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I have put a laptop for sale on Gumtree for £180. I have received a Whatsapp message today as below

"I am interested in purchasing your laptop. I will offer you the asking price for the item and £18 for postage royal mail delivery with tracking to me in Liverpool so send me a paypal money request on paypal directly to my paypal account email id which is xxxxxxxxx@outlook.com and I will submit payment to you immediately via paypal. Thanks"

I have read that Paypal payments can be reversed if the buyer pays by credit card and then disputes that the item was not as described or not received. He has asked me to send via tracked delivery but I'm guessing this doesn't necessarily protect me if he claims that the laptop was not as described. Is this too risky?

Kamil Drakari
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Leroy
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2 Answers2

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Your £180 laptop isn't anything special, and isn't anything that a buyer on the other side of the country should be interested in. He can find plenty of £180 laptops at home. You can avoid scams on these kinds of sites by dealing in person, cash only.

Another sign that this is a scam: he doesn't even know what you're selling or how much you're selling it for, he just wants to offer you 'full asking price' for 'your item'.

Shawaron
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I've just received exactly the same WhatsApp message from someone else wanting to buy something from me on GumTree. Definitely a scam.

Tags
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