The most common Marketplace scams
- Deposit scams — pay to "hold" an item that does not exist
- Overpayment refunds — a fake overpayment and a request to return the difference
- Fake payment confirmations — doctored screenshots of a transfer that never happened
- Bait-and-switch — a pristine listing, a broken or counterfeit item
- Shipping scams — paying for an item that is never sent
Warning signs to watch for
- Pressure to pay immediately or lose the deal
- Requests to move to gift cards, crypto or irreversible transfer
- A price far below market with a thin backstory
- A seller who refuses a video call or live photos
- Brand-new or freshly created profiles with no history
Safe payment methods
For low-value local items, cash on collection after inspection is fine. The danger begins the moment money leaves your hands before you have the item — especially by methods that cannot be reversed.
- Avoid gift cards, wire transfers and crypto to strangers
- Never refund an "overpayment" — it is always a scam
- For anything valuable, use escrow so funds are only released on delivery
How escrow protects Marketplace buyers
When an item is worth enough that losing it would hurt, escrow bridges the trust gap. Your money sits in a neutral account and is released only once the item is delivered and confirmed — so a seller cannot take payment and vanish.
