Discussions

Happens on all classified sites. Usually a little common sense is all one needs to spot them.  
 

good one is I got it in the divorce or im overseas at the moment lol so many BS things going on just got to be smart

Be careful when dealing with Paypal. The buyer can actually transfer the money to your account, pick up the merchandise and [i]THEN[/i] pull the scam. He would claim that he never received the goods and it's up to you to prove that they were shipped and delivered. Of course, if you don't ship and he picks up, then you can't prove delivery, can you? The scammer gets a refund from Paypal and you are out the merchandise and the money.  
 
DO NOT allow pick-up when paying by PayPal.

I have placed an ad for a ring on eBrandon, and I am  
asking $400. They texted, asking if it was still availale;  
what was my best offer;  
what did I pay for it.  
Then they texted saying they would pay me $450, and would be using pay pal.  
This evening, they are still bothering me.  
I know this is a scam, and will not deal with this person. Oh geez!  

I've had two already saying they want to pay with pay pal. One was a Minnesota area code another Arizona . We said we have to wait for confirmation and he actually phoned our house! From a Los Angeles number. The person was male. Had a bit of an accent of some sort. Yes but bothered us all day about our advertisement.

Just add "cash only" to your ad and that should alleviate the issue of whether or not to accept paypal

Seems these scammers only bother with items over a certain dollar value.  

Jean said "Seems these scammers only bother with items over a certain dollar value.   "

I believe even scammers have an expected minimum wage. Hard to justify an hours worth of good scamming for a measly 5 or 10 dollars.

Even a phone call cannot be trusted. Scammers can spoof call display very easily using a VOIP phone system and can be calling from anywhere, regardless of the phone number.

We're fortunate to have a place where so many local buyers and local sellers find each other every day to exchange everything under the sun. With such a large collection of ads and users comes the chance that out-of-province scammers will try to ply their trade as they do on other sites around the world. Measures are regularly taken to tweak the classifieds and make them a more difficult place for scammers to exist, however its inevitable that some will sneak through from time to time. For that reason its important to know the signs of a scam. As I regularly make a habit of saying, if an inquiry is from someone who is unable or unwilling to meet in person to make the exchange (regardless of reason given) then it is strongly not recommended that one proceed. The classifieds are intended as a local service and it should be seen as an instant red flag if someone isn't conducting the transaction in person (shipping "agents" don't count), if they are asking for personal information such as bank account info, if they are sending you more money than you're asking for or if there is some reason that they are asking you to in stead send them money.  
For more on safe practices when using the service please check out http://www.ebrandon.ca/classifieds.safety.aspx  
 
An internal update was made today to limit unwanted text message replies. I feel confident that it will significantly reduce that kind of reply without effecting the regular everyday user, but if you receive a text reply that you believe might be a scam attempt you can help in further enhancing of the system by getting in touch through the Contact & Support link at the bottom of the page and letting me know the specifics of the reply. The more information I have to work with, the more tweaks I can make for the better of everyone.  
 
Thanks for your help in making the classifieds the best place they can be for local buyers and local sellers alike!