Tell them your best friends call you Cash.

I wouldn't. Zelle and Venmo is payable via Credit card. This means; they can reverse the charges with their credit card company and you loose your game and they cash. Just not worth the risk in this day an age.
Cash is king.

If for some reason they can't do cash wouldn't a wire transfer be the next best thing?

PayPal owns Venmo so seller beware

Help me understand, why is PayPal bad? I have a buyer from out of state purchasing 2 machines from me that wants to use PayPal. He has good reviews on here, so I have some confidence, but would like to know the pitfalls.

Cash is king.. or wire transfer if you have time..

Fees on PayPal and buyer protection varies i think if its "friends and family". Id have the buyer send the money, wait for the transfer to your account and let the pins go. Fees are brutal so you may want to avoid a sale. BUT -could lead to issues if things go sideways.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-to-not-get-ripped-off-in-pinball-vids-guide

Check the key posts

Never seen a zelle transaction that states reversible.
I use it all the time.

Done many transactions with PayPal and Venmo no problem, just because someone wants to use a convenient payment method in 2021 doesn’t mean they are scamming you.

Paypal is not seller friendly at all. All those horror stories pinsiders have with sales i thought it couldn't be that bad. I sold a game and the buyer paid a deposit through paypal. The hoops i had to go through just to get the deposit was mindboggling. Paypal froze the money for a month even though buyer had the machine day one. I learned my lesson though. Cash or no sale at all.

This makes no sense, why would you give them the machine with only a deposit or the funds not clearing? Also doesn’t sound like anyone got scammed here .

Funds do clear, Paypal (or ebay) hold it for their own reasons. Generally it is with people who don't normally sell much. Had it happen to me on a high dollar item and they held my money hostage for almost a month. Really soured me on selling anything thru them. Guarantee if you told the buyer sorry, you can't have the item until paypal gives it to me, they'd probably walk after a few weeks. People are impatient.

Don’t do it. Cash in person only or bank wire and wait until it clears before giving them the game.

He can cancel the charge the moment he gets the games from you and you’ll have next to no chance to win the battle getting it back. Especially if it’s friends and family.

I’ve never seen Zelle reversed.
Maybe someone has had a different experience?

Friend just got burned for 1k venmo, on a pin. Cash only for me, as always

Answered your own question. When in doubt, bail out.

You guys are paranoid, deal with people who have positive feedback and talk to them on the phone.

Would be curious to hear this story

Ya. That makes em not a scammer

Zelle is basically a bank-wire transfer. It's literally done through a bank and goes directly to your bank account. It's not the same as Venmo or PayPal at all, and can't be reversed.

Zelle is safe, it's just new and people aren't familiar with it.

Good to know! Any pesky amount limits?

Nope, sorry. Both of those are too risky unless it's a close friend.

Bank to bank wire transfer or cash on the glass.

Not sure, I know there's a 1000 dollar limit initially. Until the sender has an est. history. You opt in to Zelle through your participating bank. Which nearly all are Zelle partners now.

I did just take a personal check for a game I just shipped. Told guy in Nevada if his bank had a branch in my town I'd go cash it there. Worked fine,

Here is a screen capture of a zelle transaction, prior to sending. Zelle is linked to my bank, not a Cc.
It's fuzzy (had to use laptop cam to take photo) but one can see it says cannot be canceled.

Untitled (resized).png

I’ve sold two pins long distance to two different Pinsiders, both paying by Zelle with daily limits. Just had to break it up over several days. Worked out fine as it gave me time to get the games packed up and palletized. But yes, Zelle works essentially the same as a wire. Google it.

zelle is 100% safe. It is basically a wire transfer from a checking or savings account. My zelle account can't and is NOT connected to a credit card as it goes through my bank.

I would write out a receipt stating what you are selling, who you are selling it to, price and payment method. Then have them sign it. And have pictures of it prior to leaving time stamped. This way you have some recourse if they try to stop payment. This is for paypal. I haven’t tried zelle yet. Or wait until they die or survive covid and then cash

Zelle is non-reversable, no issues there if you both have it setup. Honestly, I'm preferring that method if at all possible. Unless I plan to buy another pin quickly, cash is a hassle.

"There is no mechanism to reverse the transaction in Zelle — just like a wire transfer." HTH

Nothing risky about Zelle at all, it's a wire transfer that is automatic. Only hassle is it can have daily limits of $1000 - $3000 transfer at a time. Like a wire, it's non-reversable and tied to real funds in checking/savings...no credit cards. Let's give the guy accurate data and not based on feelings/assumptions.

To repeat what others have said, Zelle can't be reversed as it's tied to a bank account. They warn you as much everytime you send money with it that it can't be reversed. I've been using it for many years, never an issue. Zelle is great, I wouldn't touch any of the others.

So what recourse would a Buyer who paid by Zelle have, if item received is unacceptable?
I just don’t understand why anyone would buy or sell a pin in any way other than in person COG.

See if he can pay you on Tuesday

Nothing is safe in Paypal. Even when you follow the rules.
Just don't.

Tying Zelle to your live bank account is playing roulette. Your username can be socially engineered and your account drained with, like you say, no reversals. I'd never do it.

If it’s a friend, I have used PayPal. Only with someone you trust

Zelle very safe. Paypal can have a chargeback. I treat Zelle as good as cash for my business.

Odds are you'll bump up against their limits usually around $2,500 or so under either method, however, so I'd go with payment via zelle over a period of a week or two.

If you didn’t authorize the transaction and it was because of a hypothetical hack then you can dispute the transfer.

However for anyone saying Zelle can be reversed by someone that willingly authorized the transfer go ahead and try it. Zelle someone you know money then call the bank to have it reversed. They’ll tell you it’s not reversible and to get the money from the person you sent it to. The bank won’t play middle man.

Never said anyone got scammed. The buyer paid a deposit upfront and cash for the remaining balance. When i went to get the deposit from PayPal. It was a million reasons why they wouldnt lift the freeze on the money. Even had the buyer calling paypal to say they received the machine and what was going on. Paypal told buyer they still wouldn't give the money. Had to get a lawyer involved before they finally gave me my money.

zelle is fine with family but Wells Fargo tells me I lose their protection as Zelle is an outside vendor

The person comes by and checks the machine out. If they want it then they Zelle you on the spot, then leave with the machine. The main limitation is they need to add you as a recipient ahead of time because Zelle limits how much can be sent to a new recipient in one day so that would limit it for really expensive machines. Personally it's far better than cash because I'm simply not comfortable walking into random situations with a pile of cash in my pocket, but to each their own.

Not really. Zelle does a few things to prevent that, for one you get an alert from both the app and an email if a payee is added to your Zelle list giving you lots of time to stop it if that did happen. Of course the only way for that to happen is they would have to have hacked your bank account first because that's the only place you can add Zelle recipients, so if that has happened you are screwed regardless of Zelle. Secondly, they place a limit on how much money can be sent in a day to new recipients you add to your Zelle recipient list. Thirdly, then send an sms code to your phone the first time you send money to a new recipient to make sure it's you doing the sending. Fourthly, you don't add recipients via your username, you add them via email address or phone number so they don't get your account number, username or anything like that.

Seriously, Zelle is the best way to send money, it's how I pay most people now and even how I've paid my pinball distributer and how he has paid me when he has bought machines from me.

I think my concern was me buying and not getting a machine shipped in return.Not familiar as a seller .

What? Not true. My wife works for a bank (corporate not some teller) and Chase Pay/Quick Pay/Zelle, whatever you want to call it is always connected to your account by default, you don’t “tie” it to anything. Again, this isn’t like PayPal. It’s not a “third party” app or product, it’s an “intermediary” that is a service banks use for expedited ONE WAY transfers. You must sign in to your bank to use it, there is no Zelle login. It’s non-reversible and there is nothing risky about it, you either request payment from another person (or you send payment), just like a wire. Hating on “Zelle/QuickPay”, is like saying your scared a wire feature is tied to your bank account. I trust my wife’s banking experience over your ‘tin foil’ thoughts.

Fuck no, cash is King Brother.

PayPal is fine if the buyer has a good rep and is vetted. I’ve purchased over 60 pins from fellow Pinsiders using PayPal. Check my feedback and see if anyone has complained.