Buying & Selling Online using Paypal

[Nomadic Planet]

Nomadic Planet, I would just pass on his offer. If it sounds too good to be true, it often is.
Given the way he types, and he wants extremely fast shipping with no negotiation of price is two red flags that are hard to avoid.

I think that should be the wisest decision... sadly bc I would've loved to sell quick at that price!!

I don't want to be discriminating whatsoever, but yeah his way of typing is kind of a red flag in itself

EDIT: PS: thanks a lot by the way, your advice is really helpful ;)

[guardimp]

From what I know, when you sell something on Grailed, you receive exactly how much you sold it for, and the amount you pay back to Grailed is the service fee that Paypal charges.

I'm assuming that's how Grailed makes profit as well, by holding onto your money to collect interest (same with Paypal) before paying Paypal back.

Paypal does not charge the fees. All the money goes to Grailed, they do not give it to paypal. To claim grailed is better then other secondhand sites is odd - you have no more protection selling on grailed as opposed to selling directly through paypal. Only difference is who is getting the percentage of the sale.

That said, has grailed ever done something and not had it be extremely slimely? First that pm debacle, then the lawsuits against competitors. Then the whole issue with them scanning private messages. Now claiming they had to charge the fee because of paypal when they really just wanted to make money.

[Nomadic Planet]

Paypal does not charge the fees. All the money goes to Grailed, they do not give it to paypal. To claim grailed is better then other secondhand sites is odd - you have no more protection selling on grailed as opposed to selling directly through paypal. Only difference is who is getting the percentage of the sale.

That said, has grailed ever done something and not had it be extremely slimely? First that pm debacle, then the lawsuits against competitors. Then the whole issue with them scanning private messages. Now claiming they had to charge the fee because of paypal when they really just wanted to make money.

God, everything seems so unclear! seems like everyone has heard / read something different...

as josecc points out, grailed claims on their web that their service is totally FREE and there is also this message that shows up in the popup window when you message someone claiming again that it's free + they offer protection when dealing through them...

"Do not send payments offsite. If you do not pay through Grailed we cannot protect you in case of fraud. Grailed is free to use!"


also, I'm not aware of any of the cases you mention guardimp , pm debacle, lawsuits etc... I just opened my account yesterday and wasn't really familiar with the site... (now I can't access my account anymore... instead of telling me the password I enter is wrong it looks like it creates new accounts each time I try... already wrote them 3 times and haven't received any answer...)

[guardimp]

Why do you think grailed cares so much about offsite transactions (scanning private messages for offsite keywords, numerous bans) if not the fees. The fees you pay don't ever say they go to paypal. Grailed has never said the fees go to paypal. Just that they had to put the fees back in. Grailed costs no more to use then paypal does, but is by no means free to use. They allow no method of purchase apart from one that costs you around 3.x% - unless the item costs zero dollars Grailed is not free. I believe they mean you do not need to pay money to list items or to register.

The protection they offer is no different then the protection paypal offers - point blank. Considering they offer no other payment method this allows them to claim scam protection without having to do anything, yet makes their claims of free service quite disingenuous. I'm not sure how people can misconstrue this point.

[ian+]

what happened ian+? did you reject his request? what would you do if you were in my situation?

I told him no, I don't think a sane person would pay $200 for shipping rates just to buy something that costed $180.

[GucciAmen]

I told him no, I don't think a sane person would pay $200 for shipping rates just to buy something that costed $180.

The user(s) I flagged in my post in the prior page was the same. He had no issue with the price whatsoever and said he strictly wanted overnight shipping as soon as possible. Like with ian+ case, probably would have cost more than the piece I was selling... Can someone say as to why scammers are asking for such quick shipping?

[rickandjulius]

The user(s) I flagged in my post in the prior page was the same. He had no issue with the price whatsoever and said he strictly wanted overnight shipping as soon as possible. Like with ian+ case, probably would have cost more than the piece I was selling... Can someone say as to why scammers are asking for such quick shipping?

I would guess so they could get more money back after going through a PayPal dispute. So they have the item and then a good chunk of change left.

[guardimp]

How does someone wanting faster shipping mean it is a scam? If you set your return policy to giving returns without refunding shipping and provide ebay with the tracking code the buyer will be out the shipping. It is pretty hard to get a full charge-back unless the seller is selling fake stuff that you need to have authenticated to prove - or the seller fails to cooperate with the investigation.

[ian+]

Man relax, nobody claimed that every buyer asking for ultra fast shipping is going to scam you. It is just weird to see someone eager to pay more for shipping than for the actual piece he is buying. Isn't this alarming somehow?

[guardimp]

Not really, some people have more money then sense. Same way that people pay jacked up prices for early raf or certain helmut pieces. Or are willing to pay near retail for drips that have been worn repeatedly.

[Ulf]

On the topic of more money than sense: Anne Leibovitz had her assistant fly to Stockholm to pick up a particular notebook from Ordning & Reda. It was temporarily out of stock in NYC.

[Nomadic Planet]

Man relax, nobody claimed that every buyer asking for ultra fast shipping is going to scam you. It is just weird to see someone eager to pay more for shipping than for the actual piece he is buying. Isn't this alarming somehow?

if buyer wants to scam you, either he's in a hurry to get the stuff and disappear with your money and /or finds extra pleasure in having you pay more for shipping express....

I can understand there are people with enough money to pay whatever they want to pay to get their stuff asap, but that doesn't make really sense in the secondary market, where the idea is to be able to spend less money. a rather high re-sell price + super expensive shipping + paypal fees don't make sense cause you're reaching retail price levels, and in that case you'd better off buying directly from a webstore that can provide returns / exchange in addition, and a totally new item BNIB... so yes, it's kind of alarming...

[newp]

Here is the nice explanation why a buyer would ask for a REALLY REALLY FAST PLEASE DO IT TODAY NO DO IT NOW shipping. Payment is usually done through stolen paypal so there is a change paypal is going to remove this payment later.

[Shucks]

On the topic of more money than sense: Ann[i]e Leibovitz had her assistant fly to Stockholm to pick up a particular notebook from Ordning & Reda. It was temporarily out of stock in NYC.

she was close to personal bancruptcy not too long ago and almost lost the rights to all her photos - just sold her massive property in NYC to be able to pay back what she owes... so yeah, not necessarily a financial wizard...

[GucciAmen]

/\ Yes, he was promptly reported both times.