Flippa and Paypal

I had cases when paypal disputed the chargeback, and won. They always say that they are disputing it, but the truth is that they won only about 1 or 2 to 20 losses. The problem is that the decision is at the bank, and they think that sending money to paypal is like using your credit card anywhere on the web. They do not take into account that for paypal you need to provide utility bills, proofs, credit card is verified, etc.

I recommend anyone to use escrow, even for small amounts. If you think that the amount is too small to use escrow, then a possible scammer knows that you think that and this is why they are working mostly on amounts that are considered "small". If you get a lower amount than you expect, this means that the buyer makes a good deal so he should be willing to use escrow in exchange of a small fee. If you get a higher amount than you think the website is worth, then this might be a flag. Scammers usually seem to not care about how money they give, then you think that you found a gold mine and you find it hard to believe but you are hoping that this is true and you are ready to take the risks ( of losing the money, like on lottery, despite there are very very small chances, people still play in masses ).

If you still don't want to use escrow, make some small "mistakes" to try to catch him. For example, say that he have to pay a little more than you negotiated, and then say that it was a mistake. A scammer will tell you that he will pay anything, because he does not use his money. Then send him a contract to sign, in this way, you are protected if the buyer is legit, but after he gets the domain he finds out that he can get the money back and the domain too, while he claims that someone entered into his account or got his credit card details. With the contract you can have a higher chance against the bank.

Then, make sure that the person who sign the contract is the same as the person who owns the paypal account. If the name is different, then ask him to use his own paypal account or to go to escrow immediately.

If the buyer is from nigeria or something simmilar, then step out right now.

Again, if he pays a higher price and you took all steps to protect yourself, then consired it a risk that you assume. Even if you put your money on bank to get an interest rate of 4% a year, you can still lose the money.

I agree with Thomas. Escrow is much safer ( not 100% safe but better ) than paypal.

It is also a good experience to figure it out for future purchases. Escrow is not usually good on small amount ( but around 1K would be reasonable to use them )