Paying for items

Unsure on safest way to pay for items on the forum how does everyone else do it , PayPal no good I'm guessing ??

Bank to bank transfer is the best option I believe

Buying airguns and certain other items .


General public .


PayPal prohibits its platform being used to buy airguns and certain other items . Check their terms . https://www.paypal.com/uk/legalhub/acceptableuse-full

Prohibited Activities​

You may not use the PayPal service for activities that:

1. violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation.
2. relate to transactions involving (a) narcotics, steroids, certain controlled substances or other products that present a risk to consumer safety, (b) drug paraphernalia, (c) cigarettes, (d) items that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity, (e) stolen goods including digital and virtual goods, (f) the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory or the financial exploitation of a crime, (g) items that are considered obscene, (h) items that infringe or violate any copyright, trademark, right of publicity or privacy or any other proprietary right under the laws of any jurisdiction, (i) certain sexually oriented materials or services, (j) ammunition, firearms, or certain firearm parts or accessories, or (k) certain weapons or knives regulated under applicable law.

Under UK law , Airguns are Firearms hence they don't allow you use their platform. You can argue about it all you like but that's the way it is.

If you used gifts and service's and you were to get scammed you have no way to get the money back if they find you breached their policy and used it to buy prohibited items on their list.

PayPal friends and family has no insurance , So if you are ripped off you have no way to get the money back either . They are also clamping down on people using to the buy and sell .
I have heard of some getting their money back but its a very small % and those that did had sent the money in error .


When you send money, we ask you to choose a payment type. You can send money as:

• a personal payment to friends and family (“Sending to a friend”)
• a purchase for goods and services (“Paying for an item or service”)

Personal Payments

Choose “Sending to a friend” for the everyday exchange of money between you and your friends and family. You can use personal payments when you send money as a gift, split a lunch bill, pay your share of living expenses, or something similar.

Personal payments aren't covered by PayPal Purchase Protection.


If they suspect you of using F&F to by and sell, They will close your account down. It happened to a few on here and on other places.

Businesses' can use PayPal as they have different terms to what the public get .

Bank transfer is another but there is pitfall to it also .

Cheque . I believe you can get your money back but you would have to check with the back.

Cash , Only handed over face to face. check it if you suspect it's dodgy , that may lead to arguments but its you that will lose out if its fake.

Have a read here . It gives advice about being scammed and if you can get your money back.

Pay Pal as friends & family is a way. But be aware that UK PayPal don't permit themselves to be used for the sale of firearms etc. here in the UK, so you will have no protection. Having said that, most people on her appear pretty good chaps and chapesses, so the risk is low

Lack of ‘insurance’ with PayPal sort of suggests that you get some sort of insurance with a bank transfer - you don’t.

Realistically it’s down to trust, and the folks on here that I’ve dealt with have all been good chaps. I’ve bought/sold face to face or posted/ received items and everything has been spot on.

If that were not to case however, I don’t for a second presume that my bank would be able to assist me with any transaction just because I’d used a bank transfer payment.

PayPal is bad for the reasons above but also they have a tendency to ‘freeze’ payments for arbitrary reasons - I no longer use the platform for anything.

Bank transfer or cash is your best bet but there is no such thing as protection with private transactions.

Bank transfer is the safest way for the seller. The buyer has no protection whatever method they use.

If you can't afford to loose the money face to face is the only way to go, but even that is not safe. You might buy a bucket of shot (other vowels are available), get kidnapped and sold into slavery..................

I only do face to face when buying from anywhere but here. I will do distance buying on here if I trust the member, can afford to loose the cash and am willing to risk the post office loosing the item. Otherwise I pickup the car keys and drive.

Do NOT fall into the trap of believing you won't get ripped off on here. This is a forum of many members. The law of averages mean that some will be wrong'uns. The risk appears to be lower here than other sales platforms but it is not 100% safe.

I only use bank to bank transfers. PayPal is used quite often on the forum too, but I don’t have an account so it’s not for me

Not PayPal.

I sold a pistol on here and the buyer put “Beretta” in the notes … needless to say I don’t have access to my account anymore

If you are buying off this forum then I would suggest that you are far safer than elsewhere and to that end PayPal F&F is as safe as a bank transfer.

I have used both methods when buying and selling on here and never had an issue.

As above and if its a long term member on here you ought to be as reasonably safe as you can be.... someone with 51 posts selling something for a lot of money may require more care...

I’ve not been a member long and try to use the same rules as to look at who is selling , my only concern is feedback seems not to be left for the buyer , I’ve purchased a few items but the sellers be it a regular seller or newish don’t leave feedback unless the buyer does , a bit like eBay became , anyway just thought it would be good if the buyer would leave feedback when the purchaser had payed .

Personally, paypal or bank transfer if buying or selling via post .
There is no 100% safe way to sell even cash on collection, some really good fake bank notes around.
As mentioned before it's a case of trust.

I use PayPal for payment but didn’t realise PayPal had rules on guns. Thanks for the info

I prefer bank transfer. I have paid via PayPal but haven't received money that way as I wouldn't know how and can't be arsed to bother with it.
So for me it would bank transfer or even cash when face to face.

I have used both, with no problems so far. I have no reason to trust paypal & never put the real item into the box "what is this for" as it's non of their ****ing business.

Put something innocuous or made up instead, the more ludicrous the better.

.

I will accept PayPal F&F gift payments - but normal PayPal payment methods are fraught with risk...

To the person sending the payment if noted as being a gun related sale of having your account closed.

To the person receiving payment that the payment is cancelled or the transaction is disputed.

For larger payments Bank Transfer is the way to go for me as at least there are personal details involved should fraud become an issue afterwards.

I’ve bought things from members on here by PayPal, BT and face to face with out any issues at all. As said before if using PayPal never put anything thing in comments box that mention anything about guns. The feedback bit does irk me too as to the amount of people that don’t fill it in…….dom

There is no 100% safe way but reading a sellers feed back is a good indication of there honesty. Whenever I have sold something on here I always give any potential buyer the option of collection from my home so they can inspect it and put there own mind at ease

You can't beat a good old fashioned face to face transaction with proper cash. A chat and a handshake is just the civilised thing to do

My prefered after that, when dealing with a trusted member, is a bank transfer. Paypal is ok - I've used it a couple of times with no issues but, as already said, just don't give them slightest clue as to what the transaction is for

Rudolph Hucker said:

You can't beat a good old fashioned face to face transaction with proper cash. A chat and a handshake is just the civilised thing to do

Click to expand...

I would have enjoyed doing that for the HW50 I got from you, but given our relative locations it would not have been a viable option in both time and expense.

Even with the little faux pas that occurred on the package address, which got picked up because of your excellent communications, appropriate precautions were made and it got to me safely and on time.