EthelKing
Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2012
- Messages
- 5,448
OK – So there’s been some trouble in the classifieds in recent weeks – here are my thoughts on a couple of things…
SWAPS
It is very important that you understand completely that you have ABSOLUTELY NO PROTECTION other than your trust in the person you are trading with. If the deal goes sour, you are – quite frankly – on your own. POTV would like to be informed if your deal goes tits up, but only from a monitoring perspective – we cannot and will not become involved. Your only option is to refer to the rules concerning negative reviews and posting a negative review regarding your experience. In instances where a member scams multiple people we will either remove their verified status or ban them from the forum.
SALES
There is an increasing trend for people to ask for Friends and Family PayPal payments in deals. That is their right, and the forum staff have no place in banning this type of request.
However, if you are contemplating entering into such an agreement ask yourself a question –
“Is the person I am buying from either (a) a friend of mine or (b) a member of my family?”
If the answer is “no”, then it may be worth considering asking them for a price to pay “PayPal Goods”. This affords you PayPal buyer protection should the deal go sour. You may, of course, be able to get PayPal to intervene in a bad Friends and Family payment, but judging by the sheer amount of pissed of people on the internet, I wouldn’t hold out much hope…
The same applies to bank transfers, which are sometimes requested. All fine and dandy unless something goes tits up, and then you will have great fun trying to get your money back.
I know my suggestion may cause outrage and indignation, but bollocks to it – they’re not the ones who have to try and sort out the mess that is sometimes caused.
When considering how much you want to receive after PayPal fees, a simple “reverse fee” calculator is probably your most useful tool. An example of one can be found here:
Online PayPal Fee Calculator - Payment Processing Forum
As an example, if I were selling something in the classifieds and wanted to receive £5.00 for it, I use the handy calculator to enter the amount I want to receive after PayPal have had their cut, and find that I need to ask for £5.38.
I have forgotten to put on my postage fees – which will be £2.74 on top, so I need to receive £7.74 in total. Off to the calculator, pop in the amount I want to receive, and magically, it reveals the amount I need to charge is £8.22
Yes, it costs 48p more – but you are affording yourself with some protection by paying in a certain way.
Of course, this is a free world, and you are free to do whatever you want. Just bear in mind that you are making a decision to buy something from someone you may have never met – just like eBay. Let common sense prevail in any arrangement, and above all – realise that verification on the forum means that the PayPal account of the individual has been checked* by us to see whether it is verified or not. Nothing more. Anyone can provide bogus address details – we have no way of checking them.
The forum ModMin team can put all manner of things in place – someone will always circumvent them in order to fcuk you over – that’s life unfortunately. Protect yourself with some common sense steps, and you can be relatively safe – no one can guarantee your transaction will be totally safe – not even you.
All of the methods of payment discussed are perfectly above board, and a matter of personal choice. When making a deal, just ask yourself, "How much am I prepared to potentially lose?".
Please accept this in the spirit it offered. I am not aiming to start another war. I am certainly not looking to point the finger of blame at anyone or make out that people entering into any deal, whatever its form is, are guilty of not protecting themselves or in any way deserve to be scammed as a result of what they may or may not have done prior to entering into a deal.
I've been scammed once in my years as a forum member - and it still angers me as much today as it did then. I've never been scammed by anyone who wasn't friendly, credible and who didn't win my confidence - both here and in the real world.
My aim is simple - to try and highlight a few facts that some people may have not considered.
EK
*The exception to this being MiiCard, where the process of obtaining MiiCard verification is VERY in depth.
SWAPS
It is very important that you understand completely that you have ABSOLUTELY NO PROTECTION other than your trust in the person you are trading with. If the deal goes sour, you are – quite frankly – on your own. POTV would like to be informed if your deal goes tits up, but only from a monitoring perspective – we cannot and will not become involved. Your only option is to refer to the rules concerning negative reviews and posting a negative review regarding your experience. In instances where a member scams multiple people we will either remove their verified status or ban them from the forum.
REMEMBER – NON-VERIFIED MEMBERS ARE ABLE TO ENTER INTO SALES AND SWAPS DEALS.
SALES
There is an increasing trend for people to ask for Friends and Family PayPal payments in deals. That is their right, and the forum staff have no place in banning this type of request.
However, if you are contemplating entering into such an agreement ask yourself a question –
“Is the person I am buying from either (a) a friend of mine or (b) a member of my family?”
If the answer is “no”, then it may be worth considering asking them for a price to pay “PayPal Goods”. This affords you PayPal buyer protection should the deal go sour. You may, of course, be able to get PayPal to intervene in a bad Friends and Family payment, but judging by the sheer amount of pissed of people on the internet, I wouldn’t hold out much hope…
The same applies to bank transfers, which are sometimes requested. All fine and dandy unless something goes tits up, and then you will have great fun trying to get your money back.
I know my suggestion may cause outrage and indignation, but bollocks to it – they’re not the ones who have to try and sort out the mess that is sometimes caused.
When considering how much you want to receive after PayPal fees, a simple “reverse fee” calculator is probably your most useful tool. An example of one can be found here:
Online PayPal Fee Calculator - Payment Processing Forum
As an example, if I were selling something in the classifieds and wanted to receive £5.00 for it, I use the handy calculator to enter the amount I want to receive after PayPal have had their cut, and find that I need to ask for £5.38.
I have forgotten to put on my postage fees – which will be £2.74 on top, so I need to receive £7.74 in total. Off to the calculator, pop in the amount I want to receive, and magically, it reveals the amount I need to charge is £8.22
Yes, it costs 48p more – but you are affording yourself with some protection by paying in a certain way.
Of course, this is a free world, and you are free to do whatever you want. Just bear in mind that you are making a decision to buy something from someone you may have never met – just like eBay. Let common sense prevail in any arrangement, and above all – realise that verification on the forum means that the PayPal account of the individual has been checked* by us to see whether it is verified or not. Nothing more. Anyone can provide bogus address details – we have no way of checking them.
The forum ModMin team can put all manner of things in place – someone will always circumvent them in order to fcuk you over – that’s life unfortunately. Protect yourself with some common sense steps, and you can be relatively safe – no one can guarantee your transaction will be totally safe – not even you.
All of the methods of payment discussed are perfectly above board, and a matter of personal choice. When making a deal, just ask yourself, "How much am I prepared to potentially lose?".
Please accept this in the spirit it offered. I am not aiming to start another war. I am certainly not looking to point the finger of blame at anyone or make out that people entering into any deal, whatever its form is, are guilty of not protecting themselves or in any way deserve to be scammed as a result of what they may or may not have done prior to entering into a deal.
I've been scammed once in my years as a forum member - and it still angers me as much today as it did then. I've never been scammed by anyone who wasn't friendly, credible and who didn't win my confidence - both here and in the real world.
My aim is simple - to try and highlight a few facts that some people may have not considered.
EK
*The exception to this being MiiCard, where the process of obtaining MiiCard verification is VERY in depth.
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