Two recent posts on scammers & remote sales:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/beware-of-this-fb-scammer
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/scammer-chris-giroux-aka-mike-shonevis
Two recent posts on scammers & remote sales:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/beware-of-this-fb-scammer
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/scammer-chris-giroux-aka-mike-shonevis
Quoted from gripwhip:Any thoughts on using Zelle? It is a peer to peer service banks are promoting for individuals to send money. It is similar to Venmo, but if both banks participate the money can arrive in minutes. There are some cap limits. I am not sure how disputes work. Chase has QuickPay now using Zelle. It looks like Zelle used to be clearXchange. Since this is going from checking to checking, it would seem like the chargeback issue would not be a factor. Thoughts?
NEVER EVER EVER EVER use Zelle. Zelle's business model is to use it like cash. They will NOT refund anything that is sent through Zelle. The problem nowadays is banks advertise they have a partnership with Zelle which doesn't mean anything. They will say (if there is a problem) we don't refund anything through Zelle, no matter what.
So I've been wondering about this exact topic. I haven't done a lot with shipping, but I've had 2 recent out of state buyer transactions that went well. Thankfully I'm still a little skeptical on how to sell games to an out of state buyer.
What I've been doing is making sure they have been verified in a pinball community setting. (Ebay, much positive feedback, if I can verify they are the same person, Pinside long-standing account, KLOV long standing account, well known in the community etc) then I'll "lower my standards" a bit (I will accept paypal, checks etc).
It's easy for me to figure out who is illegitimate or not, most of the time. Are you saying we shouldn't deal with ANYONE without an escrow service or cash sale, even they are a well respected member on this site? (for instance you, chris hibler, etc etc)
I'm asking seriously, because I am still freaked out by a pinball machine sale that isn't cash.
-Pat
Quoted from PinFixin:They will NOT refund anything that is sent through Zelle.
For this reason, I would say DO accept Zelle if you're the seller. Buyer has no more recourse than if they handed you cash. I guess they'd have to take you to court or something. I sold & shipped one game via Zelle, had no qualms about taking that form of payment, after researching how it works.
Quoted from yancy:For this reason, I would say DO accept Zelle if you're the seller. Buyer has no more recourse than if they handed you cash. I guess they'd have to take you to court or something. I sold & shipped one game via Zelle, had no qualms about taking that form of payment, after researching how it works.
+1, but I've ONLY done it to and from well known Pinsiders.
Pardon me, you are correct. If you are a buyer, I would say NEVER use Zelle, but if you are a seller then yes, there is absolutely no recourse for a buyer for anything.
Quoted from PinFixin:So I've been wondering about this exact topic. I haven't done a lot with shipping, but I've had 2 recent out of state buyer transactions that went well. Thankfully I'm still a little skeptical on how to sell games to an out of state buyer.
What I've been doing is making sure they have been verified in a pinball community setting. (Ebay, much positive feedback, if I can verify they are the same person, Pinside long-standing account, KLOV long standing account, well known in the community etc) then I'll "lower my standards" a bit (I will accept paypal, checks etc).
It's easy for me to figure out who is illegitimate or not, most of the time. Are you saying we shouldn't deal with ANYONE without an escrow service or cash sale, even they are a well respected member on this site? (for instance you, chris hibler, etc etc)
I'm asking seriously, because I am still freaked out by a pinball machine sale that isn't cash.
-Pat
I have answered this question by reading through the posts, and after reading the entire thread I have come to the conclusion:
I can sell a pinball machine any way I want, however some ways are more prone to scammers than others. I sold my Bug's Bunny to Bob Burnham. He wanted to leave a paypal deposit, use paypal when picking up the game, and send one of his "employees" down to meet me halfway upon delivery. I thought it was very sketchy, until I researched who Bob Burnham was. I even sent a PM to Gexchange that was never replied to. Bob owns an arcade up in Wyoming, and has been interviewed by Replay magazine. I spoke to him over the phone, even verified his voice with an online interview he did (ya a bit stalkerish, but what the hell these scams are everywhere). After that I had no problem accepting paypal from the guy. Does this go against a lot of what Vid said? Yes. Do I feel completely confident I did not get scammed? Yes. Will I ever use these terms again? Hopefully yes, if I feel that comfortable. But I don't think it will happen much. Sell your pinball machine the way you want to, not the way the buyer does. Any request from anyone as a buyer to change the terms of how I want to sell it, bye bye buyer, I'm moving along and selling to someone else.
Use your common sense. If you are unsure ask questions. So many pinheads are so scared of scams (me included) they put stupid things in their for sale posts! It's hilarious. While Vid sounds like he lives in a popular pinball area (Central NM isn't as much, but Phoenix AZ is somewhat close by), so while he get 10-12 calls a day, I would get 1-2 a week, if I'm real lucky. So, don't let your enthusiasm have you make poor decisions because you want to sell your game quickly, be smart about it.
vid1900 Thank you so much for this post. This is the best pinside reading I have done, ever.
I’ve been paid for my last two machines via wire transfer. Also good as cash. Not reversible. I did escrow once. It’s a pita.
A reminder to always count the cash during a transaction:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/i-was-handed-a-nice-thick-envelope
Quoted from PinFixin:What I've been doing is making sure they have been verified in a pinball community setting.
If someone hacked my account, they could rip you off, even if the entire community said I was legit.
All the latest AI ransom scams call with a voice so convincing, that even a mother thinks it's her own daughter .
Is it me, or just an AI doing a deep Eastern European accent voice?
I know saving $200 in escrow fees seems good, but the devil is getting smarter all the time
Quoted from vid1900:If someone hacked my account, they could rip you off, even if the entire community said I was legit.
All the latest AI ransom scams call with a voice so convincing, that even a mother thinks it's her own daughter .
Is it me, or just an AI doing a deep Eastern European accent voice?
I know saving $200 in escrow fees seems good, but the devil is getting smarter all the time
We were alerted to a scammer a few days ago who signed up for a new account and start spamming people with links that lead to a website that appeared to be a clone of the Pinside login page. So, if you submitted your username & password on that page, you would've handed your login info directly to the scammer.
However, there is an authentication method in place for logging into Pinside, so that's another roadblock for the scammer.
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/how-to-not-get-ripped-off-in-pinball-vids-guide/page/9 and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.