Off Topic - Paypal vs bank transfer

porlyworly

Selling a watch to a random through a forum and unsure of which method of payment to insist on - Paypal gift or a bank transfer? As the transaction isn't through ebay I won't have any protection as a seller so just wondering if there is any way I can get scammed i.e. the transaction be reversed after I've shipped the watch. How long should I wait to post after the funds show in my account?

Will fund a new set of wheels for my commuter so not completely off topic!

hegyestomi

I would probably go for bank transfer: paypal is too easy to reverse. Or just ask for paypal gift

rubertoe

There is always an element of risk with either way. I would prefer paypal (non gift), as at least your not handing over bank details to a random over t'interwebs.

make sure you get a valid phone number (land line if poss).

when the funds come via Paypal (if its a gift), they can be withdrawn by the recipient straight away, so you could always do that before shipping.

porlyworly

Anyone else care to weigh in? What have people insisted on in the past when selling through the classifieds on here?

essex-commuter

Personally I would go for a bank transfer.

First.Aspect

All I know is that the paypal user agreement is around twice the length of Hamlet (that is actually true).

This troubles me.

daniel_b

I always offer both, have sold some fairly high value shoes for £140 on here and the chap opted for bank transfer.

ballysmate

rubertoe wrote:

There is always an element of risk with either way. I would prefer paypal (non gift), as at least your not handing over bank details to a random over t'interwebs.

What details are you actually handing over? Name, account number and sort code. All information that we used to hand out willy nilly on cheques, remember them. I know of no way that this info can be used without your permission for anyone to access your account.

pdw

Ballysmate wrote:

I know of no way that this info can be used without your permission for anyone to access your account.

Clarkson discovered that that's not quite true:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7174760.stm

ballysmate

pdw wrote:

Ballysmate wrote:

I know of no way that this info can be used without your permission for anyone to access your account.

Clarkson discovered that that's not quite true:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7174760.stm

If this is true and the report is accurate, the fault is with the bank and he would get his money back. As I said in my post, we all used to write millions of cheques a day with the exact same information on them.
As a post script, I can't believe a fraud or fraudster cannot be investigated because of DPA.

rjsterry

Ballysmate wrote:

pdw wrote:

Ballysmate wrote:

I know of no way that this info can be used without your permission for anyone to access your account.

Clarkson discovered that that's not quite true:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7174760.stm

If this is true and the report is accurate, the fault is with the bank and he would get his money back. As I said in my post, we all used to write millions of cheques a day with the exact same information on them.
As a post script, I can't believe a fraud or fraudster cannot be investigated because of DPA.

A DD mandate form only requires the following: account name; account number; sort code; name and address of bank at which account is held; signature and date. The latter would be pretty easy to forge - does anyone check the signature against a specimen? - and if set up over the phone, then they wouldn't even need a signature. So yes, seems accurate.

mtb-idle

why don't you get him to Ping it to you?

DM222

rubertoe wrote:

There is always an element of risk with either way. I would prefer paypal (non gift), as at least your not handing over bank details to a random over t'interwebs.

make sure you get a valid phone number (land line if poss).

when the funds come via Paypal (if its a gift), they can be withdrawn by the recipient straight away, so you could always do that before shipping.

I do this

unixnerd

I know of no way that this info can be used without your permission for anyone to access your account.

Twice folk have set up DDs from my business account to pay for mobile phones. One got 800 quid before I spotted it. Bank immediately refunded my money, they're very good at sorting it because it's so common.