Pay Pal

mjg62 · April 3, 2011

You guys thoughts on buying online and sending the money as a gift. Good,Bad or Ugly and why?

Stevens03 · April 3, 2011

Bad... you'd have no record for your purchase. And you may not get your item either.

Superperv23 · April 3, 2011

You pay the fees and then you have no ability to go after the seller if they do not send it as far as I know

GasHog369 · April 4, 2011

true...

But if its someone you know / feel comfortable with.. It helps you and the seller out. Most sellers, myself included will roll the fees into the item price. So by gifting the $, you save $.

If the transaction is with someone who you do not know/ possibly not trust, obviously dont gift the $ because then it is a gift to them and they dont have to send your item.

ajbardo · April 4, 2011

I've never gifted $. Have seen WAY to many people get burned.

Spurshot · April 4, 2011

Never send more money than you are willing to loose in a deal gone wrong.

If you live by that rule, you'll be less devastated when a deal goes south.

ernster500 · April 4, 2011

I recently did this and it worked out fine. The problem is, as others have stated, that you really have no recourse if the other party screws you in some way. I suppose you have to ask yourself if you can afford to lose the amount of money that you are sending. If you are buying from an "ad" like the boards, or craigslist or ebay, I'd say, no. But, again, it would depend on his reputation how long he's been a member and yada yada...

In my recent case, the guy has a huge online presence with a very unique product. I figured if he screwed me I would get the word out and probably hurt his sales and reputation. It ended up working out fine and in the end, I got a great product for an inexpensive price and have been telling everyone I know about it.

Good luck!

E

Metro12 · April 4, 2011

Easy way to get burned. Aside from that, you are defrauding paypal, if its not truely a "gift". If you get caught, you may have your paypal account yanked.

BigBlueLB756 · April 4, 2011

Look at the number of posts the seller has on the forum, and if he does you wrong in any way, flame him down on the forum. It's all about who you trust. And, if the deal doesn't amount to much (say less than $20, or so) the seller won't make jack if the fees are taken out. Just do what YOU feel good doing.