Everyone selling something online, should educate themselves about internet scams before posting their item.
The most common scam for resale products involves a “buyer” who wants to purchase your item and pay with a cashier’s check or money order. The buyer “accidentally” sends payment greatly in excess of the purchase price and asks that you send the item and the excess funds to him. The buyer also wants to use their own shipper (to prevent you from knowing their real address).
This scam works because the cashier’s check/money order are very good counterfeits (often good enough to fool a major bank for 30+ days). But ultimately, the bank does figure it out, leaving you responsible for all of the funds.
The clearest way to identify the scam is via the excess payment and the use of a third party shipper. And usually (but not always) the buyer seems only interested in the purchase/price and a fast transaction, but does not ask specific questions about the item itself.
If you EVER receive an excess payment, you should IMMEDIATELY stop your transaction. It is absolutely a scam.
If you suspect a buyer may be inquiring in order to pull you into a scam, you can ask for a phone number so you can call and speak directly about the item. (Scammers are reluctant to give out a number). You should also mandate that payment be made through paypal or escrow.com – both of which offer payment protection.
PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com has been diligently tracking and recording scammer email address information for years in order to help protect our sellers. We are also happy to review any correspondence to help you verify its legitimacy.
The majority of online buyers and sellers are honest people. But you know what your mom always said…an ounce of prevention….
