Text Paypal Email

[alewom_75]

I have a buyer who made an offer on one of my auction items. He asked me to text him my Paypal email with my offer and he'd paypal me on the side instead of through ebay. I'm a little wary about doing it outside of ebay. Any advice?

[krazzykats]

Don't do it!

[a_c_green]

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@alewom_75 wrote:

Any advice?

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Stop responding. It's an old scam. You will get a fake payment notification directing you to ship, but no money will actually appear in your account.

[eburtonlab]

A message that says "I am interested in your item, kindly text me" is generally the start of a scam where the scammer winds up sending a phony PayPal email that makes it look like the seller has received a payment when none has actually been received. Scammers like to target new sellers, particularly those selling expensive items.

Similarly, any potential buyer that wants to pay more than your buy-it-now price or asks you to purchase a gift card for any reason is trying to scam you. eBay has no way for a seller to add the extra cost to the transaction, so that should tell you that the buyer has no intention of paying you through eBay (or at all).

Sending contact information (text or email) prior to a transaction is a violation of eBay policy; this policy is designed to protect honest buyers and sellers from this sort of thing, and to prevent off-eBay sales.

Ignore anyone that wants to communicate outside of eBay prior to a transaction payment. eBay will likely close the scammer's account eventually; unfortunately the scammer will simply open another account and continue sending such messages.

As a seller you should always check your PayPal account directly (not following a link in an email) to see if you have actually been paid prior to shipping. If an actual buyer does not send an actual payment, file an unpaid item dispute and go through that process to get your fees back and to give the "buyer" a strike -- and set your buying requirement to reject bids from users with two or more strikes.

You can avoid many common scams by listing your items at a fixed price with immediate payment required and by not accepting offers. If you do receive an offer that you are willing to accept, lower your buy it now price to the offer level. If you do that, the only way the transaction can proceed is if a buyer completes checkout and pays.

[eburtonlab]

A message that says "I am interested in your item, kindly text me" is generally the start of a scam where the scammer winds up sending a phony PayPal email that makes it look like the seller has received a payment when none has actually been received. Scammers like to target new sellers, particularly those selling expensive items.

Similarly, any potential buyer that wants to pay more than your buy-it-now price or asks you to purchase a gift card for any reason is trying to scam you. eBay has no way for a seller to add the extra cost to the transaction, so that should tell you that the buyer has no intention of paying you through eBay (or at all).

Sending contact information (text or email) prior to a transaction is a violation of eBay policy; this policy is designed to protect honest buyers and sellers from this sort of thing, and to prevent off-eBay sales.

Ignore anyone that wants to communicate outside of eBay prior to a transaction payment. eBay will likely close the scammer's account eventually; unfortunately the scammer will simply open another account and continue sending such messages.

As a seller you should always check your PayPal account directly (not following a link in an email) to see if you have actually been paid prior to shipping. If an actual buyer does not send an actual payment, file an unpaid item dispute and go through that process to get your fees back and to give the "buyer" a strike -- and set your buying requirement to reject bids from users with two or more strikes.

You can avoid many common scams by listing your items at a fixed price with immediate payment required and by not accepting offers. If you do receive an offer that you are willing to accept, lower your buy it now price to the offer level. If you do that, the only way the transaction can proceed is if a buyer completes checkout and pays.

[eburtonlab]

A message that says "I am interested in your item, kindly text me" is generally the start of a scam where the scammer winds up sending a phony PayPal email that makes it look like the seller has received a payment when none has actually been received. Scammers like to target new sellers, particularly those selling expensive items.

Similarly, any potential buyer that wants to pay more than your buy-it-now price or asks you to purchase a gift card for any reason is trying to scam you. eBay has no way for a seller to add the extra cost to the transaction, so that should tell you that the buyer has no intention of paying you through eBay (or at all).

Sending contact information (text or email) prior to a transaction is a violation of eBay policy; this policy is designed to protect honest buyers and sellers from this sort of thing, and to prevent off-eBay sales.

Ignore anyone that wants to communicate outside of eBay prior to a transaction payment. eBay will likely close the scammer's account eventually; unfortunately the scammer will simply open another account and continue sending such messages.

As a seller you should always check your PayPal account directly (not following a link in an email) to see if you have actually been paid prior to shipping. If an actual buyer does not send an actual payment, file an unpaid item dispute and go through that process to get your fees back and to give the "buyer" a strike -- and set your buying requirement to reject bids from users with two or more strikes.

You can avoid many common scams by listing your items at a fixed price with immediate payment required and by not accepting offers. If you do receive an offer that you are willing to accept, lower your buy it now price to the offer level. If you do that, the only way the transaction can proceed is if a buyer completes checkout and pays.

[vintage-car-magazines]

It's a scam not to mention against eBay policy. Ignore it unless you want to be ripped off and get a policy violation in the process.

[gracieallen01]

It is a scam.  Search the forum and you will find many, many instances of said practice - you needn't take our word for it.  Ignore and block.  You will lose more than just your item.

[luckythewinner]

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@alewom_75 wrote:

I have a buyer who made an offer on one of my auction items. He asked me to text him my Paypal email with my offer and he'd paypal me on the side instead of through ebay. I'm a little wary about doing it outside of ebay. Any advice?

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My advice? Don't risk your account by taking PayPal on the side. 

First because it violates eBay policy.

Second because this "buyer" has no intention of paying you. He just wants to send you a fake notification to make it LOOK like you got PayPal on the side.