Selling my hair - Need Help

Hi,

There is never any 100% guarantees, but the key is to never meet a stranger privately or even in public if you could be followed or harmed.  Safeguard your privacy carefully. 

Do not give out private address, phone number or other information.

Make sure the payment is as secure as possible before you cut your hair.

Nothing is better than receiving a payment cash in hand or via a local bank deposit, but for everyone this isn’t a possibility.  Especially if your buyer is out of the country you live in.

Wire transfer, Paypal, Western union & Money gram are among some of the most common types of methods for receiving payments, but not all of them are 100% safe.

In fact, each may have their drawbacks - see below.

Wire Transfer

The person who buys your hair can wire money directly into your account.

Beware of the following things with this kind of transaction: Make sure the pending transaction clears before you cut or ship any hair, and beware of bank fees. Many banks charge anywhere from $8 to $20 for wire-transfer fees.

SWIFT wire transfers can take up to 4 days so make sure the payment is 100% cleared before you let your hair go. 

Beware of pushy people who think a copy of proof of payment is going to be enough.  It's a potential way of getting scammed.

Personal Check

You can accept payment by personal check, but don't complete the transaction until the check has cleared. The easiest way to be scammed is by a bad check. 

Take nothing for granted and confirm receipt of payment before cutting or posting any hair.

Paypal

Whether you want to hear it or not, Paypal is one of the worst methods of receiving payments for hair or other items (like flipped websites or other products on the Internet)

PP will freeze your account whenever they have the slightest excuse and they will charge you a fee to receive the payment. 

If the payment is in a foreign currency Paypal will convert it at one of the worst exchange rates in the world.

Also, if someone buys hair from you and claim they never got it, Paypal will refund that money no questions asked. Yes, this has happened even when there are receipts to prove the product was sent.

One way that people who flip websites are able to scam people out of their money is through Paypal.

PayPal Is Not A Bank

PayPal is not a bank and does not provide its merchants with a Real Merchant Account. PayPal provides its merchants with a PayPal account.

This is a huge difference.

With a Real Merchant Account, your funds are deposited into your personal or business bank account, which you control and which is also protected by Federal Banking Regulations.

With PayPal, your money is deposited into a PayPal Account, which PayPal fully controls.

PayPal is not a bank, they are not required to follow federal banking regulations. These regulations are in place to help the little person avoid issues like having their bank account frozen for many months with no explanation.  No federally regulated bank would be permitted to take such actions without explanation.

Because PayPal is not regulated in the same way as a Real Merchant Account, Paypal accounts are frozen for almost anything and without warning.

Warning....just because the money will be in PayPal...what's to say that once you cut and make the video, the buyer will dispute it and you will get nothing?

Can you ask for a certified check and make sure the money has cleared before you do this?

I would take every possible precaution.

Good luck to you.



Edited by Karen Shelton - June 04 2012 at 7:11am