Beware of scams
If you are advertising your items for sale beware of scammers posing as genuine buyers. Scammers may make up stories such as needing your help to pay an agent or third party for upfront costs like transportation or insurance. They may promise you reimbursement for these costs.
Alternatively the scammer may send a cheque for more money than the agreed sale price. The scammer will invent an excuse for the overpayment, such as to cover the fees of an agent or extra shipping costs, or that it was simply human error. The scammer will then ask you to refund the excess amount – usually through an online banking transfer, pre-loaded money card, or a wire transfer – before you discover that their cheque has bounced.
In both cases, you will lose the money you gave the scammer, and if you have already sent the item you were selling, you will lose it as well.
Warning signs
- The potential buyer is willing to purchase your item without having viewed it in person.
- A potential overseas buyer is interested in purchasing your item despite it being a commonly available item in their home country. Often the shipping costs would far outweigh the cost of the item itself.
- The buyer sends you a cheque for more than the agreed price, and then asks you to refund the overpaid amount.
Protect yourself
- Be wary of any transactions that involve an overpayment, and requests to refund the excess money by internet banking or wire transfers.
- Avoid any arrangement with a stranger that asks for payment via money order, wire transfer, international funds transfer, pre-loaded card or electronic currency. It is rare to recover money sent this way.
- If you have been sent a cheque for more money than the agreed price, send it back and ask for another cheque with the correct amount.
- Do not send the items to the buyer until the cheque has cleared in your bank account.
- For items of high value, do not allow potential buyers to inspect the goods without someone else being there to supervise.