually side with the seller in that sense. It's always good to mail the login info to the buyer as well.

I'm suprised as a seller you've lost three times in a row. The only 100% way to lose as a seller is if you receive a chargeback. When buyers do this, you can't do a thing through paypal. However, when buyers do this often, or more than a certain numbers of times within a set timeframe, they can get flagged for an investigation of fraud. If your a merchant, you risk closure of your merchant account as well.

[yCat]

Originally Posted by kendrah1

Yes, interview your buyers and sellers carefully. Call them, trace their IP address, their landline numbers, and make sure the paypal info matches as well.

As a seller, you should have had the upper hand in paypal disputes. Simply providing a detailed link of the account information, claiming intangible goods is proof enough since paypal doesn't support virtual items. Paypal by default will usually side with the seller in that sense. It's always good to mail the login info to the buyer as well.

I'm suprised as a seller you've lost three times in a row. The only 100% way to lose as a seller is if you receive a chargeback. When buyers do this, you can't do a thing through paypal. However, when buyers do this often, or more than a certain numbers of times within a set timeframe, they can get flagged for an investigation of fraud. If your a merchant, you risk closure of your merchant account as well.

Ive lost two disputes in the past trying to sell my stuff....

Ive taken screenshots, used paypal invoices, e-mail records, chat records, names, e-mails, etc. and i lose every time.

THe buyer claims it was an unauthorized transaction and the seller cannot do anything about it. It really pisses me off because it seems to happen almost every single time. I just got my warrior back this week that i 'sold'. Pisses me off. There needs to be some way paypal can protect us.

[Darlatan]

The only way to protect yourself selling any account is to require a middle man and use a guaranteed payment method. The guarnteed payment methods are Money Gram, Western Union, moneybookers for sellers with seller accounts, OVERNIGHT money order takes just as long as over night western union and is like $15 for the buyer, and personal checks as long as you wait the 5-10 business days for it clear your bank the wait is based on your bank. Paypal will always side with a buyer in any dispute that is what their dispute department is told. The reason is because the buyer is the only one that can actually do anything in court to paypal or attempt to recollect their funds through their bank or credit card company. It is in paypal's best interest to go after the seller which is what they always do. In addition if neither have an account balance to cover the funds on hold a seller who sells items is more likely going to use to their paypal account again over a buyer if they end up having negative account balances. If buyer charged back which is what always happens in this day and age now cause no one who is smart enough to use paypal is dumb enough to not use paypal with a credit card, then you have 0% chance of ever seeing the money again and will of course be charged the $20 fee.

What it comes down to is paypal make a lot of money off chargebacks especially in the digital good department.

Btw to everyone out there selling that thinks say "it was digital goods and is not covered under the paypal policy" be warned:
1. It says under the seller protection policy now that digital items are not covered. I used this a few times in the past and it no longer works. if you tell them it was a digital item they will always side with the buyer now cause that is where their risk is.
2. becareful selling any type of game account through paypal. They can and will ban your paypal account claiming it violates intellectual property rights. They started doing this recently with a lot of people that deal in chargebacks and mention digital goods. Although they have told me they there doesn't need to be a chargeback that the account can be banned if they
"have any reason to believe" aka if they feel like it when you sell digital goods.

I had someone chargeback on a digital item and after they took the money my $20 they also closed my account not the scammers account but mine saying I was dealing with items against the acceptable use policy. So all sellers be warned using paypal WILL loose you money in the long run.

[bboye]

use a money order. takes a little longer but you're guaranteed to get the money

[itsnothin]

It's hard to deal with people that have no rep or are new to the site (like me ), but if you spend the time and talk to the person, not just going through with the deal right away you can find whether or not its a scam. If the buyer is willing to speak to you, or wait for you to make a decision more then likely they are not a scammer, but if they are pushing you to purchase right away they might be in it to scam.

[machinegunjedi]

That's no bueno on the scamming and actually makes me sad. Some people, you know?

I've sold a few things and haven't had any issues. It sucks how dishonest and selfish people are these days.

[Panda]

For reals. I got scammed trying to buy an account. They took my money fine but also reclaimed the account.

It disappoints me that people are like this. I don't understand what even motivates that kind of thing. They had my money - yet 3 months later (sufficient time so I wouldn't be able to dispute it!) they took the account back. Of course they won't admit it and all email communications have been ignored. Taught me a lesson though I guess.

[Monarch]

Using our Middleman Service typically will not get you scammed...we have over a 99.9% success rate as it is.