Understanding How Paypal Works

I use both craigslist n paypal, but never mix them. Craigslist,to me, is great for local & cash only, the way you posted. It sounds like a scam. Stick to how you have it and always meet in busy places or let someone know where you are going. Sounds like common sense i know, but I've heard of people who don't do this. Safety all the way around- hope you do well selling! Happy Holiidays

PayPal is very safe I have never had any problems and my brother is very computer savy and he suggests using paypal for just about everything.

Paypal is fine and very secure, however, be very wary on craigslist. I always advertise for cash only. If you get people offering more money to you then it is most likely a scam. Be careful.

A.-you need to watch out!!!!!! Why are they offering you more money for shipping? I would be extremely leary of this. My neighbor got scammed from someone on Craigslist to the tune of $3000 last year. The common scam is for them to offer you more money for something and then you pay them back some of it. It will then turn out that they never paid you in the first place or used a bogus check. I have a ton of items currently on Craigslist and consistently get scammers contacting me.

My advice is to deal local on Craigslist with cash only.

Paypal is great and very secure. I use it for ebay and to sell or pay for certain other goods and services-it's quick and easy.

If you are SUPER wary of it, link it to an account with only a little money in it. I have it linked to an older account with never more than about $100 in it-but I've never heard of people's accounts being drained or anything-it just worked best for us to keep it separate form our other accounts.

If you get one, BEWARE of ANY email notice asking you to update you billing information-this is NOT PAYPAL and the "page" looked exactly like theirs when this happened-it had their exact logo. I contacted them directly rather than answering the notice, and they let me know that was a scam, not them and not to update it.

It's very worth getting if you think you may be selling more stuff going forward. My website designer gets paid through paypal, so whenever he does an update for me, I pay him instantly rather than sending a check. It's super convenient.

Paypal is great, and 100% safe like the other moms said. A friend of mine actually worked for Paypal out in California and it's a very good, reputable company. More and more online stores now give you the option of paying with Paypal, like Diapers.com. What I like about it is you don't have to give an online vendor your credit card info, especially if it's a small obscure site that you've never done business with.

Be aware though that if someone pays you with Paypal, the company takes a percentage of that money as their fee (I can't remember how much, maybe 2-3%). But if you pay someone else using Paypal, it doesn't cost you any more. Good luck!

Gloria
http://centraljersey.citymommy.com/

Paypal is great. I've been using it since 2002 and never once have I had a problem. I use it mostly for ebay but using for other things is just as easy. They pay to your email address (which is unique to your paypal account) so they never know any other information. If the people are offering to pay the shipping (which seems logical if they aren't picking it up, so that you aren't stuck with the shipping cost) you just include that in their total for the purchase. If someone is offering you $50 for a $5 item, it's probably a scam. But if they are offering to cover the shipping costs, it's most likely someone who lives to far away to just come pick it up. One of the great things about paypal is that you can wait for the payment to go into your account and then ship, so you won't get ripped off no matter what. I hope this helps!

I agree with all previous comments. PayPal is a very secure method of handling money online and I have come to depend on it for buying and selling. I wouldn't be so suspicious of someone who wants to use it. They may be as suspicious as you are and want the protections that PayPal offers to buyers, just in case something goes wrong.

Paypal is great. You can create an invoice and e-mail it to the person interested in buying your item off of Craigslist. Your account information is secure and you do NOT have to have a PayPal debit card, the money can be deposited directly into your already established bank account.

I use paypal to buy things on ebay. I set it up with a bank account and a credit card. Whenever I buy something they will take it out of my bank account, but if there are not enough funds (not my primary account) than they will just charge my credit card. I find it very secure and easy! No one (buyer or seller) want to wait for checks in the mail or meet someone for cash. It's great!

I love Paypal, and have used it for Craigslist when it is too far/not convenient to meet. I am surprised at some of the answers...how can this be a scam?! If someone pays for your item and includes shipping on top of it, the money is put directly in your account. Actually YOU are the one who could scam THEM in this situation, and simply not send them item...so they are actually putting their trust in YOU!
:)
p.s "Asking for your Paypal account" simply means getting your email linked to that account..they never get numbers whatsoever!

I use Paypal all the time. I sell on ebay and have found other places that I use it as well. It's a secure way to send & receive funds. You can easily set up an account at paypal.com. You can send and receive money by using only your email address.

Dealing locally and dealing with cash is best to me, unless you are willing to do the shipping and all that which I am not because I have too many kids and things to do in life besides spending my time in line at the post office, lol.

I use PayPal when shopping at eBay. PayPal is easy to use and to set up. It's been around for years and is perfectly safe. It's a company who will funnel your money/funds through them so you do not have to give out your banking or card info to strangers. You can set up your credit card, debit card, and banking info with them and when you need to make a payment you choose your primary source of where that money will come from to make payments to others. All you have to do when receiving payment is give them your PayPal email address or ID and they go into their PayPal account and enter your info including name and dollar amount to be paid to you and they transfer it to your PayPal account.

In setting up your account, you will need to set up a PayPal email address and ID, password (which they are very careful about), and must verify your cards and bank accounts so they know they are real and in good standing. For instance, they'll send three small deposits to your bank account all in cents like .15, .42 and .74. Once they hit your account you go into PayPal and verify to them the amounts that hit and that account can now be used.

For me, I use PayPal for eBay as that's what most accept there. But for Craig's List selling, unless you're willing to go through the packing and shipping process, I'd stay local and accept cash only. That's a judgment call on you. *grin*

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HarrisburgPAChat
events and chat within 2 hour radius

Paypal is very secure and used by millions all over the world. It is likely the best way to collect payment when selling something.You can certainly deal locally and only in cash, but you will be more limited as to who you can sell your items to.

Paypal is something that you can set up on the computer. You have to have an account and a card. You get a paypal debit card so you can use the card when you go to the store or can go to the bamk to get your money out of the atm machine. If you then want to sell other stuff on craig's list it will be easier when you have your account set up. You get paid electronically from that persons account to yours. That way you know you get the money,purchases are protected both ways. If you do it local it limits you.

Paypal is extremely safe. It keeps your information private. Also, the money they are paying you is secured through Paypal and is available to you quickly. I think you'll find it a valuable resource for lots of things. You can use it with Ebay purchases and other online buying and noone ever sees your personal info including any banking info, only Paypal sees banking info from both sides of the purchase. The fact that they are requesting to pay that way is great! It means they want security too! Good luck!

I also use PayPal often and have used it on Craig's List transactions. That being said, I never sell anything on Craig's List using PayPal that I'm going to care about if I don't get paid. A $10 coat? Sure. A $500 dresser? Nope.

Trust your instincts. If it seems too good to be true, it is. But PayPal is something you need to get used to using-- you'll soon get to the point when you don't know what you did without it!

I've used Paypal for years to send invoices (I do freelance work) and on Ebay and other sites like that. That being said, I am a little skeptical if someone who is supposedly buying local wants to deal that way. Unless they are just a bit further from my house or something, then maybe. My experience with Craigslist is that I have sold big items that wouldn't be worth shipping, so use your best judgement. Paypal is very secure though and tends to be a good way to go.