Any way to get paid securely from europe?

Joseph Shaul

Member
Messages
206
Location
Madison, WI
I have some rather rare and very high end woofers that a fellow in Europe has expressed a desire to purchase. However, I'm not sure of how I can get paid without any risk - Western Union is prone to fraud and PayPal is, if anything, even worse. Is there a way I can get my money with zero risk of "take-backs" or fraud?
 
From what I understand from selling stuff on Craigs List the answer is simply NO.
Read their disclaimer. Western Union is called a fraud among several others.
Personally I would never sell except for ebay from a trusted buyer or cash only.
I've had several responses from my vintage corvette for sale ad and all have have been some sort of scam. So far anyway.
 
Last edited:
If your buyer is willing to do it, tell them to get some American dollars (they can do that at any currency exchange place), put them in an envelope and send them to you via some form of certified mail.

If I was the buyer, I wouldn't be willing to do that but you can ask.

Mike
 
Yes there is. Use an Escrow Service. I used one on some camera equiptment I sold overseas. I don't remember who so I can't give you a recommendation though.

Basically it works like this Buyer pays Escrow Inc for the product. Escrow notifies you they have your money and you ship. Escrow gets the shipping info and tracks the shipment. Buyer gets the speakers and has 3-4 days to respond to the Escrow company and tell them he is happy with the product. If after 3-4 days he doesn't respond and the shipping is verified he received them they pay you.

If buyer is not happy he must return the product to you withing some specified time period. When you notify Escrow Inc you have received the speakers back then they pay him back his money.

All in all it worked very well for me. I paid the fee and it wasn't much, but it was well worth it to not get cheated!
 
Which one do you use?

Well, honestly the lawyer takes care of setting up those particulars so I don't know. I believe we use a few depending on the continent but that's about the extent of my knowledge. I'd look at the length of time the escrow company has been in business. Fraudulent escrow companies tend to not be around very long. Yes, there are quite a few from what I understand.
 
Don't ever do a wire transfer. In fact, don't ever give your account number to ANYBODY unless you're really really familiar with them and trust them personally.

Tim,
Not to get into any kind of contest, but I did international traffic for 40 years and we use the wire transfer method of moving payments all the time... both by wire and with letters of credit.... we moved thousands and thousands of dollars at a time between just about every country in the world...
if you are worried about someone getting into your account, it's a simple matter to set up a special account specifically for receiving wire transfers.. then as soon as the transfer is complete, you move the money internally at the bank...
 
Last edited:
Tim,
Not to get into any kind of contest, but I did international traffic for 40 years and we use the wire transfer method of moving payments all the time... both by wire and with letters of credit.... we moved thousands and thousands of dollars at a time between just about every country in the world...
if you are worried about someone getting into your account, it's a simple matter to set up a special account specifically for receiving wire transfers.. then as soon as the transfer is complete, you move the money internally at the bank...

Now THAT I'll go along with. Good advice there.

Seems to me I had read about a very credible scheme through which a wire transfer could backfire badly after the sale. I don't remember the details, though.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I bought a lot of things through PayPal from US and Europe and never had a problem.

Moreover if PayPal is used, the payment must be received BEFORE you ship the item.
I heard about people having problems with PayPal but so far I haven't had any.

I used WesternUnion once and they charge such an outrageous comission on the sender that I'll never used it again.

A wire transfer or direct bank transfer would be the best option if you don't trust PayPal.
 
I did a quick search and I think it was Escrow.com that I used. But it has been 2-3 years. But I am surprised more people don't use an escrow service. I think it is protects both party's better than anything else.
 
Pay Pal is the only system I would use.
Bank wire transfers can be risky and are always expensive, at both ends.
I used to sell collectible Matchbox cars and simply relied on trust. Usually folks involved in an avocation like that are reliable.
But, selling other things on eBay have taught me to limit sales to just the U.S.
Unfortunately, the times I have been scammed, or attempts at scamming being tried, they have always been by people of one particular ethnicity.
 
Top