Beware of scammers. I posted wanting to buy a Buick 350 crankshaft. I was contacted by someone who claimed to have one and he sent pictures. I became suspicious when he said he would only accept Zelle or Paypal "friends and family" option--neither of which prevents fraudulent transactions. When I told him I would only use PayPal with the option to protect the transaction, he insisted he was "legitimate" and kept pressing for Zelle. I then searched for his name on our site and could not find him. I have since researched Zelle and apparently scammers love it as there is no protection from fraud. Be on the look out for scammers--they are everywhere, even here.
I don't know the situation you dealt with, but using either one if those services does not mean someone is a scammer.
Zelle is supported through a lot of major banks including Chase who i use. I exclusively use PayPal friends and family but if someone wanted to pay the extra % to do it as a business, I wouldn't stop them. I also accept rent from my tenants through venmo friends/family with no foul play involved.
Every situating is different and I'm not down playing yours. Buyer/seller beware.
Zack,
I agree--just using those services does not make someone a scammer. It's just that scammers prefer the options that don't allow recourse. I'm only posting just to make people aware that even on this site, scammers are there.
Yes, be careful. I was scammed about a year ago. Though not conclusive any insistence on the use of Zelle should be a warning. I've received numerous offers (same person) saying something like "hey, you're looking for a camshaft, I know Fred has one. Send him an email at ...."
I've gotten that same response both here and at the MGExperience site on numerous occasions.
Exactly my point, Brian. When I told this person I would only do PayPal with buyer protection, he immediately reverted to telling me all the problems he had with PayPal and reverted to insisting on Zelle--all while telling me how very trustworthy he was.
This is pretty simple. If you get an message like this, it's guaranteed to be a scam. I get no end of these.
If you ever want to be sure that something genuinely exists, have them take a pic of the item with something common (say on top of, or next to it).
I'll do something like a mug, envelope, piece of paper with a random letter, set of keys, etc.
If they refuse to do that, or say they don't have access to something like a piece of paper or coffee mug, then it almost doesn't exist and it's a scam..,
CA4669A3-9C89-4719-BE41-306A421FED36.jpeg
That's a great idea--thanks Dave. Will prevent a lot of time being wasted.
By the way, "Peter Williams" is the same person who attempted to scam me.
Yeah, I started doing that with anyone I wasn't sure of many years ago. Given I've never been totally scammed yet, I believe it's pretty effective.
It's a play on the 'custard test' that started on the U.K. based pistonheads forum where if someone claimed they had a (insert expensive car/engine/garage/etc) they would be challenged to take another pic with said object, but for a can of birds custard (something really only easily available in the U.K.) to be set atop or beside the claim. Basically a way of proving ownership as that would be quite the thing to pull off unless you genuinely had full access to it!
Oh, and for the PayPal thing; i will always send someone a small amount first (between 50c & $2 as a gift / friends and family and have them advise what the amount they received was, to confirm everything is correct.
I will also ONLY send as a purchase, and add 6.01% to the total to cover their fees. Doing this, there is absolutely no reason anyone should not want to accept PayPal.
If they still don't want to do this , then it's almost guaranteed you're about to get scammed...
Exactly, I offered the same--to cover the fee. That's when he said he had problems with PayPal and insisted again on Zelle. Good ideas--thanks.