Personal Finance

Advice for the Best Method of Getting a Payment for Item Shipped Posted on Kijiji

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  • Dec 18th, 2017 11:58 am
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Jr. Member
Oct 24, 2006
112 posts
13 upvotes

Advice for the Best Method of Getting a Payment for Item Shipped Posted on Kijiji

I have a buyer for an item placed on Kijiji. The purchaser would like me to ship it to them at their cost. I do not have a Paypal account. I have even heard of certified cheques that are bogus. Any knowledge you have to share would be appreciated. The item is expensive and very heavy.
13 replies
Deal Addict
User avatar
Sep 10, 2007
3393 posts
641 upvotes
Cowtown
It's usually a scam! I would NOT ship the item at any cost! Especially if it's going outside Canada!!!
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Deal Fanatic
Jul 4, 2004
9473 posts
2650 upvotes
Mrbj wrote: It's usually a scam! I would NOT ship the item at any cost! Especially if it's going outside Canada!!!

+1, correct! Don't do it.
Deal Addict
Feb 5, 2009
2429 posts
403 upvotes
When you buy something from a scammer they always seem to want you to pay by Western Union, so I assume that means there's no way to get your money back once it's sent. So if that's true, tell THEM that you want to be paid by Western Union!

Another thread also suggested email money transfer's can't be reversed, they're basically a cash transaction, so that might be an option too.

Also, did they offer to pay you more than the asking price? If so, yes, that's too good to be true and it's 100% a scam.
Deal Addict
Jul 27, 2006
1113 posts
824 upvotes
Moncton
+1 It's probably a scam. My brother in law was selling a $2000 snow mobile on Kijiji. He received an offer from an overseas buyer that wanted to pay via PayPal and have someone pick it up at his place and then ship it somewhere in the middle east (???). I don't know if the goal of the scam was to capture his PayPal account info through a fake site (phishing), or to actually pay using a stolen PayPal account and have someone pick up the goods. In this case, PayPal would then reverse the transaction leaving him with no money and no sled. Either way, it did not pass the sniff test so he ignored the guy.

However, if it sounds somewhat legit, either PayPal or Interac e-mail transfer is the way to go.
Deal Addict
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Jun 25, 2008
1122 posts
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The beauty of Kijiji or craigslist is meeting people face-to-face when selling and/or buying. I don't understand why you would basically turn it into an eBay transaction with none of the admittedly thin protections.
Deal Addict
Jun 27, 2005
1071 posts
148 upvotes
Toronto, ON
oIIIIIo wrote: +1 It's probably a scam. My brother in law was selling a $2000 snow mobile on Kijiji. He received an offer from an overseas buyer that wanted to pay via PayPal and have someone pick it up at his place and then ship it somewhere in the middle east (???). I don't know if the goal of the scam was to capture his PayPal account info through a fake site (phishing), or to actually pay using a stolen PayPal account and have someone pick up the goods. In this case, PayPal would then reverse the transaction leaving him with no money and no sled. Either way, it did not pass the sniff test so he ignored the guy.

However, if it sounds somewhat legit, either PayPal or Interac e-mail transfer is the way to go.

+2

I received an offer from an overseas buyer that sent me a fake Paypal notice for the amount including shipping, but I had to pay the shipper first via Western Union. Talk about an obvious scam! (Although I do know someone who fell for it)...
Deal Addict
User avatar
Aug 30, 2006
3568 posts
35 upvotes
not always a scam. i bought a $60 item from someone in alberta. i mailed them a $60 cheque, then after she received it she mailed me the item.

I took all the risk, but it worked out.
shaka braddah!
Deal Addict
Mar 18, 2009
1458 posts
286 upvotes
Renous
Well, I'll side on the 'maybe it's not a scam' side, ... but it's lonely over here!

I'm in a rural area, so when I do find something worth buying on kijiji, it's not always worth the drive, but it can be worth the postage. ;) Example - I found a Bell receiver a guy was selling in a town 3 hours away. $200 for the receiver, + $25 for the shipping = worth it to me. Now, I'm not a scammer, so the transaction went through without a hitch, but I guess the best way to find out, is have a guaranteed way to get the $$$. I did email money transfer. ;)
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Banned
Feb 10, 2010
789 posts
37 upvotes
oIIIIIo wrote: +1 It's probably a scam. My brother in law was selling a $2000 snow mobile on Kijiji. He received an offer from an overseas buyer that wanted to pay via PayPal and have someone pick it up at his place and then ship it somewhere in the middle east (???). I don't know if the goal of the scam was to capture his PayPal account info through a fake site (phishing), or to actually pay using a stolen PayPal account and have someone pick up the goods. In this case, PayPal would then reverse the transaction leaving him with no money and no sled. Either way, it did not pass the sniff test so he ignored the guy.

However, if it sounds somewhat legit, either PayPal or Interac e-mail transfer is the way to go.

I was selling my car, on kijiji and autotrader

kijiji wasnt too bad, legit people called, but autotrader, within a few hours, I got 3 different fake looking email addresses asking me if it was available, and then when I replied a simple yes, every one of them immediately sent me this pre-generated looking email about how they are 100% satisfied with the condition of the car, and would pay full value for it, via paypal, and have an "agent" pick it up.

I replied to each of them that I would only accept a verifiable certified cheque in person, and never heard back of course.

I also reported them all to autotrader.


I will never advertise on autotrader again :mad:
Jr. Member
Oct 24, 2006
112 posts
13 upvotes
Thank everyone for sharing your experiences,very helpful and enlightening. I will proceed with caution. Your postings are very much appreciated.
Sr. Member
User avatar
Feb 1, 2011
726 posts
20 upvotes
Hamilton
yes not always a scam
one guy bought my camera, paid for everything including shipping through e-transfer....
with a risk of me never sending him the item but he did

and i sent it to him

but anyone who asks for your name/address/account number or if they offer you above asking price, be cautious
Newbie
Aug 12, 2017
52 posts
8 upvotes
EMT: The danger here is for people to cancel it after sending it. So accept it first and wait a few days to make sure its cleared and make sure the funds are available in your account. But don't withdraw it until you are absolutely certain and the bank is certain the funds are good. It can take several days. At first banks say EMT is secure and immediate. In reality, when you ask for the availability of the funds, their response is somewhat different usually.

There's a much better way of accepting payment but it involves giving out your name and account number. Most people have an account with a traditional brick and mortar bank, even if they hardly ever use it. Most banks have no fee accounts so get one if you don't have one already. Then ask the buyer to go to the bank and deposit CASH, never a cheque, into your account. It means giving out your account number and name though as they will have to have both to make this deposit. That's the down side. But if you hardly ever use the account and pull the money out once its deposited, there's really nothing for anyone to steal 99.9% of the time.

People love EMT's for their anonymity. As long as your buyer is willing to wait for the EMT funds to clear, you should be OK.

Make sure you get their phone number and you talk to them on the phone as well. Most scammers don't speak English and use machine translation or a friend to do the correspondence and are living halfway across the world without a phone number in your country. So just demanding a phone conversation before anything starts usually weeds out the scammers well.

Hopefully EMT validation speed will shorten in the future but for now its mostly hype. It ain't nothing like cash!

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