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Is this odd? Rental Owner offered me to pay with Venmo/Paypal and cancel VRBO Booking
Posted on 2/4/21 at 9:09 am
Posted on 2/4/21 at 9:09 am
Long story short: Book a condo on VRBO/Expedia. Property owner texts me and offers to rent it at a lower rate if I pay through Venmo/PayPal. He emailed a rental agreement contract. Said once I sign and return to cancel BRBO booking and pay through him directly.
Trust my gut and stay with the VRBO/Expedia booking, pay the extra $175 to avoid being scammed, right? Is this a normal thing?
Trust my gut and stay with the VRBO/Expedia booking, pay the extra $175 to avoid being scammed, right? Is this a normal thing?
9
Posted on 2/4/21 at 9:14 am to cajunduby
Doesnt VRBO and those sites crush the owners with fees?
Posted on 2/4/21 at 9:44 am to cajunduby
I don’t know the answer to this but hope someone chimes in as I am interested. Sounds sketchy though.
Posted on 2/4/21 at 9:47 am to cajunduby
Sounds like they just want to cut down on a lot of fees from VRBO.
Posted on 2/4/21 at 9:54 am to cajunduby
A friend of mine has a condo on St. John and he prefers to deal directly with renters to avoid the fees if he can.
Posted on 2/4/21 at 9:56 am to cajunduby
I did this last year with a condo in destin with no issues. Saved me 300 bucks. Also did this with breckenridge condo over Christmas and saved almost 900.
Use a good credit card and dispute it if he turns out to be a shitbird
Use a good credit card and dispute it if he turns out to be a shitbird
This post was edited on 2/4/21 at 10:32 am
Posted on 2/4/21 at 10:13 am to cajunduby
We normally book VRBO but the owner of the house we rented gave us a really good price on renting directly through them instead of VRBO.
Posted on 2/4/21 at 10:15 am to cajunduby
He just wants to avoid VRBO fees but it sounds like a good way for him to get canned from VRBO if they catch on.
Posted on 2/4/21 at 10:15 am to cajunduby
Fairly common. Have had it happen a couple of times. Owner is trying to split the difference with you to offer a lower rate and they pay less processing fee. The longer the stay the bigger the savings potentially. Nothing I hate worse than seeing a "$99/night rate" only to have it balloon up to $179/night because of the "cleaning and processing fees" combined. FYI, I've book marked their direct site for future bookings.
I prefer PayPal personally. You'd still have "dispute protection" if you paid through PayPal and got pimped.
I prefer PayPal personally. You'd still have "dispute protection" if you paid through PayPal and got pimped.
Posted on 2/4/21 at 10:28 am to notiger1997
quote:
Sounds like they just want to cut down on a lot of fees from VRBO.
And possibly avoid a higher 1099 from them come tax time.
Posted on 2/4/21 at 10:36 am to cajunduby
This isn't uncommon - I've known people go this route numerous times without issue. However, if you aren't booking through the accredited website, there is risk for losing money altogether. VRBO/Expedia won't be able to help you recoup any loss. I've always been more risk-averse, so if it were me, I'd stick with the website.
This post was edited on 2/4/21 at 10:38 am
Posted on 2/4/21 at 10:57 am to hoopsgalore
Thanks to everyone that responded. I spoke with the property owner on the phone. He said he understood my concerns and eased my initial worries. He offered to for me to wait to pay until we arrive. So, we agreed upon that, he also said if we weren't 100% happy with the rental he has others that he would offer for the same price (looked them up and a few are a bit more a night).
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