Have the person text you their picture plus a legible picture of their ID.

I use PayPal all the time as a buyer and a seller and have never had a problem. Some people will tell you different though. I think it’s really good but not bullet-proof.

I dont think theres a 100% safe way to use paypal. What if does a chargeback after getting the Pin?

No,
I would go through an escrow service and split the fees with the buyer.
www.escrow.com

Read Vid's Guide How to Not get Ripped Off in Pinball

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

Typically Paypal will side with the buyer if there is any kind of dispute.

Is your buyer a pinsider?

I have use escrow before with great success.
Cheers!

I don't know if their is any absolute safe transaction outside of cash.

Yes, there is. Read my post above

Are you in a rush to sell? If not, just wait for a local buyer. Why deal take the risk on a deal like that? IMO cash the only way to go. Good luck!

Paypal does not place a hold on funds received from friends & family. If he sends the payment by F&F he has no recourse against you if he's not satisfied. You can withdraw the funds as soon as you ship.

Friends & Family = a gift without buyer protection
Good & Services with an invoice = 180 days buyer protection (if not satisfied)

Is he on Pinside? I did this once with a guy and i found out who we was on pinside. I reached out to a couple other long-term pinside members that knew him and they vouched for his character. That put me more at ease. If he is into pins and looking around the web across the country to buy, he's got to be on here. Have him give you some character references.

Escrow!!!

I had the exact same dilemma yesterday. Had a BF for sale in the marketplace, and had a few local buyers, a few remote interests, but one VERY persistent Pinsider across the country saying he'd pay full price and would ship (where I do nothing, they wrap and ship with legs on).

I've seen enough horror stories on here with chargebacks, shipping damage, insurance nonsense...etc. I waited a few extra days until I had a local person want to see it last night. During that time the distant Pinsider also responded to my CL post, which was $100 higher and even agreed to that price.

End of story - the local guy saw it, played it, fell in love with it, and paid full Pinside price on the spot. We loaded it up, and I met someone new and made a friend for potential future transactions. No BS, no chargebacks, buyer got to play the game, look everything over, and even talk pinball for an hour. It's just a better way to do things IMO, especially for common games.

Price your game right, and it will sell locally.

Having worked at a major bank for 30 years, there are times when cash is not actually safe. I have seen a lot of counterfeit currency over the years people have tried to deposit after selling items. Not sure how prevalent it is now after the anti-counterfeiting measures added to the bills.

OMG, why did you open this can of worms? Pinside members are now going to argue that cash on the glass isn't the best way to sell a machine.

Can't wait to see what alternative we collectively agree on.

C’mon man get with the millennium, Bitcoin.

Ain't nobody using no GD escrow service for a CL deal, I'm sorry.

In 16 years buying pins I've never had anybody suggest it either.

I did try and buy this pin as the name looked like I had seen it before. My offer was not enough. I hope it works out.

Paypal friends and family should be plenty of protection. I use it all the time as a buyer and seller.

I put a pin on CL recently. The first two to contact me were scammers. They wanted to send a check. I told them a check would take a few weeks to clear. They tried to argue otherwise. I offered to pay the fees for an escrow service. They declined. And a lot of their texts were in broken English. Be very careful!!

It played out just like Vid said. Lol

There is no safe way to use paypal. He could simply issue a chargeback through his credit card company and Paypal will have no choice but to pull the funds back from you. Ask me how I know.

He could do a chargeback if the funding source is a credit card.

Correct.
However, In this case even if that happens the seller received a "gift" from the buyer. Eventually paypal would side with the seller because the buyer bypassed the goods & services protection choice. In addition, if the seller removes the funds from the account before any claim, paypal has nothing to withdraw for the dispute. Assuming of course the seller doesn't have a bank account attached to the paypal account.

It's far from a foolproof method of conducting a transaction. That's why it's not recommended.

I have used both methods with reputable longterm Pinside members without any problems, but I see your point.

Never had a problem with this, nor have I ever heard of a problem with others who buy & sell with cash. Just carry a counterfeit money detection pen. While the pen won't catch every type of counterfeit bill, it still helps, in addition to looking for the watermark in the bill, and any other security measures ebedded in the bill, depending on its age. (Heck, just recently, I ended up with a $100 bill from the 70s--haven't seen one of those in a while)

You are wrong about that. They will charge it to your paypal account, sending into the negative. If you do not bring your balance to zero, they will eventually send you to collections. Happened to me before.

That's the key right there--reputable members. You probably won't have problems with someone who has a good reputation here, and has people who can vouch for them.

However, a random stranger on craigslist half way across the country? That could be anybody.

Was it with a gifted transaction?

from the paypal website....

“gift” or “personal” payments are intended as transfer of funds from family or friends to one another. For this reason, there is no processing fee when payment is made with bank or PayPal balance. On the other hand, as it is a “personal” payment, there is no Buyer or Seller Protection Policy, as no goods or services have been exchanged.

I don't think a gift can ever be charged back from paypall, I just called paypall and they said that the credit card co would need prof that it was a fraudulent charge on there credit card. and you have proof that it wasn't "delivery receipt" .then they would not get there money back.

Ass on the glass.

Maybe. But if the buyer does a chargeback and tells the CC company that they never received the machine, or that you sent a box of rocks or the equivalent, then it's back to you to prove they're wrong, which could be tricky. Especially with CC company and Paypal that aren't too interested in investigating these things. Meanwhile your money is frozen (or PayPal drops your account to negative and takes you to collections, if you've already withdrawn the money). And you might not win in the end anyway. The point is that "Friends and Family" is not risk-free for the seller, and people should be aware of that before they use it.

again... from the Paypal website:

"As there is no PayPal Buyer Protection on personal payment (friends and family) a dispute for non receipt of an item or a dispute for an item significantly not as described cannot be opened. However It is possible to open a claim for an unauthorized transaction."

So while a "gift" from a guy across the country cannot open a protection dispute, he can open a stolen CC claim after the transaction. His CC will contact Paypal and they will retrieve the "gift" funds. The seller is at risk because he can't use delivery receipts as proof of a transaction because Paypal doesn't see this as a sales transaction. Lying about the stolen CC is the only way a "gift" could be disputed.

This is what i was saying. Get payment via friends and family and have him setup shipping. done deal.

The PayPal terms of service would bar you from making a claim to retrieve Friends and Family payments through Paypal unless you claim it was an unauthorized transaction (i.e. someone hacked your PayPal account). But that does not stop you from doing a chargeback through your credit card company, which has its own policies on chargebacks that having nothing to do with PayPal's policies, and can be based on failure to deliver in promised condition, etc., and not just on unauthorized charges. And when a credit card chargeback is made against PayPal on your account, PayPal will absolutely take the money back, regardless of the fact that it was a Friends and Family payment.

This problem's been discussed at length on Pinside (check out Vid1900s thread on payment scams for horror stories). Point being, it's not as bulletproof from the seller's perspective as you would think upon reading PayPal's policies.

If you, as a seller want absolute protection, bank wire is the best way to go. There will be fees for the buyer; I'm sure about the seller. Whether you can get your buyer to agree to this depends on how hot the pin is.

Depends on the amount....And I've thought about the same type of thing.....Like others have said, Using an escrow service seems to be the safest Idea, to me. I won't use paypal, for something like a pin unless I really know the person.

Not sure how often it actually happens or the details on how....But I had a friend sell a Rolex using paypal, somehow the person pulled the money back. He was out, the watch, the money, and was sent to collections since it the put his account in the negative. I don't believe he has used paypal since. Again, not sure of the details of how it happened or how often it happens.

Hey now

Just don’t do it, it’s that simple. Find a buyer, he hands you cash and takes the game home. Simple as that.

lol, sorry random guy.

have him wire the money into your checking account, or have him send a cashiers check and send pin when the check clears.

Why not bank transfer? Or USPS money order and wait for it to clear your bank.

Edit: ya beat me to it^^^^

The anonymous nature of craigslist is good for soliciting hookers or buying drugs.

I check someone's Yelp reviews before buying or selling to them.

I sold a classic bike like this the buyer and I talked over the phone a bunch your real I'm real. I really have the bike he really wanted it. I wanted cash he wanted to do all sorts of other methods of payment. In the end he did a Wal-Mart to Walmart money gram. It cost him a little extra I got my cash and he arranged shipping and he got his bike.

F2ADC819-89DE-4BA8-AE61-CE34053524A6 (resized).jpeg

As a lawyer I’ll give you the ultimate and best tip (which you may ignore but I’ll give it anyway)...

Read the PayPal terms and conditions. Why am I suggesting this? Because when the deal goes south that is the only thing that counts. You’ll be reading them and wondering why you took the advice of random pinsiders.

I’m not being sarcastic in any way. Read the terms.

Don’t feel like reading them? Don’t use PayPal for this. Trust me.

How is it remotely logical that PayPal would let you keep a “gift” just because you proved you had a delivery receipt. It was a gift you shouldn’t have been shipping anything. Think about this...

Again - everyone here should read PayPal’s terms. I wouldn’t trust a thing the employee says because that won’t help you when you are out a few thousand.

Good for you dude! I guess you know it all then!
Ain't nobody got time fodat!
I have used it many times. And people are not going to suggest it if they haven't heard of it!
maxresdefault (resized).jpg

I know he can go to Walmart and wire you the money. you just go to any Walmart, give them the password and they will hand you the cash. Not sure what limit is though. I just picked up $1500 from a friend across country.