Paypal Friends and Family... fraud risk to the seller?

[dplettn]

Somebody I don't know made an off-eBay offer for a jersey I listed on eBay. The way they want to pay though is Paypal friends and family... I've used this with people I know and I've paid this way, but I've never been paid this way for large amounts of money.

What are the risks to the recipient (me)? For example, do I have to be concerned that a buyer has hijacked somebody's Paypal account?

[helmets]

Re: Paypal Friends and Family... fraud risk to the seller?

I have wondered the same way - as you are not suppose to use that method for purchasing anything. The seller saves the 3% or so in fees which is the reason why they request it.

[danesei@yahoo.com]

Re: Paypal Friends and Family... fraud risk to the seller?

Primary (and possibly only) risk is that the buyer claims the money was sent in error or fraudulently. The only reason I know you can clawback money is I had to do it once involving my friend in Asia. I had sent some money to pick up candy bars for me, but the money was never received, since the email address was wrong. Paypal "researched" it, but I had my money back within 12 hours.

[BVC]

Re: Paypal Friends and Family... fraud risk to the seller?

I've also wondered if such Paypal transactions trigger anything with the IRS - if you do the volume of Paypal that I do, Paypal will send details to the IRS. Just to play it safe, I always tell customers to pay 'regular' Paypal.