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Venmo as gunbroker payment


Trigger Mike

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Sometimes I bud on things to see how they do.  Today I "won" a beretta 690.  The guy wants venmo as payment.   

 

Never used venmo.  The seller has NR as his rating so I hesitate based on that.  Do I have any recourse if it is fraud?

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Venmo is the same as sending cash. You have zero recourse if he doesn't send the gun. It is a violation of Venmo's policy to use it to purchase firearms. They can lock down your funds and account if caught doing so.

https://support.gunbroker.com/hc/en-us/articles/224285428-PayPal-Venmo-Zelle-Policy-on-Firearms

 

GunBroker.com preferred payment methods are Credit Cards, USPS Money Order and GunBroker Pay. We do NOT recommend using Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, PayPal Friends and Family or any person-to-person cash payment.

PayPal's firearms policy:

PayPal does not allow the use of its service or logo for selling firearms, certain firearm parts or ammunition.

Click the following link to read the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy. Using PayPal for payments associated with items that are prohibited by their Acceptable Use Policy may result in the suspension or closure of your PayPal account.

Use of PayPal on GunBroker.com:

PayPal can be used for many items sold on GunBroker.com, so we do list PayPal as a payment option. We cannot provide a direct link to PayPal from a listing or during the checkout process. If you select PayPal as a payment option, you need to submit payment directly from the PayPal website.

Venmo's firearms policy:

Venmo does not allow the use of its service or logo for selling firearms, certain firearm parts or ammunition.

Click the following link to read the Venmo Acceptable Use Policy (same as PayPal's). Using Venmo for payments associated with items that are prohibited by their Acceptable Use Policy may result in the suspension or closure of your Venmo account.

Zelle's firearms policy:

Zelle does not allow the use of its service or logo for selling firearms, certain firearm parts or ammunition.

Click the following link to read the Zelle Acceptable Use Policy. Using Zelle for payments associated with items that are prohibited by their Acceptable Use Policy may result in the suspension or closure of your Zelle account.

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1 hour ago, Trigger Mike said:

Sometimes I bud on things to see how they do.  Today I "won" a beretta 690.  The guy wants venmo as payment.   

 

Never used venmo.  The seller has NR as his rating so I hesitate based on that.  Do I have any recourse if it is fraud?

Have you done a google reverse image lookup to verify the scammer seller didn't rip the images from another site? If you post the link I can do so if you don't know how.

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https://www.gunbroker.com/item/912576282

 

If this is it, I could not find other images that were identical. I would call and have him send new and different photos to verify he has the gun. I also recommend you do not send money by any of the mean listed above.

This service is secure: https://www.guntab.com/

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1 hour ago, Cholla said:

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/912576282

 

If this is it, I could not find other images that were identical. I would call and have him send new and different photos to verify he has the gun. I also recommend you do not send money by any of the mean listed above.

This service is secure: https://www.guntab.com/

Yep that is the one.  

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This screams of scam to me. The seller has no feedback, demands a means of payment that gives you no recourse, and has a high-end gun listed for a low price. That is a classic scammer m.o.   Sassnetguy50's suggestion may give you more information, or it may be a stolen identity and once he has your money, never contact you again. I have seen cases where the scammer has sent a photo ID (driver's license) of another person that had no idea what's going on until the police came knocking on his door.

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Does the guntab let you take your money back verses venmo?  Any other options where I could use a credit card in case I need to dispute the charge?  

 

If ligit I don't want to not pay , just the things you cited bothered me as well.

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It looks like you can use a CC through Guntab. Here is the process:

 

What are the transaction steps?

Successful transaction steps

A successful transaction has the following steps:

  1. Pending buyer preferences (5 minutes or less). The buyer needs to select a receiving gun dealer or enter a shipping address, depending on whether transfer is required. The buyer also needs to select a payment method.
  2. Pending verifications (if applicable; 2 hours or less). Usually this occurs when the buyer needs to verify the payment method. Credit card verification takes around 2 minutes. Bank account takes 1-2 business days. Sometimes this occurs when GunTab needs to perform additional verifications on the transaction. These usually take less than 2 hours.
  3. Pending payment processing (if applicable; 1-2 business days). This only occurs when the buyer pays by bank account, because credit card and wire transfer payments are effectively instant. GunTab needs to wait for the bank account transfer to be processed by the banking system.
  4. Pending shipment (less than 3 days). The seller needs to ship the merchandise and “mark as shipped” in GunTab. Ideally the seller provides the shipment tracking number. The seller must ship the merchandise within 3 days of receiving shipping instructions from GunTab.
  5. Pending delivery (1-8 days). The shipment needs to be delivered. If the seller provided the shipment tracking number, GunTab will “mark as delivered” automatically. Otherwise the buyer must mark as delivered. This takes at least 1 day, and depends entirely on the shipping service purchased. Weather and other events can occasionally cause shipments to be delayed.
  6. Pending buyer inspection period (up to 3 days). The buyer has a 3-day inspection period after delivery. If there is a problem with the merchandise, the buyer needs to file a dispute with GunTab in this period. If the 3-day period expires without a dispute, or if the buyer chooses to “mark as accepted,” GunTab disburses the funds to the seller. Learn more.
  7. Pending disbursement processing (1-2 business days). The seller needs to wait for the bank account transfer to be processed by the banking system. If the seller has not already verified their bank account as requested, disbursement processing will be delayed until it is verified.
  8. Succeeded. The buyer is satisfied with the merchandise and the seller has been paid. The transaction is complete.
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Told him venmo doesn't like gun purchases and suggested guntab.   Said he had used venmo before.  

 

Asked for a picture of the chokes so I would know what chokes I need to buy to arrive the same time as the gun but he said the gun was already at his ffl waiting on me telling him who my ffl is and to send the money so no more pics.   

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5 minutes ago, Trigger Mike said:

Told him venmo doesn't like gun purchases and suggested guntab.   Said he had used venmo before.  

 

Asked for a picture of the chokes so I would know what chokes I need to buy to arrive the same time as the gun but he said the gun was already at his ffl waiting on me telling him who my ffl is and to send the money so no more pics.   

Run away!

OLG 

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I'm thinking that same thing.  My gut says something is wrong.  

 

Assuming he leaves a bad review, how bad would that hurt me with future purchases with other dealers etc?  I always pay within minutes of winning so have good reviews up til now. 

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I've bought and sold a fair amount on Gunbroker.  The only issues I have ever had have been with (NR) users and Sellers that only have feedback as a buyer but none as a seller themselves. 

 

Call and talk to the seller, explain your concerns.  There are a number of red flags with this listing.

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7 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Run away!

OLG 

Exactly. Total scam. Long guns need to go through an FFL on your end, not his. He ships to your FFL. I would report him as a scammer to GB. They have posted that they are cleaning up their act. You can also leave him bad feedback and let the world know he is a scammer.

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2 minutes ago, Trigger Mike said:

I'm thinking that same thing.  My gut says something is wrong.  

 

Assuming he leaves a bad review, how bad would that hurt me with future purchases with other dealers etc?  I always pay within minutes of winning so have good reviews up til now. 

If I left a review saying that after winning the auction for a firearm, the seller insisted on Venmo for payment and I would not do so... Doubt any negative review from the seller would hurt me at all. Legit sellers would understand.

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The next MO is to attack your credibility, claim they are a veteran that has countless awards and medals, and been in hundreds of fire fights to protect this country, and now you are saying he isn't trust worthy. I have seen that as well. They shut up when I show them the website where the photos are copied from.

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If the gun really is at an FFL you should be able to look up contact information independently and call an verify with them. 

 

I have encountered a number of sellers that were simply extremely naive people when it came to guns.  One lady claimed her son had died and she simply was selling off his stuff.  She actually had a Winchester 94 and a Rossi 92 listed under antiques and "did not require an FFL" because she had mistaken the model number as the date of manufacture. 

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And rather than edit the previous.

 

Let's assume this is a legitimate seller. No rating so he is new. Would rather ship ffl to ffl than box it himself. Has no clue about Venmo (PayPal, Zelle) rules. Has no way to accept a credit card.

 

Guntab was made for this situation.

 

Now let's assume he is a scammer. Guntab will not be acceptable to him. Well, it does not matter how legitimate his reason might sound, there really is no legitimate reason to not use gun tab to get paid. At that point, I would back out of the deal and add this to the review I outlined in my previous post.

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Tell him you are going to be visiting some friends the next town over from Flatwoods, KY this weekend and can pay him cash if he meets you at the FFL. I promise you he will have another excuse why that can't happen. This is a scam.

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This same guy had other auctions running at the same time. If he were truly owned them all of his photos would have the same background. None of the photos in the auctions were taken at the same location. Huge red flag. While I did a google image search none of them came up. I still feel he ripped this images from some website, guns international, auction arms, or some local site.

https://www.gunbroker.com/All/search/completed?Timeframe=1&Sort=1&IncludeSellers=1219533&PageSize=48

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18 minutes ago, Cholla said:

This same guy had other auctions running at the same time. If he were truly owned them all of his photos would have the same background. None of the photos in the auctions were taken at the same location. Huge red flag. While I did a google image search none of them came up. I still feel he ripped this images from some website, guns international, auction arms, or some local site.

https://www.gunbroker.com/All/search/completed?Timeframe=1&Sort=1&IncludeSellers=1219533&PageSize=48

6 of the guns for sale have matching backgrounds.

 

Oh, wait, that is three guns each posted twice!

 

And all auctions ended at about the same time.

 

I'm now leaning to report it to GunBroker as possible fraud, this account may go poof real fast.

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I'm thinking that same thing.  My gut says something is wrong.  

 

Assuming he leaves a bad review, how bad would that hurt me with future purchases with other dealers etc?  I always pay within minutes of winning so have good reviews up til now. 

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He might have lost his PayPal account for using it to sell firearms. If so, he might not have even had the firearms.

 

The saddest part of that story would be the buyer. The one that complained to PayPal he did not receive the firearm he paid for. The one who also lost his PayPal account for violating the PayPal terms of service.

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24 minutes ago, Trigger Mike said:

While the listing said PayPal, he emailed me and switched it to venmo since PayPal won't process gun payments. 

Aha!

 

I'm going to agree with everyone else - scam.

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11 minutes ago, Trigger Mike said:

I emailed a couple of hours ago asking for his ffl email to send to my ffl and expressing concern with venmo.  No answer.

I think safe to ignore if you do get an answer:

288716298_ScreenShot2021-10-06at8_14_16PM.png.7e08edf7bdcce33dc43679a3529ef4ae.png

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4 minutes ago, Trigger Mike said:

That is the same pictures only in Canada instead of Kentucky.   I am really thankful for all the help finding the listing and other advice and help.  I really truly am.  

Like Cholla said, scammers find pictures on other sites, and post them as their own. I googled the description for the .338 lapua and found that site.

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