PayPal friends and family

General
1

Hey, I want to by quite a few expensive cards off this guy (few thousand dollars yikes) but he says he can only do friends and family because he has been screwed before by people who pay him then never say they got it and then he is out the money and the item. Would you ever send a stranger through friends and family on PayPal? Would I be protected at all in this situation? Thank you!

2

If you have never dealt with this person before, and itā€™s thousands of dollars, youā€™d be extremely foolish to send via friends ad family.

8 Likes
3

Whoā€™s the seller? It all depends on that.

1 Like
4

If youā€™re an unknown and Iā€™m the ā€œkingā€ you could trust me but I couldnā€™t trust you. The deal would be handled accordingly.

5

Yep my thoughts exactly, I thought it sounded foolish, didnā€™t know if there was any hidden protection I had though if not then forget it Iā€™m definitely not doing it.

6

I see only three things going on here:

  1. Seller is super cheap, trying to save on fees and was so cheap in the past that the seller sent item via letter mail with no tracking and then the items got lost or buyers took the opportunity since the seller wouldnā€™t even spend a couple dollars to put tracking on the cards.

  2. Seller is trying to scam the crap out of you.

  3. Seller is being cheap and wants to save on the fees at the cost of putting more risk on you.

I would NEVER send that much money through friends and family on paypal, no way in hell in the thousands. If it was someone trusted in the community, I might be more inclined but a total stranger? No way, even as a seller if I would sell thousands of dollars worth of product I would understand if the buyer would be uncomfortable using friends and family.

7

Thanks yeah I would only do it if it has protection but sounds like a no. If I paid friends and family but used my credit card to pay does my credit card company protect me in any way I wonder?

8

That sounds alarmingly similar to a user I dealt with on reddit a few months back. I even offered to use a middleman & cover the fees, but he was adamant about F&F. Needless to say, I called off the deal.

9

I would say he is flat out lying, if he is selling thousands of dollars worth of cards without insurance or tracking and then someone claims they didnā€™t get it what does he expect? A tracking number would automatically remedy that situation. Whoever this is, I would not trust them especially with a f&f payment.

1 Like
10

Iā€™ve had this once before. I ended up using a middleman whom I trusted, and got a great deal. If you know someone in their area thatā€™s willing to meet up with the person and verify the items, collect the items for you, and pay them (after you send your middleman payment). Otherwise donā€™t do it, but there are massive deals to be had from people that donā€™t trust Paypal.

11

Never ever send money through friends and family unless itā€˜s someone you know (like long term members on e4).

I have very bad experiences!

1 Like
12

That seller story is sketch as he or she could easily remedy the solution via tracking/signature delivery etc. I would not go through with that!

1 Like
13

The first time I ever bought anything over the internet via f/f was only a few months ago and was over 1000ā€¦ lucky it was @garyis2000 and everything worked out lol.

4 Likes
14

Donā€™t walkā€¦ run. $3000 through f&f heā€™s either a con artist or a fool.

1 Like
15

One thing to mention:
IF you pay friends and family use a credit card and not paypal balance. I got screwed once but luckily I used my credit card through paypal and the credit card company got mymoney back from PayPal in no time :wink:

1 Like
16

Lolā€¦and Iā€™d do f/f with you anytime too brother:)

1 Like