10-10-2009, 10:00 PM
"If it's a scam, he sure went through a lot of trouble to get $25 out of me"
this is easily the best technique for 'is it a scam or not' - people tend to get caught up in the paranoia and forget obvious clues. As others have said, this has happened to me on both sides of the transaction. One was pretty obviously a scam, but it DID say "Pay with Paypal and your full purchase price is covered" - but they'll also give you the shipping charges. I bought it, got that email, called ebay and got the money back into my paypal account all in one day.
Ebay's latest goal is to make it feel safe for buyers so they are going too far for their own good, but buyers are well protected these days.
this is easily the best technique for 'is it a scam or not' - people tend to get caught up in the paranoia and forget obvious clues. As others have said, this has happened to me on both sides of the transaction. One was pretty obviously a scam, but it DID say "Pay with Paypal and your full purchase price is covered" - but they'll also give you the shipping charges. I bought it, got that email, called ebay and got the money back into my paypal account all in one day.
Ebay's latest goal is to make it feel safe for buyers so they are going too far for their own good, but buyers are well protected these days.