Question on an international Paypal payment

I have a guy in Germany interested in a vehicle I'm selling. Never done an international transaction, nor have I ever done one this big - so I'm pretty nervous about getting ripped - especially for the dollar amount he offered. Guess I gotta drive to Linden, NJ to drop it off, which I'm definitely not crazy about doing.

My thinking is since it's thru Paypal, it should be legit. My main concern is .... am I going to get hammered at tax time? Transaction will be a little over $10k. Think that will trigger an audit?

As most of you know I'm out of work & just scraping by doing what I can from home. Any advice would be appreciated.

Smitty,
You need to call Wayne Carrini @ F40 Motorsports in Portland, CT.
He does international auto sales & money transfers all the time.


P.S. I think you are smart to proceed with caution.....

You could always have 2 sales.
1) For the wheels & tires
&
2) a sale for the Auto.

Just keep each price under $10,000.

Having transaction over 1o k is no big deal, as long as it's not done in cash.
Receiving paypal funds does not mean it's a legit transaction, I have been burned before by my own bank.

To prevent problem, don't just rely on information received online from PayPal, you really need to figure out when the amount will actually clear and post to your account, if the guy is pro at this thing, he'll know how to swindle you in an easy way, I know , it happened to me once, I had no problem dealing with buyers form out of the country, but I was really cheated by locals and out of state people.

So you need to read the fine prints of paypal about when a payment is actually clear, I mean ( CLEAR ) as like having the money not only posted to your account, but properly drawn out of the buyer's account as well, you may be surprised to learn that the process may take up to 13 days to be sure on the safe side.

"PayPal is not a bank!!!!!!" But a payment exchange clearing house!!!! Be careful!!!! Your not dealing with a bank!!!!! It could take up to 10 days for a payment to clear with PayPal and then it could take up to another 2 weeks before your bank actually receives those funds!!!! I hate PayPal!!!! If you loose money thru PayPal you do not have a guarantee as you would a bank!!!!!

Just sayin.......

Don't use Paypal for a transaction like this. Use commercial bank to commercial bank electronic funds transfer. No matter what payment method is use if you owe taxes, the taxes will be due. Make the selling price sufficient to cover any taxes. If your buyer will not agree to electronic funds transfer, run, run fast. It smells.

ditto on yanche's post

I sold a tr-6 to some guys from france... they flew here, cash in hand, they took it to the boat.....

dont do the paypal

Ok, thanks guys - that was my gut feeling.

Now on the bank to bank thing - I thought that was how they can gain your account info & clean you out? My bank is not what I would consider a commercial bank - it's just a small town credit union with a couple local branches. I'm guessing I'll have to go down there & discuss it with them.

I sent a counteroffer to the guy, & so far he has not responded, so this may be a no-go anyway .... we shall see.

A credit union is not a bank. You need a real bank, one that has electronic access, to the full hierarchy of national and international banks. Your credit union may do this for you but they will be using commercial to facilitate the money transfer.

Thanks for the info Yanche. Much appreciated.

The guy got back to me and said that someone had backed out of the sale of his motorcycle, so he does not have the funds to accept my counter-offer. I'm actually relieved. I don't like going into uncharted territory with that large of a sale - I prefer to know what the hell is going to happen! Too much risk for me. Small stuff I don't mind -- I've shipped many small items all over the world and never had an issue. If the money doesn't show up in my account, I don't ship - nice & easy. If this had gone down, I would have been awake for 2 weeks straight. I think I'm going to block international buyers. Just makes the stress level that much lower.

While we are on the subject, I thought I'd mention out of the country checks. By law (dumb law) the bank must show the check has cleared on day 10, however, a check from out of the country can take 90 days to clear. After day 10 you think it's cleared so you ship you item. Then 30 to 80 days later the bank informs you that the check was no good. Yanche is correct, the only good way is a bank to bank wire. You know for a fact that you have the money.

More good info - thanks Freddy.

Wanted to dig this one up to ask the question:

Why is it that so many people say wire transfers are NOT the way to go? Is that just Western Union type transfers?

I sold my propane furnace on Craig's list to someone here locally. BUT - While the ad was running, I got an email in broken English, I could tell it was not from this country. The guy wanted to Paypal me the money then I was to ship it to an Ohio address, all without him seeing the furnace or asking any more questions about it. I knew it was a scam, not sure how he would have benifited though. He claimed to be an american in the military out on a boat in the ocean somewhere and his family needed a furnace cuz their's quit. Gimme a break lol

Yeah using the military for your own personal gain is about as low as it gets. Should be punishable by firing squad of said military personnel.

When I was selling my El Camino on Craigslist & eBay last year, I got an email from somebody claiming they were in the military & wanted the car. I was initially skeptical ... but the guy said he was stationed in Iraq, and when he called me, the caller ID showed a base in FL one time, and SC the next. After that I knew he was legit. I had to go to a somewhat rough neighborhood outside of Philly to get paid by his cousin, then continue on south to Columbia, SC where he wanted the car to be. My buddies all said I was nuts & was falling for a trap ... but my instincts told me these guys were genuine - and they were. Genuine, good, red blooded Americans. I was glad to help them out, and to have met at least one of them.

Got to weed through the B/S, I guess. Part of the joys of selling ...

ALSO, if you get an email for INTERNATIONAL PAYPAL, IT DOESN"T exist, it would be a scam, a friend of mine selling a vehicle and this guy started sending him emails with a deposit in "INTERNATIONAL PAYPAL" it was a scam and had to claim and respond in 24 hours otherwise the guy was going to turn him in to the FBI or something for Fraud. Always be careful with online transactions.

AND if they mention an AGENT or something will come pick it up or bring a check and shipping, Scam too!

WIRE MONEY TRANSFER is also a direct deposit into your bank account, just open a new account with like $5.00 in it or something and have them transfer it directly if it's legit. The money has to be in the other persons account before the transfer, and it's only one way, they can't take it back.

Paypal can get flakey with certain transactions, the person can claim they never got it, file a dispute and Paypal can rip the money right out of your account! and then the FEES, Paypal takes up 1-2%.