Red Flags & Scams That Resellers Need to Know About
If you’ve been selling on Poshmark, Mercari, or Depop for more than five minutes, you’ve probably run into a sketchy message or two. From fake buyers to refund tricks, there are definitely some red flags/scams to watch for. Here are a few common ones to keep on your radar so you don’t get burned.
Requests to Move Off-Platform
At some point you will receive a comment on a Poshmark listing or a message telling you the person is interested in your listing and would like you to text them or contact via email or WhatsApp. Never respond to someone’s request to move a conversation or sale off platform. They may propose a method of payment that the platform doesn’t support or they want to “help you” avoid platform fees. It’s always a scam and is a violation of platform rules to take a conversation or sale off platform.
What could happen?
Hypothetically, if you move off platform to make a sale, here are the most likely scams:
Payment Scam. This scam involves the “buyer” never sending payment (but saying they did and wanting you to ship before receiving the payment), the “buyer” sending a fake payment confirmation email, the “buyer” using a stolen credit card or hacked Paypal account, or the “buyer” reverses payment after the item is shipped.
Phishing Scam. This scam involves the “buyer” asking for your email or phone number to send payment info or ask additional questions. You will receive a fake account verification email with a link that actually belongs to a phishing site, then they try to hack your account and steal your data.
Item-Not-Received Scam. For this scam, the “buyer” sends payment, you ship the item, then they claim they never received the item, they file a claim and many times they will receive a refund. So, then you’re out the item AND the payment.
It’s important to know that by moving off platform to make a sale, you lose any seller protections given to you by the platform.
*Moving off platform means connecting with someone off platform as a result of them contacting you in some way (via comments or DMs) on the platform.
Payment via PayPal Friends and Family
PayPal’s “Friends and Family” feature is meant to be used between people you know and trust and therefore lacks buyer and seller protections. The scam here works with the “buyer” offering to pay this way because it will save you fees, then they send a payment to the seller via PayPal’s Friends and Family feature. Typically, payments made via this feature are not able to be reversed, so the buyer contacts their bank or credit card company (wherever the money they sent thru PayPal originally came from) and files a dispute or a chargeback.
The Sob Story
Most times if you receive a message or a lowball offer with a sad story or tales of a desperate financial situation, this is a scam to to manipulate you into selling them the item for much less than it’s worth (hence the lowball offer). In this case, one of several things is likely to happen if you take the bait.
Open a Case/Item-Not-Received. It’s possible they’re going to open a case against you or say they never received the item in hopes of getting a refund. Also, for lower priced items, the platform is less likely to force the buyer to return the item to the seller, even when a refund is issued. This means the buyer would get their money back and would keep the item.
Resell for Higher Price. This one is also common where they get you to sell your item to them at a lowball price by tugging at your heartstrings, then when they receive the item, they list if for 3 or 4 times the price they bought it for.
Buyer Requests to Cancel Outside of Cancellation Window
This one is more of a red flag, but if a buyer requests to cancel outside of a cancellation window, even if you have the option to refuse the cancellation, here’s something to consider. Many times these buyers are mad enough that you wouldn’t accept the cancellation and they had to pay for an item they no longer wanted that they decide to open a case against you potentially damaging your item so they can claim it arrived with undisclosed damage and then they can get a refund.
Feedback Extortion
In this scam, a buyer will leave give you a poor rating with poor feedback in hopes you will contact them about it (because no seller wants a 1 or 2 star rating!), and when you contact them, they offer to revise their rating in exchange for a partial or full refund. It’s manipulative and violates platform policies, but it still happens.
Being a reseller means learning as you go, but you shouldn’t have to learn the hard way.
The more familiar you are with these red flags and scams, the easier it is to spot shady behavior before it costs you time, money, or inventory. Trust your gut, stick to platform rules, and protect yourself at every step.
And if something feels off? It probably is.