Every reseller who lists online eventually meets a buyer who is not a buyer. The patterns repeat because they work on people who are busy and eager to sell. This manual describes the common ones in general terms and gives you a short routine that blocks most of them without needing to judge anyone's intentions. It does not cover every scheme, and it is not legal or financial advice.
The principle: keep the money and the paperwork where you can see them
Most seller-side scams depend on moving one part of the sale outside the system that protects you. The payment moves to a different app. The confirmation arrives by email instead of in your account. The shipping address arrives by text instead of on the order. The conversation moves to another messaging service. Each move removes a record or a protection.
The routine below keeps all four in one place. If a buyer will not go along with it, you have lost a sale you did not want.
Pattern one: overpayment and refunds of the difference
A buyer offers to pay more than the asking price, often with a story about a mover, an assistant or a shipping agent. They send a check, a transfer or a payment that looks larger than it should, then ask you to send back the difference or pay the "shipper." Later the original payment disappears: the check bounces, the transfer reverses, or the account turns out to be stolen. The money you sent does not come back.
The rule is short. Do not accept overpayments, and never forward money for a buyer. If an overpayment arrives, do not spend or send anything; contact the platform or your bank through official channels and let them reverse it.
Pattern two: fake payment notices
You receive an email or text saying payment is complete, often with official-looking branding, sometimes saying your account is "on hold" until you ship or provide a tracking number. The message is not from the payment service.
Never confirm payment from a message. Open the marketplace or payment app yourself, by typing the address or using the app you already installed, and look at your balance or order. If the payment is not there, it does not exist.
Pattern three: off-platform payment requests
A buyer asks to pay through a different app, by gift card, by wire, or by a "friends and family" setting meant for personal transfers. Payments outside the marketplace's checkout usually lose whatever seller protection the platform offers, and some marketplaces prohibit them. Gift cards and wires are hard to reverse and hard to trace.
Use one reply for all of these: you accept payment only through the listing's checkout. If you sell locally, take a payment you can confirm in your own account before handing over the item, or cash you can inspect.
Pattern four: shipping address switches
After paying, a buyer messages to ask you to ship to a different address, or to use their own prepaid label. If something goes wrong, the platform's records show you shipped to an address that was not on the order. Some marketplaces will not protect a seller in that situation.
Ship only to the address on the platform's order. If the buyer needs a different address, ask them to cancel and reorder with the correct one.
Pattern five: verification codes
Someone asks you to read back a code sent to your phone, saying they need to "verify you are real." That code is often what they need to take over your account or open one in your name. Never share a one-time code with anyone who contacts you.
Pattern six: claims after delivery
A buyer receives an item and claims it never arrived, arrived empty, or was different from the listing, then asks for a refund while keeping the item. You cannot prevent every false claim, but you can make your records strong:
- Photograph the item, serial number and packed box before sealing.
- Use tracking, and signature confirmation for higher-value items.
- Describe condition precisely. See condition descriptions.
- Respond through the platform's case system, not by private agreement.
Local meetups
For in-person sales, meet in a public place, bring someone if you can, and do not invite strangers to your home. The meeting buyers manual covers the handover in detail.
If you were caught
Stop sending money or goods. Contact the platform and the payment provider through their official sites. Contact your bank if bank details were shared. Report the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If mail was involved, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service handles mail fraud. Keep screenshots of messages, usernames and payment records.
If a payment platform later sends you a Form 1099-K that includes a reversed or fraudulent payment, the IRS 1099-K help page explains how to request a correction from the issuer and how to report when the gross amount is wrong. See the Form 1099-K manual.
A one-minute checklist for every sale
- Payment through the listing's checkout, confirmed in your own account.
- Ship to the order address only.
- No overpayments, no forwarding money, no codes shared.
- Messages stay on the platform.
- Photos of the item and box before sealing.
A buyer wants to pay more than my price and have me send the difference to their mover. Is that normal?
Treat it as a scam pattern. A legitimate buyer has no reason to overpay and ask you to forward money. Decline, keep the sale inside the marketplace's checkout or a payment you can confirm in your own account, and report the message to the platform.