Western Union trustworthy?

[Evelien]

I'm trying to sell my J-Doll on ebay and I'm having a hard time getting rid of her to be honest... just relisted her. (Don't want to sell her too cheap because she's brand new, but I think people still think she's too expensive.)

I'm accepting PayPal or bank transfer. Now, someone has contacted me saying they can only buy the doll if I'll accept Western Union. I have no idea how Western Union works and I've heard of people scamming others using it... is it trustworthy..? I'm just so unsure about this. Hope someone has some good experience to share..

[DollyKim]

It's not Western Union it's self but the people sending the money, and I think there's fees attached. Chances are it's a fraud and they want to send you a WU for way over the price and have you sent back the extra money. It's one of the things they warn you about on Craig's List.

I only take Pay Pal for the very reason it's much more fraud proof. Not only do they go after people who don't pay but if you have the account with a major credit or debit card they will protect you too. I've had a non payer, with a duh excuse, and as soon as I lodged a complaint against her for non payment she got her act together. When my card for that account got skimmed they helped me shut things down before trouble happened. I had someone double bill me and got that straitened out too.

[SetsunaKou]

Chances are it's a fraud and they want to send you a WU for way over the price and have you sent back the extra money. It's one of the things they warn you about on Craig's List.

Wow, really?!?! I never knew that! I actually never send WU, but I do accept it when the buyer can't use anything else, though I try to encourage them to join Paypal and use that! (It's even free for them! (Usually though, they still use WU from another country that doesn't have/use Paypal much.) I've never had a problem receiving payments, thank goodness, and I've received it dozens of times. But maybe I've just been really lucky?

I try to avoid it if possible, because getting to my local WU Office is such a hassle, but for some buyers, it's their only way of paying, so I have to accept it.

[Evelien]

Hmm. Knowing this, I'd really rather wait or lower my price than accepting WU. If WU is their only way of paying, perhaps I shouldn't send my doll there - or do I sound like an elitist brat now..? I don't know, I'd rather not take any risk..

P.S.: What do they gain from paying too much and then asking money back..?

[AlmySidaKay]

A lot of times it was a fake or stolen, so they never paid that much to begin with and then just get all that extra from you, plus your item.

[Evelien]

Hmm. I don't get it though. Is a WU payment faked that easily..?

[DollyKim]

One way they scam is to get unsuspecting or stupid people in the US, or other countries, to be their mailing address to pass stolen or fraudulent payments and items through but the scammers come from other countries. In the US there are plenty of TV court show cases of people who have been caught up in this and found themselves losing the item they were selling, the money in the payment, and any bank fees charged when their checks bounce because their bank has taken the money back and so forth.

There can be legitimate Western Union users out there but there may be someone else willing to pay the price you want with Pay Pal.

The grandaddy of turning the tables on a scammer is the PPPowerbook http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/

[Gift_in_Edge]

When my mom and I were trying to get my sister's apartment leased we got so much scram email. "My ex-wife's cousin's twice removed grandmother's bird from Africa wants to rent your apartment when they moved to go to XYZ school. I'll send you a check. You cash it and send back the remaining money. Blah blah blah...." What, do they not have banks in Africa now. It was hell getting rid of that apartment. XC

[Wardah]

It wouldn't be that bad to accept WU if you were selling her on a forum that has a feedback section but on ebay there is no way to know if that person is trustworthy. Maybe you can see if anyone wants to buy her on Dolly Market.

[Evelien]

I'm a bit torn. She's got 100% positive feedback. A little over 50 super positive messages from different sellers, recommending her for her fast payment and for being one of the friendliest eBayers they've seen. Blah..