How do I get paid (and remain paid)?

June 28, 2019 5:43 AM

I am arranging a sale of a set of truck wheels/tires with a buyer in another state. He has a friend who lives near me that is driving back East for the Fourth of July and would be able to pick up the wheels and deliver. The buyer proposed that, after his friend looks the wheels over and gives the thumbs-up, he will Venmo me the money and his friend would be on his way. I have some concerns.

I suggested he use Paypal, not because it is any different than Venmo, but because I already have an account. The problem here is that Paypal (and I assume Venmo) does not have seller protection in place for items picked up in person. The buyer could, I suppose, claim that he never got the wheels or that they didn't meet my description, request a refund, and I would be screwed.

So, I am hoping that someone with more experience in these matters can give some advice on how to handle this sale with the least risk. Thanks!

posted by Don_K to Work & Money (14 answers total)

Ask him to Venmo his friend, and his friend to give you cash?
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 5:46 AM on June 28, 2019 [10 favorites]

Venmo is actually safer for you in this case, as it is not really possible to reverse a Venmo payment.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:48 AM on June 28, 2019

Not sure about Venmo, but with PayPal the ‘send money to friends and family’ option is just that — sending money, not buying a good or service. If he sends you money without claiming to be buying anything, he can’t claim he didn’t get the thing.
posted by jon1270 at 5:51 AM on June 28, 2019

I suggested he use Paypal, not because it is any different than Venmo, but because I already have an account. The problem here is that Paypal (and I assume Venmo) does not have seller protection in place for items picked up in person

Venmo is not a point of sales app, it's a money transfer app. Like Rock Steady mentioned above, once the funds are out of Venmo and into your bank account, it's not possible to reverse the transaction. I'd be much more comfortable getting money via Venmo than Paypal.
posted by Fidel Cashflow at 6:35 AM on June 28, 2019

It’s actually not true that it’s not possible to reverse a Venmo payment; while they appear immediate, they can get reversed if the source account doesn’t have enough money or they fund with a credit card and then do a chargeback.
posted by mosst at 6:40 AM on June 28, 2019

Cash. Accept no substitute.
posted by so fucking future at 7:19 AM on June 28, 2019 [13 favorites]

When I sold tires, I met the buyer at a Walmart for both our security.
posted by theora55 at 7:29 AM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

He should give the friend cash and the friend should pay you.
posted by DarlingBri at 7:35 AM on June 28, 2019 [4 favorites]

This sounds awfully similar to a common Craigslist scam - not quite the same, but all the pieces are the same: vehicle or parts, out-of-state buyer needing to arrange delivery/pickup, wants to dictate how the money will move through their choice of methods... I think I would make noises about needing it to be in cash and see if they are still interested or if they ghost you.
posted by CyberSlug Labs at 8:30 AM on June 28, 2019 [4 favorites]

I've done something very similar using Venmo and it went swimmingly. I guess we just had a good feel for each other based on our messaging back and forth, but definitely ymmv.
posted by look busy at 8:32 AM on June 28, 2019

Yep, you should be getting cash in your hand before the wheels go away.
posted by rockindata at 8:57 AM on June 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Well, you guys have settled it for me. He needs to get the money to his friend to pay me in cash. I was leaning that way, but didn't want to be unreasonable.

Thank you as usual!
posted by Don_K at 9:57 AM on June 28, 2019 [2 favorites]

Yes. You need to focus on your transaction. Forget the 'friend' bit. YOU are handing goods to someone. THEY give you cash. What follows is not your concern, because you have been paid for your goods. Cash is king in these transactions, accept no other (as others have stated).
posted by GeeEmm at 3:42 PM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

Ten bucks says that the "out of state" guy is in fact a local, his "friend" is in fact himself, and what he was going to do is show up, claim to be in a hurry to get going, and bank on you letting him leave before actually receiving the money because his out-of-state "friend" isn't picking up the phone.
posted by automatronic at 6:35 PM on June 28, 2019 [1 favorite]