Buying a horse unseen & Paypal

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whisper10

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I have a horse for sale and some one has approached me about buying my horse unseen and paying for it via Paypal.

At first I thought it was a scam but reading the Forum some people do buy horses unseen.

Does this actually happen and how do you pay for the horse.

Thank you in advance for any advice.
 
Also on large sums of money paypal can be very slow about handing over the money. I do bank transfers all the time with friends and never get charged. When we pay for horses we always take a bankers draft on collection.
 
I sold my horse unseen, they did a transfer into my account. I wouldn't let the horse leave until the funds cleared into the account.
 
Where are the buyers from, as if from overseas paypal is much more common for large amounts of money than other methods? Personally I think a bank transfer would be the way to go, especially as pp take a commission, but just trying to explain why someone might do it like that... doesn't necessarily mean that they are dodgy!
 
be very wary they can claim the money back through paypal!

ie my son sold a phone a week later paypal claimed the money back saying buyer never received phone. My son went through all the procedures but still never got his money back

Also as others say you may want to know where horse was going?

If they want to buy unseen then bank transfer only!!!!
 
I have had two people try to buy my boy unseen but i couldn't do it to him.
I want to know that the new owner has tried him properly.
As i have found with the people that do turn up people don't always realise they are perhaps not the rider they think they are :rolleyes: :cool:
 
Thank you for your advice, I have emailed him to say that I would want a bank transfer and asked for a bit more info so I will wait to see if he is genuine.
 
I Thought I would update on this, after several emails back and forth when I asked him to do a bank transfer I was responded with exactly this

'Can't do bank transfer just paypal alone'

no Hi, Thanks or Goodbye, So I can confirm this was a scam. Not sure whether you can advise anyone (ie Paypal) of this to prevent people being taken in and losing horse and money.

Thanks to all of you responses I have learn't more about the use of paypal and will be careful.
 
whisper10 said:
:eek: I did not realise they take a commision.
Click to expand...

Yeah, how do you think they make money? They take quite a big cut when its a lot of money!

I personally wouldnt do this... Have you spoken to them by phone at length? Id do this first. I bought a horse "unseen", he was in Wales so I just asked for a video of him being ridden. I spoke to them on the phone at length though, and they asked for photos of where he'd be (ie. my yard) which I provided. I then had him vetted by a local vet down there, then paid 1/2 by direct bank transfer, on his arrival up here I then paid the other 1/2, so there was a degree of trust on both sides. It worked out well and I dont regret doing it one bit! However, the horse I bought was only a 3yo, just backed - so I figured there couldnt be much wrong with him (I was quite wrong there, but I dont regret it!).

I wouldnt sell one of my own horses unseen though, I like to check out their new home first.
 
I've been involved in both buying and selling horses sight unseen - it's more common in North America, given the vast distances and "pockets" of equestrian activity.

BUT (and it's a big one) . . .

They've always involved a great deal of communication, vets, trainers, video and information. They've also all been done with direct payment of some sort. Interestingly, all the deals like this I've been involved in have worked out well, perhaps because buyers tend to be looking for something very specific and, if they can enter into such a search, have the ways and means to keep the horse well. Plus, I do think there's something to the buyer feeling obliged to make it work out, since they can't just turn around and complain if it's not all perfect the first day. So I don't think it's necessarily bad for the horse, either.

So, yes, it can and does happen.

But not by email and not with Paypal. (I'm sure some trainers do take Paypal but they would be big, well known sellers to do that much business.) If someone approaches like that, it's pretty much always going to be a scam.
 
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