08/07/2022 “Online Marketplace: How to spot red flags” Author: Annalise Wagner
Online marketplaces have evolved from the times of simple Ebay / gumtree (Or Craigslist for our American friends). Now you can hop onto any of your favourite social media platforms and find a marketplace filled with all the horsey items you need at a pretty affordable price.
Theres plenty to love with these buy / sell platforms. You can essentially get all your ‘horsey shopping’ done in the comfort of your own home, and save a bit of money on new, lightly used and second hand items. The best part is that these items will just be shipped to your door. No need to drive anywhere at all!
When selling online, you are given the opportunity to find new homes for your old / discarded horse gear, and you can make a bit of money on the side! The money goes straight into your account (No annoying cash) and you can just post it out rather than having to spend half a day waiting for someone to come and collect.
There is however a dark side to the wonderful online ‘horsey marketplace’ that comes in the rare form of a terrible human being. Scamming. People with nothing but dollar signs (Or GBP / Euros signs for our UK and European friends) on their mind, and no intentions of earning that money honestly.
So how do you protect yourself? This article will highlight red flags and common scams done within the ‘horsey marketplace’. Although scammers are continually getting more clever with their scams, these red flags will ideally arm you with the knowledge to identify potential scams in the future.
1. The PayPal Scam:
You’re selling something online. Someone messages you, they normally have a very ‘plain’ profile. They offer to buy your item for the ‘asking price’, offer to pay an astronomical amount extra for ‘shipping’ and ‘kindly ask’ for your PayPal email.
You send them your PayPal email right away, excited to be finally selling your item. They claim you ‘may have gotten an email’ and to ‘please kindly check your email inbox’.
You get an alleged email from PayPal claiming the funds are held. At this point the email will either ask you to pay money to an ‘account’ to unlock your funds, or they will ask you to post the item for you to receive the money.
This is a scam. PayPal will never send you an email, you will get a notification directly into your PayPal account. If you are unsure, using your PayPal account go to the ‘contact us’ option and clarify with PayPal themselves whether or not this was a genuine transaction.
These scams are ordinarily done by people in different ‘non english’ speaking countries. Look out for ‘please kindly’, ‘Ma’am’ ‘Sir’. They ordinarily are using a translate app so if the text looks funny, or it’s misspelt or they have used the wrong words. They will always say “you have gotten an email from PayPal”. These are your red flags.
2. The ‘Friends and Family’ Scam:
This is easily one of the oldest scams on the ‘horsey marketplace’.
You want to buy an item. This seller offers you an exceptional deal on something. You decide to buy it and ask for their payment information. They offer PayPal. You know PayPal has buyer protection and is safe. They ask you to pay ‘Friends and Family’. They usually have an elaborate story or excuse as to why. “Your money will be held for 15 days”, “I wont get as much money if you don’t”, “I have to pay expensive fees if you don’t”. Stop right in your tracks at that point. Don’t pay anything yet as you may be getting scammed.
Paying ‘Goods and Services’ on PayPal will protect you. ‘Friends and Family’ will not. There will not be a ‘money on hold waiting time’ for either. Offer to pay extra to cover the fees. Normally a genuine seller will accept this, as long as they’re not out of pocket for the fees they’re normally happy. A disingenuous or dodgy seller however will not accept this. They will insist for bank transfer or ‘friends and family’ payment. Don’t walk away from those sales, run. You’re being scammed.
Red flags to look out for will be the persuasive language they use to try and convince you to pay via ‘friends or family’. They will sometimes also offer that you can pay via FB payment (Not safe) or other payment options that are equally unsafe. They’ll never accept safe payment because the item they’re selling does not exist.
3. The ‘Bank Transfer’ Scam:
Bank transfer is one of the most unsafe ways you can pay for items on the ‘horsey marketplace’.
Bank transfer is however one of the most common ways people pay on facebook marketplace, and most sellers and buyers prefer it.
So how can you arm yourself to make a wise choice when purchasing items on ‘horsey marketplace’ through bank transfer?
Here are some common red flags:
- They will rush you into payment. “Please, it’s an emergency I need the payment now’. They just want to rush you to prevent yourself from doing any research or thinking thoroughly about what is going on.
- Their profile looks sketchy. It has minimal friends, you have no mutual friends with them. They have no photos of horses, or very minimal and the photos they do have are not using the items you’re wanting to purchase from them.
-You do a ‘reverse image search’ and the items come up on google images or through being sold by other sellers. (A reverse image search is available on google images. It allows you to search a specific image directly to see if there are any matches of the image elsewhere).
- You search the brand, shape, size of the item and theres another seller selling the exact same item using the exact same photo.
- They overcompensate. They offer their license, address, phone number- anything to make you feel at ease. All this information is usually fake.
-They have a bad rating on Marketplace / Gumtree / Ebay. You can always check ratings of a seller. If they have no ratings, buyer beware.
- Something feels wrong. Trust your gut, if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.
-They wont let you or a family member pick it up. Or they offer you a fake address.
If you’re still unsure but really want to make the purchase, there are heaps of ‘dodgy horse sellers’ ‘name and shame horse sellers’ ‘horse scammers’ groups on social media that you can screen the name through. Always ask if unsure.
4. The ‘Paid’ scam.
You’re selling an item. Someone wants to buy your item. They pay immediately and send you a screenshot of the transfer and their postage information.
This could be a safe purchase, but NEVER post an item to the buyer until the money has cleared into your account.
If they have sent you a bank transfer receipt, and there is a ‘due date’ or ‘Scheduled transfer date’ on the payment receipt, you are being scammed.
They scheduled payment intentionally as it means the money will not leave their account until that scheduled date. They then take a screenshot of the transfer, and cancel the payment immediately. There is no money coming to you but it looks like there is. This is their scam.
The best way to avoid being scammed in this instance is to never, ever post an item until the money has cleared into your account. If it takes a few days, wait.
Sometimes these scammers will be crafty and claim that ‘the banks are closed for the weekend but the money is coming’. Sometimes they will crop the transfer receipt to hide the transfer date. There is never a need to crop a transfer receipt, it never has private information on it. These are red flags.
At the end of the day,
It is important that you keep your wits about you when making payments and receiving payments online. If something doesn’t feel right, follow your gut.
Generally, try to only pay via PayPal ‘goods and services’. Check social media groups and accounts that share online ‘horsey marketplace’ scammers. Ask local groups if they know of the individual. Check the sellers / buyers marketplace ratings. Being smart will protect you from being scammed.
Pick up doesn’t mean safe either. Always meet at a local public area with cameras and people. Bring a friend or family member with you. Make sure the cash is legit and not fake. There is always a risk when meeting strangers from the internet in real life.