Craigslist Buyer wants to ship money first?

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 Jul 2013 Posts: 2

Well.. Okay, i'm kinda skeptical about this one. I put up a ad about my Daughter's old Brey Horses that she used to play with and now I got a email from some mother(I hope) who wants to buy them from me. But she would like to ship me money through the mail first to cover any shippings and just without one item that I included. The email went like this. "Hi! I would love to get your Breyers for my daughter... she is horse crazy, and her birthday is August 16 Smile

Would you accept an offer of $65 total for purchase/postage for everything except the barn?
I can send cash before you ship.
Thank you so much!!" And she even sent her name and Phone number and Address for all the shipping and etc. Then I sent her a message regarding the situation of shipping stuff over craigslist. SHe then replied back to me and this is how it went. "Thanks for getting back to me.
I totally understand about being wary... so I would feel comfortable sending the $65 to you, and when you receive, you can ship them out.

If that works for you, please send your address and I will send the cash... hopefully in today's mail.
Thank you so much!".... I don't know what to think. Help?[/b]

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 Jul 2013 Posts: 2

I yet again got another reply to my horses, i'm getting a bit worried and I don't know what to think. This is what the email said regarding my items that were $50 for everything I had to offer but this lady doesn't want the barn. Hmm.. "Hello,

I saw your Craigslist listing for the Breyer horses, and I would absolutely LOVE to buy your Breyers (you have a couple I have been looking for forever)! Unfortunately, I moved recently and would need to have them shipped. If you would please, please be open to shipping the horses, I can send you payment via PayPal for both the $50 + what you estimate shipping will be. That is the most secure option for all parties, and I've had to use it numerous times to sell some of my unwanted Breyers. If you don't have a PayPal account, I would be willing to send a Money Order.

I don't need the barn - already have one! -, so I am willing to pay the asking price for everything - $50 - and let you keep the barn to sell to someone else. If you are interested, please let me know. I would very much like to purchase the horses from you.

Sincerely,
Rachel Chaney" Well..? I don't know what's up.
Sad

Baiting Guru Joined: 27 Mar 2011 Posts: 21155

The PayPal could possibly be legit but I would not count on it. PayPal is a favorite of scammers because they can produce a rather real looking slip for you but will claim that PP holds the money until the goods are shipped.

The other is a typical overpayment type of scam. He will send you a fake check and want you to pay the extra to his shipper by western union. Not only are you out for the fake check when your bank finds it but the money is gone also.

Be very careful with who and how you deal with people.

Elite Baiter Joined: 10 Mar 2013 Posts: 1482

I don't know how Craigslist works but if it lets the other guy know any personal info about you then don't bait. My suggestion would be to wait for a bit and see if you find someone less suspicious or willing to pay up front.

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 1:32 am

It's easy to get a bit paranoid with all of the scams centered around craigslist.

I'm going to have to disagree here on the overpayment/fake check assessment. At this point there is no reason to believe that either scenario is a certain scam. In fact, there are more indicators suggesting that both are in fact legit.

You have to keep in mind the actual items. If this was some kind of regular household goods, the long-distance approaches would be huge red flags, but when it comes to collectible items, collectors will cast a significantly wider net to find what they are looking for.

-The first one has offered cash, not a check. Check scammers typically state up front that they are sending a check, certified check, or money order.
-The second offered a money order in lieu of paypal. Again, paypal scammers are pretty predictable, and they will want paypal only.
-The English is NOT consistent with an African or FSU scammer.
-It is highly unusual for a scammer to actually make a request for only specific items (i.e. wanting the horses and not the barn.) Half the time, they can't even be bothered to list the name of the item itself.
-It is plausible that collectors would be after the horses and not the barn, as they would likely have the barn already if they have a collection.

I would say it is more likely that you have undervalued the horses, or you have one or more horses in the collection that is rare enough to attract some collector attention.

I'm not saying that you should pack up the horses and ship them right now, but either offer is worthy of careful follow-up. If I were you, I'd also do a bit of searching to find the current value of those horses to see if you are underselling them tremendously (though keep in mind that if your daughter played with the horses, the value will be significantly reduced compared to the mint/new horses that are often traded on collector sites)

Master Baiter Joined: 21 Jun 2013 Posts: 143

Try asking for a phone number that can but not necessarily help eliminate some of the scammers.

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