I didn't read any safe selling guide until I was scammed a few days ago on my first sell. So I've been looking around for information about how to avoid scammers. I started to work on a paypal selling process after I have read zerotoleranceftw's popular thread "Ask me Anything About Paypal", and I posted my process in that thread hoping I could get some help from him. But it looks like he's no longer updating it. So decided to open a new one to let more people to read it, also get some help for the questions I still have.
Google checkout looks like a very good option but only available to sellers within US and UK so it’s out of the equation at least for the time being. WU is safe anyway so not worth the time to discuss it.
After reading the whole thread, I have worked out a PP selling procedure for intangible goods, of course mainly based on zerotoleranceftw's information but also little bits from the others. However I still have plenty of questions need to be answered in order to follow the whole procedure. I will outline the procedure step by step along with the remaining questions:
First of all, a verified PP personal account is required.
1. Post the item u want to sell on forums, and state clearly that any potential buyers
have to post a reply to tell u they r interested;
2. Get in touch via aim, msn…etc, ask for the buyer’s PP verification link, also get
them to send $0.01 to ur PP account, ask for their landline phone, having a
conversation with the buyer, make sure their landline, their PP address and their IP
from the forum post can match each other.
Questions for step 2:
Where is the PP verification link? This sounds stupid but I don’t know where mine
is if someone asks for it.
How can u find out one’s IP from a forum post?
If two scammers work together, say one in US and one in Canada, and the one in
US does all the communication including the phone conversation with u but the one
in Canada logs into PP and pays, then the US scammer claims there is unauthorized
payment, what can u do to fight it?
3. Put everything both party agreed to about this deal into a email and send it to the
buyer’s PP email box, ask the buyer to confirm everything in it in their reply. Do
the same thing with forum PM so u have double backups.
4. Create a PP invoice states clearly it’s for intangible goods, send it over to the buyer.
Buyer sends the payment, then claim and cancel, now u can send the item u r
selling.
Questions for step 4:
Some people suggest to do the claim and cancel, some don’t. So what exactly does
this “claim and cancel” method can help sellers? According to ur information,
intangible goods are not protected by PP no matter u r seller or buyer, so is it really
necessary to go through this process since ur invoice clearly shows it’s an
intangible goods?
5. Post in the thread that the item was sold and gives feedbacks.
The above 5 steps are pretty much all I can come up with so far. I’m looking forward to read ur answers. And if you have anything to add to my procedures from your rich experiences, I’m sure a lot of newbies like me will be very thankful.
Google checkout looks like a very good option but only available to sellers within US and UK so it’s out of the equation at least for the time being. WU is safe anyway so not worth the time to discuss it.
After reading the whole thread, I have worked out a PP selling procedure for intangible goods, of course mainly based on zerotoleranceftw's information but also little bits from the others. However I still have plenty of questions need to be answered in order to follow the whole procedure. I will outline the procedure step by step along with the remaining questions:
First of all, a verified PP personal account is required.
1. Post the item u want to sell on forums, and state clearly that any potential buyers
have to post a reply to tell u they r interested;
2. Get in touch via aim, msn…etc, ask for the buyer’s PP verification link, also get
them to send $0.01 to ur PP account, ask for their landline phone, having a
conversation with the buyer, make sure their landline, their PP address and their IP
from the forum post can match each other.
Questions for step 2:
Where is the PP verification link? This sounds stupid but I don’t know where mine
is if someone asks for it.
How can u find out one’s IP from a forum post?
If two scammers work together, say one in US and one in Canada, and the one in
US does all the communication including the phone conversation with u but the one
in Canada logs into PP and pays, then the US scammer claims there is unauthorized
payment, what can u do to fight it?
3. Put everything both party agreed to about this deal into a email and send it to the
buyer’s PP email box, ask the buyer to confirm everything in it in their reply. Do
the same thing with forum PM so u have double backups.
4. Create a PP invoice states clearly it’s for intangible goods, send it over to the buyer.
Buyer sends the payment, then claim and cancel, now u can send the item u r
selling.
Questions for step 4:
Some people suggest to do the claim and cancel, some don’t. So what exactly does
this “claim and cancel” method can help sellers? According to ur information,
intangible goods are not protected by PP no matter u r seller or buyer, so is it really
necessary to go through this process since ur invoice clearly shows it’s an
intangible goods?
5. Post in the thread that the item was sold and gives feedbacks.
The above 5 steps are pretty much all I can come up with so far. I’m looking forward to read ur answers. And if you have anything to add to my procedures from your rich experiences, I’m sure a lot of newbies like me will be very thankful.
