Lidmh Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 I'm in discussions with a gentleman who posted an M249 MKII for 600.00 out of the box. Its on these boards. He states he got the wrong one for his son in the US and needs to sell it. My problem is I don't know if it is a scam. I asked him if I could send him half the money up front. Then he would ship it and I would pay him the other half plus half the shipping once it got here. He agreed. Question is there anyway to check to see if he is on the up and up? He says he is unable to take any pictures of the gun. I send him a picture of one off the internet which was the Top M249 MKII. He said that was the one he had. He says it is in full working order and in the box. He takes paypal and that is the only reason I think he is honest. ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!!!! One last thing his emal address is :sdfghjkl cvbnm <rambo1066PLEASE DO NOT POST EMAIL ADDRESSES IN YOUR MESSAGES - USE THE PM SYSTEMallsearchengines.co.uk> is this a normal address from the UK? Link to post Share on other sites
xRAZERx Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Dude, If someone is serious about selling something they'll find some wat of taking photos. The PayPal system is very easy to get ripped off from also, I know it's happened to me and friends of mine. Link to post Share on other sites
Marlowe Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 I have no ideas whom the individual in question is, understandably, so I hope you will appreciate that it is hard to say much more than hypothesis based upon the information you've given. If he's willing to pay via paypal then I believe the individual will most likely be a legitimate individual, although it is understandably hard to be certain of this on the vague information at best which you've provided. Paypal has an anti-fraud system which enables you to apply for recompensation should the goods not arrive. It also requires the seller to provide several legitimate details (at least the last time I checked). Ultimately the best advise is to check the 'good traders' list, and see whether this individual is named on it. Also you could consult the individual's 'reputation' feature, and (although this necessarily means little), his post count. These three sources are of course not foolproof and could mean little, but the chances are if he's a regular poster with a good reputation and past satisfied customers, then he's worth taking the risk over. Of course it goes without saying that (at least as much as I understand the rules here) the trading is done at your own risk, in that Arnie's is effectively only acting as a free advertisement service for those seeking a trade. As a result, like buying a car through free ads, the onus is really on you to check the individual out. Hope that's of some use, anyway... Link to post Share on other sites
screamin_weasel Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 like was said, if someone is trying to sell something worth 600 quid, he will find a way to take photos. you should ask if he can include something to prove the date the pic as taken, to prove he actually has it in his possession. cheers Link to post Share on other sites
nmcabecadas Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 That gun was anounced in this forum and the thread closed becuase look like a scam. Email addresses, IP's and places didn't match and the sales thread was deleted. Link to post Share on other sites
gazchap Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Might it be a good idea for a sticky to be put in the For Sale forum for Escrow services? For those who have never heard of it before, escrow is basically a way of involving a neutral third party. For transactions that are as high in value as ones on these forums often are, I think it would be a good idea. Basically, when you buy something off someone, you send the money to a reputable escrow company who then e-mail the seller to say they have the money. The seller then sends you the items you bought. Once you receive them, you contact the escrow company and they release the money to the seller, minus a small fee for the trouble. The advantage with this is that it pretty much makes it impossible for the seller to scam the buyer and steal the money. The main disadvantage is that it is much easier for the buyer to scam the seller. eBay use www.escrow.com so they must be pretty reputable Link to post Share on other sites
Lidmh Posted March 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Thanks too all! I'll be attempting to get more information from him. Never new about the escrow. Link to post Share on other sites
Hissing_Sid Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 As far as I understand, problems arise with paypal when the seller sends you something. If they send you nothing then it's a con. No question. Money is refunded. I've heard of people paying money for expensive stuff and being sent cheap tat and Paypal are either unable or unwilling to assist the buyer with seeking justice. From what I've heard, Escrows are the way to go although I reckon credit cards are almost as good. I'm a paypal noob but if I figure out a way to refuel my paypal account from my visa card then I'll be happy enough. Link to post Share on other sites
Lidmh Posted March 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2005 I was on another forum and found out another person sent the seller money on Friday for the M249! Nice, huh. Anyways I feel bad for the other guy because he is probably gonna get screwed for the 600 bucks. At any rate thanks for the help. Link to post Share on other sites
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