Cautious about this Craigslist offer...Help?

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Dodge72

Dodge72

Odd one out
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Location
Olympia, WA
So I have this rare camera up for sale or trade on Craigslist. I finally get a text asking it was for sale, and I said yes. But that's when I got confused.

So, he/she offers to pay full price, and pay through PayPal. He/She will pay for shipping costs (Which will include the insurance for it), and wants my PayPal account to send the money.

That wouldn't be a problem....but I have it on Craigslist. ePay, I wouldn't question it, he'd probably just hit the 'Buy it Now' price. But this was CL, and it was supposed to be for locals typically. Area code appears to be from Ohio.

My concerns:

-Didn't ask any questions whatsoever about the camera.
-Didn't ask for more pictures. (I gave just one photo of the camera)
-Didn't even hesitate on the price. (I upped the price a bit for negotiation room)
-The shipping of the camera instead of he/she looking at it in person.


I know PayPal is secure and all, but I just gives me a weird vibe, and there's no way I wanna lose this camera! Anyone else deal with something similar? Should I just stay on the safe side and reject his offer?
 
Might try to call them and talk through it. That could give you a better idea of what they're all about. If they don't want to talk, then you'll know.
 
Just dont ship till the MONEY is actually in your Bank account. where you can withdrawal it in cash form. to me, then the money is real.
 
Did I little digging and found out that even WITH PayPal, there are scams. Providing fake e-mails that look like they come from PayPal, later (sometimes in months) claiming fraud from "not getting the item" and getting their money back and the item, or even hacking others' accounts. They really put me off with their "wording":

"i will send your payment using PayPal it easy fast and secure.."

More I look at it, the more I don't like it. Going on the safe side and I'll pass on this one. I'll wait for someone local who seems actually interested in seeing the camera and who wants to negotiate on the price with me. THEN I'll feel comfortable.

They're getting sneakier! Thanks for the help guys, I was tempted to call but someone else had called and they still got ripped off. To me, it's worth a good chunk of change that I don't want to take any risks on.
 
Paypal is not safe, except with "people you think you know" and sort of E-fray.

The buyer can dispute with Paypal, and you the seller WILL lose.
 
on the other side of the coin there is this, I bought a bumper once from a guy throught craigslist
I had a 2003 Tiburon with front end damage
if you ever looked at an 03 and an 05 Tiburon side by side youll notice that the 05 facelift looks 1000 times better
so I really wanted a 05 bumper (this was in 08 or 09, and they were not easy to come by)

so I used a nationwide C/L search engine and found one several states over
I contacted to person, arranged for shipping, even send him a "call tag" and paid what he was asking

why ?

because he had something I wanted...badly

you claim this camera is rare?
maybe it is legit
 
If your gut says no, then don't do it.
 
I bought an STR-15 for $400 off craigs. I didnt even own a 383 at the time but I saw a chance to own one for maybe a future build. I called and sent the guy a USPS money order for $30 over to cover shipping. Nothing ever got sent, his "roommate" forged sig and cashed it for himself (yeah, right) but the USPS M/O saved my *** on that. 5 months later, I got my money back BUT it took the sig of the original payee (victim) to process the forgery report so if the other guy doesnt want to play ball, it could have been much worse. Bigpowerstang and Don Joslin are on my **** list for life. Funny how you remember that stuff.....
Here is a tip. If you see something you absolutely need on a nationwide craigs search, call the guy and ask him to list it on Ebay for his fixed price, then send you the link. Its legit after that, works both ways.
 
I notified him how I won't accept PayPal as a form of payment when I have no other info on him. Also told him that the camera will be listed on eBay when I get the chance and if so, he can buy it then. I only listed it on CL first to see if I could maybe trade for another camera. Is there a chance that he is truly interested in the camera? Yes, that's why I wasn't shutting him down immediately. If he is truly interested he will reply back.

I've never even heard of a USPS Money Order to be honest, so I didn't know that was an option. Lookie here, I learned something!

67Dart273: It's a Calypso underwater diving camera. It's extremely similar to the Nikonos, because Nikon bought the design for the French camera in 1963. They were only made for one year and in a small quantity since it was a small business.
 
One thing to remember about Paypal is when you recieve money as payment for an item the buyer only has to file a claim as item not as described , Provide tracking for what ever he ships back. It does not have to be your camera. He then gets his money back and nothing you can do.

This happened to me. Only accept paypal as a money transfer or you could get scammed. Unless you have A site like A-bodies to vet the buyer. Steve
 
me, I would simply tell the guy to send you his phone number and a good time to call. YOU want to talk to him before any transaction> paypal is a part of feebay, I use it all the time but I have had too many good people tell me horror tales.....

if they say, they want to purchase your ITEM, bla bla bla, its always a foreign scam, ( maybe living in OHIO)>>>>>>>maybe Kaslic's illegitimate brother!?????? LOL
 
If they want you to ship it, I'd send it requiring a signature on delivery. That way they can't deny having received the camera.

But there's a lot of scams on craigslist just phishing for an email address to spam people. Since that's how paypal works, you'd be giving them your email. No real security threat there but a nuisance.

its always a foreign scam, ( maybe living in OHIO)
Click to expand...
Hey now! Don't knock on the buckeye state!
 
he is a story for you I was told 4-5 years ago, assume true. town over 20 mi or so, guy bought the old car dealership in that very small town, he restores gm stuff in spare time. he sold a car on feeebay, for like $10000, guy send $1000 deposit, he is from Mi or Wisc. the guy comes down looks over car and says its not what he hoped. he hoped to have bought a $25000 car for $10000 was the thing. he was an obviuous flipper. guy says, just keep my deposit, sent thru paypal, if that's cool?? he says o k, ( nothin else to really do)...

the $1000 was transferred to the sellers bank account. day later it is gone back to paypal!!!! the buyers account! all the buyer has to do is tell paypal the car is misrepresented, broken, whatever..... nd he wants his deposit back!!! I guess his story was accurate.

I have sold a few cars thru feebay back before the depression of '08, never had any problem, but sold to honest people also!!!!!

I know some people keep a separate back account just for feebay, just to be safe. I would trust CL bout as far as I can throw that chubby governor of NJ !!????
 
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