ol Bombero-JC wrote:
Scams for purchase of what you are selling are nothing new.
I prefer Craigslist (excellent results) - and expect some scammers - although recently out of about 50 calls on a TT I was selling, not a single scammer.
Advertise as cash only, funds to be exchanged -in person- at their bank or yours.
Claim they don't have a local bank (yeah, right!) - tell 'em to open an account at the bank of their choice. Now they have a local bank.
I use (only) a dedicated voice mail service for incoming replies.
(It's *NOT* my home or cell phone number).
Callers are told it's VM only, and instructed to leave a name and number and I will call them back (at *MY* convenience) in the order that the calls were received.
They are also advised - I will indicate (on the voice mail) if the item has been sold.
When sold, that info becomes the new message - no need to keep answering a phone or deleting e-mails/texts *after* the sale.
Yes - I must delete the VM calls - but can do that "whenever".
It must work - although there are some repeat callers who think they will eventually reach a "real" person, they are all genuine ......sometimes with silly questions, but the system has been flawless for me..:C
Would imagine texts are like accepting E-mail replies (tried that once) - way, WAY too much "clutter" - and repeats!..:(
BTW - when/if I return calls initially - I use a TracPhone (w/out VM activated) to see if they "check out".
No caller ever has my real phone number/s until they pass muster.
~
I worked in the high-end watch business for 15 years, so know any number of scams, including bad credit cards (sellers have ZERO recourse), counterfeit checks and "retracted" wire transfers. We flat-out stopped taking PayPal, because of the card issue. After a while, you just get to know if a "customer" is hinky. About the only thing we didn't get hit with was out and out bad currency, and plenty of that changed hands, too. :-)
Lyle
