Concerned about an Adopt

[HaruTotetsu]

Hi everyone,

Recently I went to purchase an adopt from someone, but when they sent me a note today about buying it they wanted me to send the money through the Friends and Family option.

To be clear I haven't sent any money yet, I'm just a tad worried about them possibly being a scammer.

I guess what I want to know is, what should I say back to them?

[RTKobold]

I would say no since sending money through Friends and Family robs you of paypal protection. Plus something like that seems quite shady.

[Bornes]

If it's a paypal.me link you might be able to switch it to the goods and services option before you pay on your own.
If you can't do that, contact the seller and ask them to send you an invoice so you can pay for it that way. If they refuse, say you're no longer interested.

Edited August 5, 2020 by Bornes

[Rendrassa]

Nothing to add, just backing up what RTKobold and Bornes have said.

[HaruTotetsu]

Hey guys thanks for the advice (both on here and the comments I've seen on the post of this by AB on Twitter).

I've since responded to the adopt seller in question, and said
"Hi, sorry but I'm not willing to send the money via Friends and Family, as that not only robs me of any protection provided by PayPal it's also a tactic used by scammers. Besides that it's also against the Terms of Service of PayPal as it's deemed an attempt to dodge paying the fees they charge, which could result in both of us having our PayPal accounts closed and all the money contained within it would be taken by PayPal without any way to recover it, as we both agreed the moment we made a PayPal account.

If you demand I send it through Friends and Family then I'll have to withdraw my offer."

The person in question's gallery isn't very large and only has adopts that look like they were all made with bases, makes me concerned, so I'm going to contact anyone else that looks like they've bought one and see how things went for them.

Again, thanks for the advice.

[HaruTotetsu]

Hi again everyone, just through I'd give you all an update. The user in question responded with a simple "pay as it will be more convenient for you" which isn't too bad as I've sent it with buyers protection, plus a bit of extra money to cover the fees. I also relied to them telling them what I've done and advised that they don't ask for friends and family in future, and attempted to tell them the dangers of doing that. So I'm optimistic, but still concerned. I don't think English is their first language so they might struggle to understand, what I've said.

Concerning contacting previous buyers, one said they didn't even get suggested to send through friends and family, the other said they just send it with the buyers protection and covered the cost of the fee's themselves. So again, I'm hopeful but still a little suspect. I'll see how things go.

Thanks again for the advice. it really helped.

[HaruTotetsu]

Final notice on this. After paying the user, they sent me the files for the character I adopted and everything seems to have gone well. Hopefully they'll take the advice I gave them thanks to everyone's input.

I think at this point the staff can close this thread if they want to as there's noting else to add.

Thank you everyone.