SOS! is paypal safe for buyer?

[xdn]

I am willing to buy a domain for $4,000. Paypal is one of the payment options. To save escrow fee, I want to use paypal. Is paypal safe for buyer? Waiting for your suggestions! Thank you!

 

[GT Web]

No, its not.

The seller can accept your payment and not send you the domain...and you wont get your money back.

Unless you trust this person ENTIRELY, spend the money and go through Escrow.com or Moniker's Escrow service.

 

[Darwix]

Paypal is most likely not to refund your money unless its a shipped product. I suggest escrow.

 

[xdn]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I will use escrow.

 

[mjnels]

say no to paypal for domains, as paypal does not cover these "virtual items"

that said, it is a lot safer for the buyer than the seller for obvious reasons.


and with a wire payment your even more screwed than sending a paypal payment if your the buyer.. wire is not a good option if you dont know the seller.. extremely safe for the seller, not so much for the buyer.

 

[simon]

for amounts greater than 1000$ paypal is never safe unless u totally the other person.

 

[mjnels]

actually for amounts over 1 penny paypal isnt safe.. you have to have a tracking # for every item you accept as payment..

sell someone a domain with paypal, they do a chargeback, you never had a tracking # as they required for their joke of a seller protection policy, and your screwed..

and not to mention paypal only covers transactions between the usa/uk/canada.. accepting paypal from ANY other country is about the biggest mistake you could make..

 

[SuccessClick]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I will use escrow.

I use Paypal all the time for any order under $5,000.

I know for a fact that all you have to do is dispute the charge and the funds are put on hold for whoever received it. Make sure the buyer is a VERIFIED Paypal user, and you shouldn't have any problems. Moniker and Escrow.com are good, but take a lot longer for the transaction.

I currently have a $100 payment on hold a guy made over five months ago to me for some appraisals and advice I did. He wanted me to give him hours more consultation and sell his domains for free, and bombarded me with over 50 emails. I refused, and he tried little weird harassments over the last few months, and I beat him at every turn, even getting his fake email accounts closed (it's good to have connections sometimes). So his last option to hassle me was to file a complaint with Paypal and say the payment was UNAUTHORIZED. The money he paid me was put on hold in my account, I was contacted to resolve the dispute, I sent in my proof that in fact the work was done, and I expect the money to be released. This is the second time this has happened in three years and over 2000 transactions. So I know first hand, if you think you've been ripped off, Paypal will put a hold on your payment to the seller.

As a domain consultant, I show my clients how to protect themselves in other ways BEFORE the sale (or they hire me to do it):

1. Make sure the person actually is the person who owns the domain. Check whois and send an email to the email on the whois and ask him to respond to you from that email. Make sure the email you sent is copied back to you.

2. If he has a paypal account, request a "Payment Request" from him. Paypal will send you an invoice, and it will include whether the buyer is VERIFIED and how many transactions he's completed.

3. Contact the registrar that holds the domain and see if Support can't give you a thumbs up on this customer, and whether they will participate in helping you attain the domain for free.

4. Get at least two phone numbers from the seller, including a friend's or wife's or family member. Call them both. Find out as much as you can about the seller before you make the sale. Don't be afraid to ask for as much info as possible.

5. Ask around on the forums to see if this seller is known.

It's either that or take the longer process and pay some percentages to the escrow services. Escrow services guarantee there won't be a problem, and are good for high priced deals (it's all relative I suppose) but it is also a very good thing for you to be as well-informed about the whole domain selling/buying process and do your research on the buyer/seller.

Hope this helps,

 

[mjnels]

this is a good list.. but sometimes it doesnt matter if the buyer/seller has had a million verified transactions and is triple a+++ verified etc etc.. paypal does what the want and if they think somthing is going on (for WHATEVER reason) they will put a hold on the funds.. ive had many holds put on my money over the years for what they call "investigating the source of funds", which means it could be from a buyer that paid a seller that paid a seller's seller with fraudulent funds.. it sounds really illogical but in the end paypal just plain does what they want. Most of the time the funds on hold were returned to me after their 2-3 month investigations... its so fun having thousands of dollars locked in paypal investigations to only have the money return to you.

that said, ive also lost thousands of dollars using paypal over the years. its the nature of the beast.

never accept paypal for anything you arnt delivering to their physical address with a tracking #... ever.. unless you can afford to lose it.

 

[Domagon]

The "verified" PayPal user stuff won't help one bit if the PayPal account is hacked and/or the source of the funding is questioned by PayPal...

That's where escrow comes in - the escrow company assumes the risks instead of the seller, and helps protect the buyer as well; dissuades many scammers who will simply go for easier prey.

To make matters worse, PayPal is not a bank and is basically unregulated; no real consumer protections.

PayPal is fine for the relatively small transaction (ie. $100 or whatever amount one can afford to lose), but for serious business, PayPal is best avoided.

Ron

p.s. tracking numbers, etc don't mean anything, if the goods are considered intangible by PayPal; there are all sorts of loopholes in PayPal's "protection" - monetary limits, the location of the parties, how it was signed for; amounts over $250, the buyer signing for the package alone is technically not sufficient for protection.

 

[Talkhost]

this is a good list.. but sometimes it doesnt matter if the buyer/seller has had a million verified transactions and is triple a+++ verified etc etc.. paypal does what the want and if they think somthing is going on (for WHATEVER reason) they will put a hold on the funds.. ive had many holds put on my money over the years for what they call "investigating the source of funds", which means it could be from a buyer that paid a seller that paid a seller's seller with fraudulent funds.. it sounds really illogical but in the end paypal just plain does what they want. Most of the time the funds on hold were returned to me after their 2-3 month investigations... its so fun having thousands of dollars locked in paypal investigations to only have the money return to you.

that said, ive also lost thousands of dollars using paypal over the years. its the nature of the beast.

never accept paypal for anything you arnt delivering to their physical address with a tracking #... ever.. unless you can afford to lose it.

Snap... Exactly the same happened to me recently... I received an email saying my paypal account was restricted because more than £4,500 GBP had been transacted through it in the past year (something to do with UK regulations)
Less than 30 seconds later I received another email from them saying my account was no longer restricted as their investigation proved satisfactory!!!

That musta been a damn thorough investigation if it took as long as 30 seconds LOL

IMO, don't use paypal for large transactions as they are a law unto themselves. Check out www.paypalsucks.com

 

[tekz999]

For a $4000 transaction, its best to use escrow.

 

[d_n]

and not to mention paypal only covers transactions between the usa/uk/canada.. accepting paypal from ANY other country is about the biggest mistake you could make..

Thanks for all other european countries... Please be careful with your arguments.

 

[mjnels]

Thanks for all other european countries... Please be careful with your arguments.

lol.. dude its not my opinion it is a FACT if you use paypal often enough and you are not in the usa, canada, or the u.k. you WILL eventually get screwed if you send money to or accept money from countries not on their list.. Fact, not opinion.


Paypal's got a losing lottery and they want you to sign up. There are new winners everyday..

 

[Digital Address]

Anything over $1,000. use escrow, that's our rule of thumb.

 

[PRED]

more risky for seller than buyer.
i think world crime stats would point to a few criminals in the US too! LOL :cheesy:
however i would be really wary of some eastern european countries & African countries though because fraud is an epidemic at mo.

just use common sense. i have an imminent sale at mo. the buyer is established, been on here a couple of years, many transactions & he's actually from what a US/UK citizen would call a developing country!
am i worried, not in the slightest, he's very respected from what i can gather.
like the others say, do a little homework.
i personally will take a chance on paypal as buyer or seller for $2.5k down,
most transactions are much lower
if it is higher, both sides will prob. want to use escrow or sedo's escrow. worth the wait to be safe.
i would also say if someone on here is platinum up & verified & has some sales history at least (me! pick me! LOL) then it's pretty safe
it's when you are on ebay you'll prob get skanked.
then again if they are an established ebayer with lots of feedback etc, you're pretty safe.
for smallish sales, it's not worth escrow etc as like all forms of insurance they live on your fear baby! usually it's unfounded.
Predator says 'watch your ass!' LOL (NB: i'm straight 'tho!) :laugh:

 

[Dale Hubbard]

I've just brokered the purchase of a high-ish value domain for a client. The fees charged for escrow pale into insignificance in terms of peace of mind. It's so little, especially if buyer/seller agree to split costs. If you have a deal over $1000, and the seller won't agree to escrow, then think long and hard about how you'll do business with this person. You are NEVER safe until if you're the seller, you have the funds free and clear; and if you're the buyer, you have the goods in your possession. This is what escrow is for. PayPal is a potential nightmare for intangible items.

These are first principles; there can be problems with escrow but that's another story which has already been discussed on this board as has the issue of PayPal.

 

[Jeffreyw]

I hope Paypal will have their own escrow service in the near future.

 

[whydna]

^agreed

 

[picassoface]

I only use Afternic or Sedo's escrow service now. It's 10% but if the price is right i don't mind....