Transaction Safety

[guidofatherof5]

I must first say that all of the people I have done business with on this forum have been professional and trustworthy.
With the exception of one transaction about a month ago. I contacted a forum member(now banned) and we came to the agreement on the price of a snake. I sent the money using Paypal and quickly found out I had been scammed and the snake in question had been sold months before. In fact the seller said he had no snakes. I filed a claim with paypal and was informed today that my money was being returned to me by Paypal.
If I had sent a cash, personal check or store bought money order I would be out my money. My only recourse would have been filing a civil action in the courts. Since both parties involved live a great distance apart this would have been an expensive legal action.
Paypal offered protection for my purchased since it was based on my Visa debit card.
Another safe payment option is a U.S. Postal money order which is protected by the government.
I encourage all members to only deal in secure methods of payment.
I never thought I would get scammed but it happened.
Protect your tranactions by keeping records on all contacts between you and a seller. Keep copies of all money transactions.
I thank all the other people I have dealt with for being honest and trustworthy people. Bless you.

[ConcinusMan]

Seems kind of odd that if someone was setting out to scam, that they would take paypal in the first place. I mean, wouldn't paypal know who got your payment and didn't deliver your merchandise? Wouldn't they have recourse against this person? I would think they would. Seems to me if they were going to scam, they would want a money order delivered to a PO box.

I don't have any way to accept paypal as a method of payment to me so I'm not sure how that works, although I sometimes use a visa debit card to make payments via paypal like you did.

At any rate, I wouldn't go sending money blindly to someone anyway. Heck, even with people that are obviously well known and trustworthy, I still insist on seeing pictures of what I am purchasing. If I did that in a case like this, they would need to produce a picture of a (non existent?) snake.

Anyway, regardless of how payment is made, there's no way I would have sent money to the people I did buy snakes from, if it weren't for so many of you (satisfied customers) vouching for them and/or knowing them personally. I mean there are so many things that when all added up, can all but guarantee you're not being scammed. If you don't have any of that, and it isn't adding up.. well, I'm just trying to figure out how this could happen unless common sense wasn't used.

Not trying to put you down or say you don't have any common sense Steve, I'm just trying to picture how this could possibly happen. I imagine that there had to be at least one red flag (if not more than one) that was ignored. Seems that is the case every time this happens to someone.

Low post count/new member?
Nobody can verify that they've done business with this person before?
No reputable breeders or buyers (people we "know") even know who they are, etc.

I mean there had to be some signs that were ignored it seems to me.

I recently began accepting USPS money orders only. I don't want to have to deposit it in an account and wait for it to clear, I don't want to pay a fee to cash it, etc. At least with USPS money orders, I can go to the post office where I need to go to ship anyway, and cash it, thus verifying it's good before shipping.

Sad to hear this has happened here. I mean, some places are festering stinkholes filled with scammers selling nonexistent or very poor quality snakes, but to have it happen here...

That sucks.

I would like to see some "do's and don'ts" posted here by buyers and sellers alike since we're on the subject. I would especially like to hear about cases where things have gone wrong and what could have been done to prevent it. That's more useful than just saying you got burnt.

[guidofatherof5]

Well, don't I feel stupid now. Thanks, Richard.

As always, armchair quarter backing is easy to do.

You have some good points in your reply and I couldn't help but walk away from it feeling like an idiot. I know that wasn't your intent.

[Stefan-A]

Seems kind of odd that if someone was setting out to scam, that they would take paypal in the first place.

This person wasn't especially bright.

Low post count/new member?
Nobody can verify that they've done business with this person before?
No reputable breeders or buyers (people we "know") even know who they are, etc.

I doubt many will start running around asking random people whether they've done business with someone, before buying something from that person.

I mean there had to be some signs that were ignored it seems to me.

There were signs that this person was not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

[ConcinusMan]

I doubt many will start running around asking random people whether they've done business with someone, before buying something from that person.

Well, that's not exactly what I meant. It's just that the people I choose to do business with have already got multiple unsolicited backing from other well known and well established members. It's not like I had to go asking around. If someone just pops up as a new member and we start talking about making a deal that involves me sending money or snakes up front, I have made it a point in the past to make a friendly suggestion to the person that I do not know them and ask them how I know I'm not being scammed. Their reaction will usually say a lot. I've had this happen once or twice and the person became offended and hostile and then I never heard from them again.(nor has anyone else). Now what does that tell you?

The rest of the times, they gave me references that were good enough for me.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Well, don't I feel stupid now. Thanks, Richard.

As always, armchair quarter backing is easy to do.

You have some good points in your reply and I couldn't help but walk away from it feeling like an idiot. I know that wasn't your intent.

Steve, this can happen to the best of us! Even the most cautious individuals can find themselves in a situation like this... Even in hindsight you may think "why didn't I notice the warnings!?" but when you are actually in the moment... Sometimes we just dont see the big picture. Don't forget the fact that this person was not just out to scam you.. He was quite literally a raving lunatic and hid all of it behind some very courteous and polite posts. We didn't even see the ugly parts until it was too late... And since this guy legitimately made absolutely no sense... Don't feel bad about it... He's too far gone to even form a legible sentence, let alone use punctuation... But like I said... You just would not have seen any of it coming because they way He handled the initial part of your "deal" was so opposite to what he became once he had your money. I am just happy to hear you got your money back and that this guy is GONE!

[ConcinusMan]

I don't suppose I could even get a clue who this was? All I really need to know is if I ever posted in threads he participated in or started. This has really peaked my curiosity. I'm pretty sure I would have noticed a raving lunatic since I am one too.

[Stefan-A]

I don't suppose I could even get a clue who this was? All I really need to know is if I ever posted in threads he participated in or started.

You did. In fact, you made 1/4 of the replies in his last thread.

[BUSHSNAKE]

in glad everything worked out for you in the end Steve-O

[ConcinusMan]

You did. In fact, you made 1/4 of the replies in his last thread.

Oh, him. Did seem kind of odd that someone that has such morphs and so many of them would be so clueless.