View before you buy . . . or so I thought.

nuttyTBgelding

nuttyTBgelding

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I had the strangest email exchange yesterday and wanted to get your thoughts on it.

Basically I have put my boy up for sale. I had an email from someone asking if he was still for sale to which I replied he was. The person then said that if I could ensure them that 'it' (my horse) was in good condition they were happy to purchase 'it'. They then told me to supply my paypal details so they could action payment and have someone pick 'it' up as soon as the funds had cleared.

I have to admit that I was more than a little confused at this point and so asked them to confirm what it was the were enquiring about. They came back and said that it was indeed regarding my horse and again told me to give them my paypal details. At this point I explained that I wanted to meet them before agreeing to anything. They were very against this saying they were too busy to attend and they would send their 'agent' when payment had cleared. I replied saying sorry, but I want to meet any perspective buyers (I thought this was the norm??) :confused:

They came back with the same answer as before which was that their 'agent' would be able to meet me when they came to pick my horse up. I went back and explained that I was currently at work and was unable to talk properly but if they would like to have some more information on the horse to call me after 5.30 and supplied my mobile number. This didn't appear to please them as they emailed me back to say they were unable to call due to time, that their 'agent' would be picking up the horse and once again demanded my paypal details.

To be honest, by this point I was getting to the end of my tether and was very suspicious of why they didn't want to either meet me or talk to me on the phone. I replied to their list of demands so to speak by advising that if they were unwilling to either come and meet me in person or talk to me on the phone that I wouldn't even consider selling them my horse. I got a 'Fine forget it' reply.

I have to admit that in all my time of being around horses and owning horses I have never come across this before where someone is willing to buy your horse without asking any questions about it, viewing it or trying it first but will buy it purely based on a picture on the advert and the advert text.

Has anyone else had an experience like this before? If so, what did you do? If you haven't come across this before, what would you have done if you were put in that situation?

Any thoughts would be fantastic as I am totally baffeled :confused:
 
Ditto the other posters, this is a scam. It has been sent out to other owners, some of which have posted on here about it. Maybe search payment scam on here, as i can't remember details from other cases, only that it's been done.
Good on you for sticking to your guns.
 
It's a very well known scam! They ask for details of your pay pal account and when you email back they hack into your bank account. Or they pay too much into your account "by accident" and ask you to return it - some sort of money laundering scam I think.

Don't reply!
 
Grumpy Jewel said:
Hopefully you where never tempted by the offer.
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To be honest, I wasn't tempted at all just very very suspicious. I was totally thrown when they asked me for my paypal details, that was when the warning lights started to flash. There is no way I would sell my horse to someone without first talking with them on the phone and finding out what they are looking for etc and then meeting them to see what they are like and how they act with him. At the end of the day even though I am selling him, I still want him to go to a good home with someone who will love him and care for him, not some dodgy dealer type person.
 
Have received this sort of email myself when selling horses - Total scam and a lovely chance to send an email richly laced with foul language and expletives! :p

Never heard of them actually taking the horse though - only ever used as a means to access your account in my experience - but could be wrong.
 
This one very much seems like a scam , but there are some normal ones out there
I had my boy up for sale and had a few like this
I was on my guard , and I had a email from a woman in Wales
Who was interested , I asked her numerous questions to which she answered she couldnt come from wales to Kent so I asked about payment etc
And she asked for paypal address , I said I didn't want it payed into my account but wanted cash in Hand
She organised transport from a transporter and added the amount for horse throw the account of travel company , she paid me on the day she picked him up
I made sure he was going to a good home by numerous photos, email on info of what she was doing with him, and I required 3 different references one of which inc a vet who deals with other horse
There are dodgy ones but there are also proper ones
 
I am glad :) Thsys why it usually fails with horses as the majority of genuine, loving owners would never even contemplate selling their horses to an unseen party and vetting exactly what they want and where the horse will go. Good on you for getting out of it.
 
Paypal require items to be sent by trackable means. So they pay the money into your Paypal, start an "item not received" case with Paypal. You can't prove delivery as obviously you can't post a horse by recorded delivery, Paypal find in their favour and return the money to them.

I had a mail like this when I advertised my lorry. Had loads of fun mailing them back. Turned into quite a correspondence, and kept me amused for a while :D
 
sychnant said:
Paypal require items to be sent by trackable means. So they pay the money into your Paypal, start an "item not received" case with Paypal. You can't prove delivery as obviously you can't post a horse by recorded delivery, Paypal find in their favour and return the money to them.

I had a mail like this when I advertised my lorry. Had loads of fun mailing them back. Turned into quite a correspondence, and kept me amused for a while :D
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ahh thankyou, I understand :). gosh I've never encountered anything like this!!!
 
This is obviously a scam.

But I just want to add that I have bought a horse without seeing it but he was elderly and was to be a companion for my recently weaned foal. I met the owner when she brought him to me and everyone was happy.

He turned out to be a lovely boy and capable of giving my children occasional rides.

He is now retired properly and living at my friend's as a big lawn mower. :)

So there are people out there who will buy without seeing them but it is very doubtful in most cases.
 
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I bought Mollie without seeing her. I wanted a good-tempered sound horse for hacking, for under £1,000. I was very lacking in confidence about buying myself and emailed an old friend (full-time horsey professional with a long life-times experience) for advice. I expected some pointers, but she offered to find me a horse.

Trouble is, my friend lives 300 miles away so at first I couldn't see how this could work. I couldn't afford to travel to try horses that far away, but she convinced me she'd look out for a suitable horse and buy on my behalf then transport it to me. (She travels a lot with horses to competitions).

I realise it was an unusual thing to do, but yes I bought a horse I'd never met!
 
Although I believe this was a scam a pony at a nearby yard was up for sale as he was too much for the wee boy and when advertised at a reasonably cheap price for a pony with a little work would be a nice allrounder, a lady phoned and bought the pony over that one phone call. She came and collected him cash in hand a few days later and he is now in a lovely home the last I heard! Not how I would sell but for this family and wee pony it was the best thing for this 'fly by' buyer to happen.
 
Over in Australia it is quite normal to buy a horse unseen due to distances that need to be travelled to view. I have to say that I would never buy a horse without seeing it, even if it meant a flight to go and see it. But someone did by a youngster off me based on the video I sent her of him. She was in Melbourne and I am in Sydney, so about 13 hour road trip (at that time, roads a bit better now, may be a bit quicker).

The thing is that these ponies that are sold unseen are often quite expensive kids ponies, because there is such a demand for a good kids pony, if the buyer is satisfied after viewing video, asking questions, and usually a vet check they often take the risk and buy rather than missing out on the deal.


But you would expect many questions and discussions re horse if a genuine buyer, I agree that this sounds like a scam, and best to stay well away from them.
 
dodgy dodgy dodgy..
my dad bought his horse without viewing and riding - all he saw was a video :rolleyes:
luckily for him, it's worked out okay because he paid a hell of a lot of money for the horse and transporting it from switzerland to the UAE
 
H@h even warns you of such a scam in it's magazine I had someone try similar e
When I had a horse for sale did not even reply to the email! It must work sometimes or they would not keep trying but who really falls for it?
 
Hiya, I had a similar experience just over a year ago when I was selling my pony. They emailed me in the same way asking if my pony was as described in the advert and they would arrange their agent to pick up the pony without viewing. I told them it would be better for them to come and view and try my pony first before they bought him as he was newly broken (also so I could assess who they were and if I would be happy him going to them!). They to would not talk to me by phone, which I thought was even stranger.

However instead of them wanting my Paypal details they wanted my bank account details!!! I thought this is very odd and quickly told them where to go and to stop wasting my time!!!

My pony was advertised on a site that my friend had recommended and I emailed the administrators of the site about this "hoax" to warn other people who were advertising on the site about this strange going on's.

Some people are genuine, however in this instance it was definatly a scam.
 
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