Hi,
I have a question about international sellers. I found a good deal on Nokia 6600 (10 pcs @ 330 each and he agrees to pay for the shipping). The problem is that this guy lives in Austria and he only accepts Bank transfer. I suggested to use Escrow and offered that I pay for the service fee, but he denied and the reason was that he got ripped 17000 Euro by 2 Americans on eBay using Escrow. My question is:
Is the deal too good to be true? Or it sounds more like he is a fraud. How could someone get ripped by using Escrow service since from what I understand and learned from this forum that Escrow is safe for both buyer and seller?
Please help me to decide...I am so confused because I hate to pass a deal like this if it is real, but can't risk 3300 for no reason. Also, his emails were full of gramma and spelling errors. Could that be a bad sign also?
goWholesale Forums » Wholesale Buyers » General Chat
Help please :'( What if my seller refuse to accept Escrow?
5 posts
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My opinion....move on. I have never used escorw services personally,. however I do understand that if you get the items you are supposed to be getting as stated, you then tell you escrow service to go ahead and release the funds to the seller. If you do not get what you were supposed to get, you notify your escrow service provider and they will tell you to ship the tuff back. After you cn prove you did, they will release the funds back to you.
While there may be a way for a buyer to screw a seller in an international tracastion using escrow, I really have no clue. For all you know, the sellers difinition of "got screwed" means that he sent misrepresented itmes, they got returned, and he never made the sale.
I would steer clear of a supplier that will not let you use an escrow service for your first 2 or 3 transactions. If he is honest an shipping items as represented to you, as far as I know, there is no way for him to get screwed and in the process, by appeasing you, he will gain a new customer.
However, like I said, I have no idea if there is a way for a buyer to screw a seller when using escrow services.
If anyone can shed some experienced light on this subject, it would be good information for everyone.
ALso, one more peice of advice...If it sounds to good to be true, 99.99999999999999% of the time it is. -
Hi,
Thanks for the reply cmx,
It clearified the problem a lot.
One more question: if I transfere money to his account, and he simply take the money without sending me anything, is there anything I can do to get my money back? like reporting to police or somehow using credit card for account transfer. Because if I absolutely can not do anything, then it is too risky.
Thanks for all the help in advance, -
Well if you send him a wire transfer and this happends then you are probably out on getting your money back. You can file a report..but chances of success with that are slim. Best way is to
a)Use an Escrow Service
b)Pay with a VISA card so in case you could possibly get your moeny back from your VISA company
c) Pay with PAYPAL and pay the fees, but make sure that the amount you send will come off your VISA not your bank account.
Option C, is the most safe way from my experiences.
Things like checking forums like this about sellers, researching his name, address on the net, checking out fraud help sites for info will all help you greatly and make you a much better and informed buyer/seller.
Its always a good idea to have your buyer/seller sign a small agreement which contains his name, his address that corresponds with his paypal address and visa bill address, as well as a picture of their driver's liscence or any other piece of photo ID which corresponds with the above mentioned. Then if sh*t hits the fan, you have some documentation backing you up and the chances of getting your moeny back from Paypal or VISA are greatly increased.
Do not send them a money order as, people that accept only money orders/Western Union are usually scammers.
TT(wire transfers) are risky to you as well.
Do some searching on google and I am sure you will be able to find out a lot of great information which can help better protect you.
G'luck! -
When I ship internationally I never use escrow services. Do a search forum, there have been plenty of posts about fake escrow accounts and sites devoted to cheating people. The only reputable one I have heard of and can name off hand is escrow.com There was one other, but I can't remember it right now. If you cannot get the seller to send the product via escrow, credit cards are your best bet. I have only recieved money via western union, so I do not know if they require you to have the cash on hand or you can use a credit card. I rememeber reading a post that said something about western union allowing a credit card. That wouldn't be bad. Your money might be as good as stolen, but you can always get it back if it was with a credit card. Since I generally deal in amounts less than $1000 for first purchases, I have never flown to see inventory, but if you're spending $3300, you may want to fly over and see the phones. The way I look at things is: if I can afford to lose the money and not end up in the poor house, then I will send the money how the seller wants if it does not smell fishy. If I cannot afford to lose the money, then I must have several references who I can call and talk to who will have extensive knowledge of prior dealings. It's not a fool proof way of doing things, but I have never lost out with just using my noise to smell a bad deal, and references to make sure of a good one.
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