Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi folks:
I was recently contacted by someone to purchase the last 3 pairs of babies that I have from my longicauda breeding this year. When I requested a more secure payment method such as a bank check or similar (vs Ppal) and for him to contact me on phone he vaporized. He then sent another email with another address offering to pay the charges on PP, I told him to call me. Again, nothing. In case he is just a busy guy or something I will refrain from putting up his email for now but should he not contact me at all then I will have to assume he was a dirty bird and I will share his likely aliases.

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Cheers
Lateralis
"I would rather be precisely wrong than approximately right"
Marion "Doc" Ford

Are you saying that he originally offered to pay via Paypal, and you declined? If so, why?

Paypal is the most secure way to pay for both parties (other than cash in person). I only pay via Paypal for online transactions in fact. I also have bought many boas without making a phonecall. I prefer email and Paypal to keep a written record of the whole transaction.

I'd say he is using good buying practices if you ask me.
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1.0 Leopard BCI
0.1 Blood BCI
0.1 Hypo Cancun BCI
1.0 Hog Island BCI
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
0.1 Ball Python

He did, he also wanted to do a rush deal and take all my remaining animals, when I told him I was concerned about how much they will make off of my sale, he offered to pay the extra charge...that is not normal. He was also emailing from different addresses, user name changed slightly. That was another warning sign to me.

Lastly, I gave him my number and told him to give me a call so we could discuss and possibly I would go through with it once we spoke, he has not called in 3 days and it seems to me that if someone was dying to get these animals a few bucks on a phone call is not going to cause an issue...

Finally, my little voice just kept nagging me that something was up. I have sold many animals through paypal with no trouble (you can get ripped off though, read up on it, its not that hard to do) but in ALL cases people have called me to discuss the animals, shipping, etc....this guy dissapeared so I suspect he was crooked...

...and its not even the loss of $ that bothers me so much, its what would potentially happen to some outstanding snakes. Contrary to some, I care a great deal about my animals going to good homes with people that deserve them, much more than what I make off of them. I dont do this for money, its strictly a hobby to me that happens to pay some dividends once in awhile.
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Cheers
Lateralis
"I would rather be precisely wrong than approximately right"
Marion "Doc" Ford

First off, you always need to listen to that little voice. If things do not sound or "feel" right, they just might not be.

However, I have had people offer to pay the paypal fees. I've also had people send me "friend" money and totally avoid the fees.

If direct paid (not e-check) how would they scam you through paypal? If a dispute is raised paypal does not return funds without investigation and dispute resolution practices. I have raised disputes a few times on items I've bought online and not received or came in broken and in each case it took a little while and some number of emails to present my case and ultimately refunded but not right away.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I have gotten scammed using PayPal, but I was the buyer, not the seller. I sent the guy money and then I never got the snake and never heard from him again. I disputed it with PayPal and they the dispute ended in my favor. But by the time the dispute was over, the guy had emptied his bank account and PayPal said they couldn't do anything about it.

Apparently, you're only 100% covered with Ebay purchases. If it were through Ebay, PayPal would have refunded my money and taken a loss. Since it was not through Ebay, they said they couldn't do anything else since there was no money in the guy's bank account.

I'm not sure if you can be scammed if you're the seller. The buyer could say they never received the boas, but as long as you have proof that you sent them you should be fine, right? I thought I was covered 100% as a buyer, but found out I wasn't.
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Rachel Squier
rachelsboa.weebly.com/
"The more we live by our intellect, the less we understand the meaning of life." -Leo Tolstoy

apparently one can use another persons acct. creditcard, or similar basically an identity theft deal I think. He still has not responded so I suspect my little voice was right...
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Cheers
Lateralis
"I would rather be precisely wrong than approximately right"
Marion "Doc" Ford

I recently had a customer paypal money to the wrong email address. He left out the underscore in my email and therefore another Warren Booth got the money, withdrew it, and basically screwed the guy. I called Paypal and they confirmed he had sent it to the wrong address and that it was up to the other person to refund it. In the end he did not get it. As a good will gesture, I told the buyer that I am sending him another snake in with his order. Hopefully that will make up for his loss a bit.

But, as people say, if you use paypal make sure it is with the Instant pay, and only shop to the address on the paypal invoice, or to a fedex facility to be held until the person arrives with ID.

Warren
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Dr Warren Booth / Director USARK
North Carolina State University
Department of Entomology

apparently the crooks have found out a way to use another person's acct, or cc and do it that way. In the end my animals lose out because they likely ended up with some piece of !#@##@ of a human and that sucks more than losing the money to me...
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Cheers
Lateralis
"I would rather be precisely wrong than approximately right"
Marion "Doc" Ford