Facebook groups are quickly becoming the number one area of toys commerce. This will take over eBay at some point judging by the way things on eBay have been declining. One thing that we see every day is how someone scammed another in a Facebook toy group. Here we are going to give you some advice and a couple of rules to help keep you safe. Happy Toy Collecting!

How to trade and be safe

First off is the Paypal trade rules. This works if you do it right.

Each person Paypals the other the same amount value of the trade. Example the toys are worth $50 you both send $50 goods and services to each other. Now the trade is covered by the buyer protection of Paypal. Ship your item to the other once it has been paid. This works and covers you. Blind trades are a recipe for scam and you losing your goods.

Buying Rules

Don’t use Facebook pay– you are not covered they same ways as PayPal. Just don’t do it.

Buy with Paypal goods and services.

This is the number one rule that gets broken and that most always leads to a scam. It is that simple really– don’t pay Friends and Family for goods. You will lose your money every day. I’ve seen so many upsetting posts where a buyer paid F&F and then the guy blocked him and deleted his Facebook profile once he had the money from the buyer.

Other Guidelines

When selling, only ship to the address given on PayPal. If you are asked post=payment to ship to a didn’t address, don’t do it.

Items over $100– make sure to have signature required on the shipping.

Items over $750 direct signature is required– always check the PayPal requirements as these can also change from time to time.

International Shipping is a hard thing to do– most shipping services other than Express mail will not be covered by PayPal protections. Not to mention card chargebacks on fraud. There is no safe way to do this other than using the top tier shipping serviced and the buyer rarely wants to pay double or triple the cost of the item when it could be shipped for much less but you are not covered.

Other Payment forms like Venmo are not for goods they tell you that don’t use them for goods. Paypal is used for personal and business transactions and have the rules set down to protect both the seller and the buyer.

These are the most basic guidelines I see broken every day. Use them and be safe out there.

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