this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2025
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I'm glad the postal sale worked out. That's one of the typical ways scammers try get people, so it's good they were genuine
There is always still a risk they will try to claim a package didn't arrive and get PayPal to refund, but with postage tracking it would be unlikely to be successful. The scammers generally try to push you into some dodgy or new payment system and then bamboozle you with fake emails, refunds and paying money to "release funds". They generally sound so ridiculous I am amazed people fall for them, but obviously lots of people do.
Overall I think the majority of people are pretty honest, but unfortunately the dodgy people have a disproportionate impact because they are playing a "numbers game" and contact a lot of people. The majority of the poor experiences when buying and selling are more the result of poor communication and mismatched expectations. I think that's one of the things that was good when eBay was the main selling system - they managed the whole process and made sure everything ran in a consistent and orderly way. Dispirate individuals trying to work everything out is like herding cats and ends up with a lot of chaos and some people getting scratched even if no one actually starts out intending to do harm.
Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk, I think I spend far too much time thinking about such things!