[Earl]

I have bought many things off of Craig's list. I find the site a good resource for getting things for discounts.

I have an item listed for sale and received a response last night from a lady who wants to buy it but she lives "abroad". she wants to pay me through paypal. She is willing to pay me $200 for shipping (its a stereo system) and the asking price. should I be worried? if someone pays you in paypal can it be a scam?

My gut says don't do it but who knows, maybe I am just being paranoid.

[AfterMyNap]

No way, I wouldn't touch it with a 10-ft. modem. The whole point of Craigslist is to sell wares locally and bypass the whole shipping thing.

If she can't find a local/regional vendor for the same item, she's in a place where she can't even use it.

I wonder whose identity she has stolen.

[Earl]

thats what I felt also. thanks. no deal.

[Kitty]

Earl, I had a dining room set on Craigs list and I only got one or two local responses. Most were from people (scammers) who wanted to pay me more than I was asking and pay premium costs for shipping. Red flag alert! One way I could tell they were scammers was their grammar in the emails they would send to me. Plus, when I questioned their motives they disappeared.

[greta]

If she lives abroad, wouldn't she be using 220v not 110v? Definitely sounds fishy!

[Jomar]

We love CL here at my house, but you have to be very careful with meeting people and buying/selling.

It sounds like a definite scam of some sort and I don't know why someone would want to buy anything that they haven't seen in person

If it sound too good to be true....

I think they probably do have ways to scam with paypal.
I did a quick search

[Craigslist Nigerian Scams and More

Emails from Nigeria offering you more than your selling price if you accept their check or money order are typical. The fact that this is a scam may seem obvious but there are lots of variations on this theme that fool people every day. Don't add your name to the growing list of Craigslist fraud victims. Be smart, be aware and if in doubt ask your friends or someone with internet savvy what they think if things sound fishy.

This page details a few common Craigslist scams but no list is ever complete because new versions of old scams appear all the time. Once you know the common themes these criminals use you can usually spot them a mile away and they become little more than a subject of amusement.

To help keep yourself safe from scams, Craigslist advises that any business dealings be done with people in your own local area. Don't do business with folks who live far away. As with any online financial transactions, prudence and common sense are paramount. I once received an offer for a purchase where the person said they lived in California but requested that I email the item to somewhere in Oregon. Now what's wrong with this picture?

Beware of anyone offering more than what you asked for. This is too weird. Who would do that? Especially since Craigslist is known as the place to go for good deals. Other clues include poor grammar and misspelled words. In the offer I mentioned earlier both Oregon and California were misspelled and English was obviously not their native language. That doesn't necessarily mean the inquiry is coming from abroad but it's certainly a red flag.]
http://www.fraudguides.com/internet-...list-scams.asp

[gardengrl]

I buy from Craig list a lot! Also sell & give away stuff. It's great, but this is DEFINATELY a Scam. We get these all the time. My DH is always goofing around with them & they go away fast! But for sure it is a scam!

[Dejibo]

IF you decide to do this, make sure you WAIT until the entire paypal transaction has CLEARED the bank. This can take upwards of a week to 10 business days. There are so many fake, or hijacked accounts out there. Also to pay $200 to ship a stereo is a HUGE RED FLAG. Your gut reaction is already telling you something is wrong here, or you would not have come to ask advice. I say follow your gut, and offer it to some one more locally. You would hate to be on the hook for bank processing fees, the bounced charges, and have no stereo.

[Riverwild]

Run and do NOT look back.

This is a common CL scam. They have warned people about it over and over, but people are still falling for it and getting ripped off.

Don't be one of them!