Venmo- Fraud Resistant?

Z Barebow

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 24, 2012
Messages
281
I am old curmudgeon and do not have Venmo. (Currently PayPal Only). I am wanting to sell stuff. (via internet to strangers). I know of the scam on PayPal where buyer will ask for Friends and family. (Do not go this route as you will lose fraud protection) And going standard business route incurs business charge %.

Are there any similar pitfalls using Venmo?

Some of the items I am selling are bigger ticket items. (Over 1K) I want to sell them, but concerned my old fashioned ways will exclude younger generation buyers. (As they typically do not utilize cash)

Thoughts?
 

dtrkyman

WKR
Joined
Oct 2, 2014
Messages
2,931
I scrapped paypal but they are the only one with protection I know of. They do not cover anything they consider a weapon so watch for that!

I have sold some items with zelle, I just give the buyers my phone number so they can call and have a chat, I also have a ton of feedback on another forum with the same username so that helps.

I just sold something to an older guy and he wanted to use a check, found out his wife had zelle and went that route.
 

mi650

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Dec 19, 2021
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With PayPal, buyers can get scammed using F&F, sellers get scammed with G&S. I haven't used Venmo very much, but it has no protection for buyers. It's owned by PP, so it has the same restrictions.

Zelle is another option, but again, no protection for buyers.

As a seller, I won't accept PP G&S, partly because of the scam possibilities, mainly because of the tax issue.
 
Joined
Aug 23, 2019
Messages
419
Venmo has roughly the same protections as PayPal. It gives the user the option for goods and services, or friends and family, then charges the fee (if applicable) to the seller.
 
Joined
May 22, 2017
Messages
495
Not really sure how you could get scammed on PayPal if you’re the seller. I’ve sold tons of stuff on PayPal and have never been scammed. eBay is another option but they take around 14% and charge a tax.
 
Joined
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hawai'i
Not really sure how you could get scammed on PayPal if you’re the seller. I’ve sold tons of stuff on PayPal and have never been scammed. eBay is another option but they take around 14% and charge a tax.
as a seller i get scared that they say they never received it and then what? shipper says it was delivered, buyer says I never got it. and then what. could be a porch bandit or they could be a scammer or shippper could deliver to wrong address by mistake. so i guess only deal with legitimate long time forum members on more expensive items and i always do signature required now. otherwise I think you would be SOL if buyer filed a claim without a signature
 

golfbum

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Dec 5, 2017
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I won’t accept PayPal GS unless buyer is a long time member with perfect feedback. If the buyer claimed item was not delivered or received PayPal would back the buyer…..

My feedback speaks for itself and if it costs me a sale or two so be it.

The tax law was the final straw for PayPal GS for me.
 
Joined
May 22, 2017
Messages
495
as a seller i get scared that they say they never received it and then what? shipper says it was delivered, buyer says I never got it. and then what. could be a porch bandit or they could be a scammer or shippper could deliver to wrong address by mistake. so i guess only deal with legitimate long time forum members on more expensive items and i always do signature required now. otherwise I think you would be SOL if buyer filed a claim without a signature
Never thought of that. Does it cost extra to ship with signature required
 

Rich M

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Jun 14, 2017
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Orlando
Why would you ship or receive something of any kind of value without insurance?

Why would i pay someone i dont know using paypal friends&family? And lose any protection i might have?

Oh, he wont sell it otherwise, so you take the risk. But he wants to sell stuff but not pay taxes, cheating the system…. He’ll cheat the govt but not me.

These just make no sense to me. No wonder you guys are afraid of losing money. You’re trying to work the system to save a penny or two.
 

fwafwow

WKR
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Apr 8, 2018
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4,880
Nothing is fraud resistant, even FTF transactions. If a person is bent on scamming you, then diligence and intelligence are your only protection.
I was going to “like” a bunch of others, but this is the most succinct and what really matters.

As for the OP, you may have to bend a bit on selling (at least here) until you get some feedback.

I did have a good selling experience with a member who paid via US money order. It took a bit longer but it seemed to cover much of the normal concerns.
 

fwafwow

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Why would you ship or receive something of any kind of value without insurance?
If fully disclosed and the two parties understand, it can make sense. The insurance is a cost that one side bears, and I've wanted it as both seller and buyer. But I've also bought and sold without - as long as it's crystal clear we are in agreement.
Why would i pay someone i dont know using paypal friends&family? And lose any protection i might have?
Similar to the above, but from my sometimes seller perspective, I'm willing to accept G&S if the buyer has good feedback stats and otherwise seems legit.
Oh, he wont sell it otherwise, so you take the risk. But he wants to sell stuff but not pay taxes, cheating the system…. He’ll cheat the govt but not me.
I personally think these are different issues - at least to me. It's only cheating if the item was sold for more than what was paid, which I think on RS is incredibly rare. And the money order option seems to me to be a good point in the middle for both buyer and seller.
 

Rich M

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If fully disclosed and the two parties understand, it can make sense. The insurance is a cost that one side bears, and I've wanted it as both seller and buyer. But I've also bought and sold without - as long as it's crystal clear we are in agreement.

Similar to the above, but from my sometimes seller perspective, I'm willing to accept G&S if the buyer has good feedback stats and otherwise seems legit.

I personally think these are different issues - at least to me. It's only cheating if the item was sold for more than what was paid, which I think on RS is incredibly rare. And the money order option seems to me to be a good point in the middle for both buyer and seller.

You bring up good points.

Buyer/seller need to agree on insurance, maybe seller just includes the cost in his fee? I sold a guy an Orvis fly rod/reel and it arrived broken - the insurance covered it and sent money directly to buyer. Worked like a charm.

As for how folks do their dealing is really between them, but this is the internet and fun to have a strong opinion sometimes. Nothing against how you choose to do things at all. You are very reasonable, I'm sure of that. Was poking at you with the tax thing.

There are folks on here who sell simply to make a profit, they would be frequent sellers - maybe they get stuff at yard sales and sell for the going rate - more power to them. They have to know the go-arounds in order to avoid the tax man if they are gonna do that. They are often the ones who are unreasonable when something goes wrong with a transaction cause they didn't insure it or used cheap packaging to save a few cents.

Money orders are a solid stand-by. I'd rather use them than any other method except CC.

I sell/buy on here infrequently and most of my transactions did not get a review, they paid, got their stuff, everyone was happy. Have found most folks are very reasonable and easy to get along with. Not familiar with these scammers everyone talks about, maybe that's a good thing.

Now, on Craigslist, put up an add and everyone is asking to lower the price without seeing the item and asking you to cash checks and such. LOL! I put cash only in those ads.
 
Joined
Jul 9, 2016
Messages
308
Location
AK
PayPal = Venmo
Venmo = PayPal

Venmo was established as a younger generation way to take on CashApp, which is hugely popular.

PayPal will always take the buyers side, many documented scams that happen constantly and they won't fix it.

Zelle is instant and hard to reverse or could ask for a Bank wire.
 

Tjdeerslayer37

Lil-Rokslider
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Wayne, MI
ive never used them, but there are online escrow services that you can use for those larger ticket items. buy pays into the escrow, funds dont get released until item is received (i think).
 

fwafwow

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You bring up good points.

Buyer/seller need to agree on insurance, maybe seller just includes the cost in his fee? I sold a guy an Orvis fly rod/reel and it arrived broken - the insurance covered it and sent money directly to buyer. Worked like a charm.

As for how folks do their dealing is really between them, but this is the internet and fun to have a strong opinion sometimes. Nothing against how you choose to do things at all. You are very reasonable, I'm sure of that. Was poking at you with the tax thing.

There are folks on here who sell simply to make a profit, they would be frequent sellers - maybe they get stuff at yard sales and sell for the going rate - more power to them. They have to know the go-arounds in order to avoid the tax man if they are gonna do that. They are often the ones who are unreasonable when something goes wrong with a transaction cause they didn't insure it or used cheap packaging to save a few cents.

Money orders are a solid stand-by. I'd rather use them than any other method except CC.

I sell/buy on here infrequently and most of my transactions did not get a review, they paid, got their stuff, everyone was happy. Have found most folks are very reasonable and easy to get along with. Not familiar with these scammers everyone talks about, maybe that's a good thing.

Now, on Craigslist, put up an add and everyone is asking to lower the price without seeing the item and asking you to cash checks and such. LOL! I put cash only in those ads.
Well said.

As for sellers getting scammed, I don’t know if it has happened on RS. I would have never been aware of the risk had I not joined an EDC group on FB that is in part designed to warn members about scammers. Most of the sales seem to be knives (an incredibly large and interesting secondary market - with sometime very expensive blades), and it was CRAZY how many examples of the “the knife you shipped me wasn’t in the box. Pay up!” were posted. I guess that got me paranoid.
 
Joined
Feb 12, 2022
Messages
1,689
Nothing is fraud resistant, even FTF transactions. If a person is bent on scamming you, then diligence and intelligence are your only protection.
And even then... No 100% exists.

Friend of mine carries a pen to check for counterfeit bills.

But if they turn a $20 or $50 into a $100, it still passes.
 

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