A warning to AmiBay members about gift payments and parcel tracking

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Merlin

Ministry of Retr0bright and Street Judge
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Nov 24, 2007
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Dear Amibayers,

Would you give a total stranger, that you have just met in the street and that you barely know, a large sum of money, say over 150 Dollars, Euros or Pounds, and just walk away?

Would you do something just like this with a desirable item bought over the Internet, in the knowledge that you don't know the stranger's full contact details, you only have a webmail or mobile-based e-mail address and don't have any other verifiable details, yet you choose to pay them by PayPal Gift, thereby making it almost impossible to recover the funds?

Would you also accept that the goods will be sent uninsured and/or untracked, thereby making it virtually impossible for the item(s) to be located and shipped on to you?

Does all of the above sound too implausible to have actually happened?

These things have happened and do happen on AmiBay from time to time and although the staff do make extensive efforts to assist members who get into difficulties such as the events described above, there are times that we just cannot trace the person down, no matter what we try. Webmail and mobile based e-mail addresses are just not specific enough to be able to track a person down and they are 'disposable', so a member can create an account, set up a transaction and then just 'disappear'.

We strongly advise our members to pay for items using Paypal with the fee payment when the item's value is greater than £10 (or is a sum of money that you are not prepared to lose, by just 'giving' it away).

We further advise our members that for high-value items, that you obtain the seller's full contact details, such as full name, postal address and telephone number. These are crucial details that can be passed to law enforcement agencies in the country concerned, if a fraudulent transaction has been found to have occurred at a later date.

We also advise all members to use tracked and insured shipping wherever possible. Any member purchasing an item using the Paypal gift method and/or asking for items to be shipping uninsured can only expect limited help from the staff, in the event of a trading dispute. If the details you have are only basic and you do not have the other person's full details, there is no guarantee that we will be able to track them down for you.

To trade with an AmiBay member who is using webmail based e-mail addresses and asks for payment by PayPal Gift or Bank Transfer should always be viewed as carrying an element of risk and the risk increases with the value of the item you intend to buy.

Also, a member with a low post count offering high-value items should trigger further questions as to who this person actually is before sending them large sums of money as a gift; it may end up being just a gift and you may not receive anything in return.

It is your responsibility to manage that risk down to a level you feel comfortable with, before parting with large sums of money. If you pay by PayPal and accept the fees, using a bank card or credit card, you are protected by both PayPal and the card issuer against fraud and you stand a much higher chance of getting your funds back if a transaction goes badly.

The AmiBay Team
 
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