any risk at all in recieving payment via international wire

any risk at all in recieving payment via international wire

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hedgefinder

Original Poster:

3,418 posts

171 months

Saturday 22nd October 2016
quotequote all
Previously I have bought a lot of items and vehicles from all over the world and virtually always used wire transfer as a method of payment.
Never saw it as a problem and always thought it the safest way to do things.

But in light of the huge ammount of scams on the go my latest sale of a reasonably high priced ebay item has me feeling a little nervous.
Initially the guy bid on my item and I noticed he was in the USA, so I contacted him to make sure he was aware of my location and that I did not accept paypal, only cash or wire transfer. He replied asking if I would ship to the middle east.
I then cancelled his bids.
The next day he bid again and sent me a message stating that shipment to his home address in the USA that was on his ebay account would be fine and he had only asked as the item would be going over to his other home in the middle east anyway - and he would be happy to pay by wire transfer if I required.
In the end he won the auction and then messaged me asking for a total for paypal!
I reminded him that I had already told him payment was by wire transfer only.
His next reply said that wire transfer would be no porblem if thats what I wanted, but would I be able to ship to a different Address in the USA as he was about to move home later next week..........

All sounds a little suspect but his current address as registered with ebay checks out with someone of his name living there.
The question is - if he pays by wire transfer is there anyway I could be being scammed even after the bank tell me I have cleared funds - fraudulent/ reversed payment ect??
I am possibly being overly cautious, but I hear of new scams almost everyday.......

hedgefinder

Original Poster:

3,418 posts

171 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
funkyrobot said:
If you need to ask ....
the question is if payment is made by bank transfer how can you be scammed...
anyone know of a scam such as this?
If it were payment by paypal it would be obvious,
but its not, and he isnt really coming across as the usual scammer type and may be genuine,
so yes, I do have to ask really..

hedgefinder

Original Poster:

3,418 posts

171 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
its rare vintage car parts by the way, so not something I would think would interest a scammer

hedgefinder

Original Poster:

3,418 posts

171 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
quotequote all
it all appears ligit,
did a search on his name and it comes up with the address given on his ebay account.
His ebay account also tallies with his name and a previous ebay account in the same name from several years ago.
As long as the funds transfer comes from someone with the same name it all seems ok.
Also would be being sent to the USA address.

Less happy that ebay is charging me VAT on their sellers fees which I wasnt expecting.

hedgefinder

Original Poster:

3,418 posts

171 months

Monday 24th October 2016
quotequote all
hmm, do none of the courier companies offer a service which only allows release of the package at the other end on producing verified identification?

spoke to Natwest this morning and they stated that the funds could not be reclaimed once cleared into my account.
IF however it was later proven to be a fraudulent transaction of "illegal funds" they would cover my loss? - this bit was a little hazy...

Edited by hedgefinder on Monday 24th October 10:36