purchasing items from people on the internet safely

[Midwest Performance]

What is the safest way to purchace something from someone you don't know from the internet? :hmm: For example if I was to purchase something from the For Sale catagory on this forum.
How should a transaction like this be done. With this day and age scams are popping up everywhere.


Kevin

[Ralph LoGrasso]

I usually use a postal money order, and make sure that the person seems legit. I've never had to do it, but I've been told that if the person were to scam you since it's a postal money order, the postal service will get involved?

I would also keep a record of any emails or exchange of info that occurs during the transaction. I don't buy that many things online, so I'm probably not the best source of info, but that's how I generally handle it.

[nancejd]

You can also ask people to send you a PM about particular individuals on this site. People with high post counts have been around for a while, and a lot of us have met each other over the years. Personally, I'm iffy on someone who is selling something and it is their first post here. At some point, if you buy stuff over the net, you have to be willing to risk the money that you are spending. Most people are honest, especially around here, but you just never know.

[dennis68]

I like the telephone. If they won't talk to you or give any of their personal info (phone number, address, etc..) be very careful.

[gmachinz]

I agree with Dennis. If somebody who has something to sell isn't willing to give out a phone number for questions, then I would not buy from him/her. -Jabin

[Matt]

Here are a few ninja tricks.
1. any e-mail keeps the persons IP address in the header, though this is not usually in the default view, it is easily enabled.
example
From: [email protected]
Subject: ADC News #434
Date: February 19, 2005 4:28:34 AM CST
To: [email protected]
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Envelope-To: [email protected]
Delivery-Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 22:29:50 -0600
Received: from [17.254.6.6] (helo=chatbox-smtp-out1.apple.com) by hidefwebdevelopment.servermatrix.com with esmtps (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256) (Exim 4.43) id 1D2MFa-0003s0-M6 for [email protected]; Fri, 18 Feb 2005 22:29:50 -0600
Received: from napoli.apple.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by chatbox-smtp-out1.apple.com (8.12.11/8.12.2) with SMTP id j1J4C2pc000181 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 19 Feb 2005 04:28:34 GMT
Message-Id: <xxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: xxxxxxxxx;
charset="ISO-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Mime-Version: 1.0
X-Mailer: MIME::xxxxxxxxx
X-Broadcast-Id: xxxxx
X-Sent-To: xxxxxxxxxx

if you look on the 5th or whatever line you can see the IP it comes from. Check that against this link http://www.geobytes.com/IpLocator.htm?GetLocation and you can see if people are in fact where they say they are from.

2. If you are dealing with a small ticket item use a service like paypal (they have consumer protection services), or if it's a big ticket item use an escrow service. There are plenty on the net, but some are just as shady as the people that may rip you off, so ask your bank for a suggestion.

3. There is a difference between a cleared check, and the transfer of funds. Ask your bank to expedite the transfer of funds, or at least notify you when it does happen. This is how people get screwed in the scams where they send you X and you sent them back a portion of X.

4. People are often too shortsighted to invest months of posts into ripping someone off. If someone has a longer track record on a forum they are more apt to be legit.

...I've sold transmissions, wheels and the like, and I've never had a bad experience, but I've always been cautious.

-Matt

[TPI Monte SS]

Since this forum is worldwide, you could also ask and see if another member close enough to the parts/cars you're interested in would be able to check it out and make sure it's legit.

[my72vette454]

I sent some money to a guy in minnesota for car parts and he would never send them, he always had some excuse, ie Ill get them sent next week....they are going out next monday and so on. After a few months he quit answering my e mails, it pissed me off but it was only 150 dollars and he lived half way across the country from me. I let it go for awhile but my temper finally got the best of me, after all the parts were for my son's car that we are building for him. I came up with a phone number and started calling him but no answer so one night I waited till 11 pm his time and called about 15 times in a row. The wife finally answered, she was mad....lol. I explained what was going on and she said she would have him call me. He did! I was shocked, but he still never would send the parts. I called the local police and found out he has that reputation. I decided that since I have never been to minnesota that it was time for a road trip! Well after a 4 day 2700 mile round trip I got the parts, was it worth it? O yeah, just seeing the look on his face when I showed up on his doorstep was priceless! And now I can say I been to minnesota too.

Mike in Idaho

[Martin71RS]

:1st: Mike, that's what I call class!!


I have bought loads of parts from the internet... I usually ask the persons full name and address +phone number for big transactions.
(even bigger risk for me since I don't live in the states)

Easy to make a call and see if they are real...other things can be checked on the internet too.....

I have found out that there are a lot of honest people around!

but allways be aware... if it sounds too good to be true it usually is.....

[Midwest Performance]

I have the name and address of the person no phone # yet but will get. Would it be out of line to ask for a picture or scan of a photo ID like a drivers license? I would at least have a way of tracking them through the DMV if I get screwed.
I think the person is O.K. The things that make me uneazy are that his e-mail is a hotmail account. When I do a people search it says it's a unlisted # and he only has a 6 post count on this board. So if he is a regular here he has a new name or just view threads.


Kevin

[my72vette454]

I just have a hotmail account, I tried using outlook express and having an account with our local isp and I get so much spam I decided to forget it and just use hotmail. I talked to the internet provider and they have this "good" spam filter for an extra .50 a month so I had them activate it....3 days later I had 300 messages in my inbox again. With hotmail I dont get anything, I like it!

[smittys69]

If you asked me for a photo of my drivers license or anything that had information on it that could be used against me (i.e. DL number, SS number, etc), I would not send it to you. Again, people can take this info and do alot of things with it. Like one member stated, Paypal is pretty good if you have an issue to resolve.

[parsonsj]

Here's a story for you:

I bought a Callies LS1 crank from a fellow calling himself Aldo Rodriguez from Houston. We exchanged PMs, emails, and phone calls. It seemed a good deal, was what I wanted, but there was just a flicker of doubt. Not sure why, but it was there.

I paid via PayPal, and opted for their money-back guarantee. The crank arrived, but was unsuitable for use. It turns out Aldo is a SAM student, and likely tried to do the machine work himself on the crank, and did it poorly. That's my best guess, anyway. Now Aldo became scarce, and quit returning my calls and emails. Most damning of all: he deleted the original ad over on LS1Tech.com.

Tony Whatley (Nine Ball) undeleted the ad, and moved Aldo (SSC5R) to the bad seller list.

PayPal came through with their moneyback gurarantee and I shipped the crank to them. Poor Aldo is likely dealing with PayPal now (remember they have his account information for his credit card and/or bank account).

PayPal for internet purchases: recommended. If there is a lot of money involved, I'd recommend the money-back guarantee.

jp

[yody]

be carefull when selling, using paypal, if someone uses their credit card on paypal, they can call their credit card and stop payment!