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First time Craigslist poster
mateo m
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
So one of the guidelines craiglist advertises is that one should not accept an offer that requires shipping and should meet in person for every sale. Last night I posted an ad about selling an old guitar for 300. Well within the day someone responded. Offered 40 dollars more and is willing to send the payment before receiving the product. However to me it seems to good tI be true. Should I be worried or am I being overly cautious
mateo m on
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Then the check bounces, or is otherwise fraudulent. Whatever it is, the check doesn't clear.
You're out the money of the check, your guitar as well as any fees that may have accrued from you spending money that you thought you had.
Occasionally, the scammer will send a check for considerably more than the price of the merchandise, and ask you to return the excess in the form of a cashier's check or similar (often times accompanied by threats of law suits or calling the police, if this is the case invite them to do so).
In this case, you're not only out the money you're owed and the merch, you're also on the hook for the additional money that you sent back.
If you do decide to sell to this person, make sure the check clears before you ship anything.
But, yes, ideally you don't want to do shipping with Craigslist posts.
Careful. The check in these scams will clear initially. It won't be until after a few weeks that it will trigger as fraudulent.
When you're selling stuff on CL, don't accept checks period.
Edit: Also, if you ever receive an offer for more than you're asking, especially if the offer includes something like refunding the difference for some weird reason, that's a 100% indicator of a scam.
Edit2: You can accept certified cashier's checks if necessary, but you should arrange to go together to the bank from where the check was drawn to cash it/transfer the money. This is common for large ticket items like cars.
For something like a guitar, get cash.
Honestly, who pays for things with checks these days anyway?
http://banking.about.com/od/checkingaccounts/a/clearchecks.htm
If it was someone who was thinking of trying to rip you off, that kills the chances by like 95%.
As far as my Canadian experience goes, since this is a major part of my job, banks are required to make the funds available after 5 business days. However, when dealing with cheques from different banking institutions, or if the cheque has a fraudulent account number, it can take longer than that to confirm the trace, so the bank will bounce the cheque when they receive confirmation that the funds the cheque is trying to access do not exist. The longest time I've seen between a cheque cashed and bouncing was almost four weeks.
The risk of a wire transfer is pretty much 100% on the sender. Once it's gone there's just about zero chance of ever getting it back, especially if it's international. This makes it extremely popular with scammers.
Wire transfers are extremely risky. You send the money, it's gone. If someone offers to pay you via wire transfer, be open to it, but it's very uncommon in anonymous transactions, at least in the US. Maybe hinge ardor fervent elsewhere.
As a seller, you want cash or cash equivalents like a money order or a trusted and verified certified check.
Not always, something like western union can be given like a check, which is still technically a wire transfer, then that can be withdrawn at a later point as fraudulent ("bounced" basically). If they wired/wrote-a-check for more than they owed and had you send the extra via your good checking account, you're fucked. Sure it's on the 'sender' but the extra is on you.
The absolute safest method is a money order right at their bank, then they sign it over immediately to the seller, and then have the cashier cash it (no counterfeit bills). Second safest is cash in a public place.
Never accept checks, unless it's your grandma or parents you trust 100% not to fuck you.
I think the UK/Europe uses a slightly different method than the US does. Ours take, on average, 3 days to deposit (some banks will give it instantly if you're in good standing) and up to 30 days to clear. I hear in Europe it's instantaneous clearing.
Bizarre US customary banking still in place I think.
Rent/utilities and very large purchases. My tuition was always paid by e-check and i bought my car with a check. Pay for car repairs by check usually too (although in the latter case i think the mechanic is trying to tax-dodge).
That's what I was going to say about it. At least here in the USA, wires are not (or not always) instant, so there's still the chance to have the money revoked after it looks like it hit your bank account.
If you're selling on craigslist, especially for small items (worth a few hundred USD at most), then just keep it local and cash in hand only.
The worst is that I feel it is necessary.
Businesses use checks, individuals really shouldn't.
There's several PAers I've talked with in general that I wouldn't accept checks from them (edit: their parents) if I was their child.
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
Not everyone on there is a scammer and the website can be good but it is also super easy to take advantage of people.
Long answer, no. Don't risk it. In cash, in person, and in public (Police Station preferred).
Uh...yeah but if a check bounces isnt it on the person who gave you the check to deal with the fallout? If its a personal check with all the info on it I have to think banks have a system to recognize if a check is real or not.
Your bank takes the money back and charges you a fee. You can certainly go after the person who gave you the check. Good luck if it was a scammer who already has your goods, though.
Yeah, most the time the person who gave you the check isn't a real person.