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Why only PayPal Friends and Family?

Andrew Echols

Andrew Echols

Gold Member
Feedback: 2 / 0 / 0
Joined
Nov 20, 2020
Messages
72
Hey Everyone,

I am wondering why people who sell on here mostly do the Friends and Family way of paying on PayPal. I have someone who wants to buy a knife I am selling and wants to do the Goods and Service payment and pay for the extra charge for it. Is it possible I could get scammed trough the ability to refund with the Goods and Service method? or do people only do the Friends and Family service to avoid the extra charge that comes with the Goods and Services payment method?
 
Andrew Echols said:
Hey Everyone,

I am wondering why people who sell on here mostly do the Friends and Family way of paying on PayPal. I have someone who wants to buy a knife I am selling and wants to do the Goods and Service payment and pay for the extra charge for it. Is it possible I could get scammed trough the ability to refund with the Goods and Service method? or do people only do the Friends and Family service to avoid the extra charge that comes with the Goods and Services payment method?
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I think it's a tax reporting thing.

if you're on the up and up it shouldnt be an issue I wouldnt tjink
 
Andrew Echols said:
Hey Everyone,

I am wondering why people who sell on here mostly do the Friends and Family way of paying on PayPal. I have someone who wants to buy a knife I am selling and wants to do the Goods and Service payment and pay for the extra charge for it. Is it possible I could get scammed trough the ability to refund with the Goods and Service method? or do people only do the Friends and Family service to avoid the extra charge that comes with the Goods and Services payment method?
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Take note of the warnings at the top of every page of the exchange.
 
As others have said, it’s mostly about the tax thing. You can be scammed by G&S, sure. No method is 100% safe. If you sell G&S to an unproven solid person, just keep photos and receipts of shipping to back yourself if they try to claim you sent wrong thing. That scam isn’t common though.

The single best thing you can do is vet who you buy from or sell to. Are they long respected members here with plenty positive transactions? Ask for vouches for them, are they paying members and only communicate through PM’s. And so on. Thats the best insurance you can against being scammed.
 
Andrew Echols said:
Hey Everyone,

I am wondering why people who sell on here mostly do the Friends and Family way of paying on PayPal. I have someone who wants to buy a knife I am selling and wants to do the Goods and Service payment and pay for the extra charge for it. Is it possible I could get scammed trough the ability to refund with the Goods and Service method? or do people only do the Friends and Family service to avoid the extra charge that comes with the Goods and Services payment method?
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Unless they are friend or family of the buyer, they are cheating on taxes. Yes, you still can get scammed, but G&S is safer (and more expensive).
 
ferider said:
Unless they are friend or family of yours, they are cheating on taxes. G&S is safer for you as a seller.
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Andrew Echols Andrew Echols
Also look into US Postal Money Orders.... Everyone should look into them instead of PP. There ARE other options for everyone.
probably even More secure, stiffer penalties for theft.
 
I can understand why some people use it when they have like 10 or 20K worth of knives listed. That's going to get the IRS's attention. Thing is they ALREADY paid taxes on those knives but they would have to prove to the tax man that they aren't making a profit & if they are they have to pay taxes on that profit. Just gotta be careful cause PPFF is a scammer's choice of payment. Look at their feedback.
 
JTR357 said:
Thing is they ALREADY paid taxes on those knives but they would have to prove to the tax man that they aren't making a profit & if they are they have to pay taxes on that profit.
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People have been using this as their reason for using F&F since the tax thing started, yet they sell new knives purchased after then. It's really not a valid excuse most of the time. Most people have receipts or knew they should keep the receipts for most knives. On top of that, it is easy to get the price of any knife still in production anyway. There are very few cases where that is a legitimate reason.
 
kreole said:
People have been using this as their reason for using F&F since the tax thing started, yet they sell new knives purchased after then. It's really not a valid excuse most of the time. Most people have receipts or knew they should keep the receipts for most knives. On top of that, it is easy to get the price of any knife still in production anyway. There are very few cases where that is a legitimate reason.
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I agree 100%. I have just about every online knife purchase saved in a separate folder in my Gmail. This goes all the way back to 2007. Just trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.
 
G&S should be embraced rather than shuned IMO. No payment is totally scam proof, but far less have been scamed with G&S then FF.
No matter what you use it is best to do a little research on who you are dealing with as well as being aware of safe practices.
 
Friend...I used PayPal F&F at the seller's request just a few day's ago..And I got Scammed...on this forum..PayPal couldn't help...also on this very forum 2 year's ago I was scammed...I sent USPS money order...postal authorite's.did absolutely nothing....long story short use PP Good's & Service's...at least you have a slim chance of success.
 
REB40 said:
Friend...I used PayPal F&F at the seller's request just a few day's ago..And I got Scammed...on this forum..PayPal couldn't help...also on this very forum 2 year's ago I was scammed...I sent USPS money order...postal authorite's.did absolutely nothing....long story short use PP Good's & Service's...at least you have a slim chance of success.
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Well, quite a bit more than a slim chance. The avalanche of fraud which has befallen the site of late stems from, primarily, two things:

1. Individuals who, in their zeal for a good deal, rush headlong into a transaction before ensuring that they are, in fact, dealing with the legitimate seller. Private messages would go a long way toward solving this issue...rather than leaving your email address on a public board for any reprobate to use for nefarious purposes.

2. Members who have been too lazy or oblivious to have strong passwords and 2FA to protect their BF accounts, allowing the same sorts of villains to hack and take over their accounts.

The issue starts with the individual members not doing their due diligence. No amount of hand holding, advice, warnings or billboards have proven sufficient to protect members from themselves. There is a limit to what we can do in that regard, much as we may wish otherwise.
 
If you want to get ripped off by a stranger on the internet by PayPal F&F. Sooner or later you will get lucky!
 
BF is a friendly community and everyone is considered family.





:)
 
calm said:
BF is a friendly community and everyone is considered family.





:)
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Ha ha I was thinking the same thing in my head! "If someone is buying my knife they are basically my best friend. so it counts, right?"
 
I sell by PayPal G&S. If people pay me by F&F, CashApp, or Zelle, I do not object or refund, I just mail the knife. PayPal's ToS says I cannot request F&F payments for commercial transactions, so I don't.

We have known about the tax implications for almost five years now. I have documented every knife I've bought and have receipts, prices, and documentation of PayPal and USPS costs associated with sales. I issue bills of sale with dates and prices, and I aim to break even or come out a little ahead on knives each year. I'm a little bit in the hole for 2024 with something like a net ($150) or so, and that's doing OK in my book. I will probably have no excess tax burden. PayPal thinks I'm a great seller and doesn't hold my funds because I ship promptly, add tracking to the PayPal transaction, and my buyers never have issues. So I've been entirely fine these past four years during the PayPal F&F brouhaha.
 
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