Thinking of selling your luxury handbags/items on your own?
Sometimes this can be beneficial, especially when you want to avoid paying consignment fees and recoup as much of your investment as possible. However, selling on your own comes with many potential risks and scams, that we want you to be aware of. Whether you choose to consign with us, another consignment store, or on your own, we want to you to be safe. Without further introduction, here are the most common scams in the private re-sale market that you need to be cautious of when what trying to sell on your own.
The ‘Certified Cheque’ Scam
This scam has been going on for decades now, but believe it or not, many innocent sellers still fall victim to it.
How this Scam Works:
The buyer will tell you they are interested in purchasing your item and will pay you full price plus a bit extra on top for priority shipping and will courier a certified cheque for you to deposit immediately because they are “elderly” and do not have another known method of payment aside from sending a cheque. They may also claim that they are on a business trip and do not have another way to pay, but need this shipped ASAP as it’s a gift (they will twist this story to make it believable). Once you receive the cheque, you will go to your bank and deposit this bad cheque and sometimes your bank won’t know it’s a bad cheque until it bounces 7 days later, but it’s too late now because you have already shipped your item to the ‘buyer’ and fallen victim to a scam!
How to Prevent this Scam:
Do not accept a cheque or a ‘certified bank draft’ from buyers. If this is the only way possible to accept a payment, ensure you only ship the item once the bank clears the cheque.
The PayPal Shipping Address Scam
This scam makes you think it is a secured payment method being used to protect you as seller, but not if you aren’t familiar with PayPal’s terms and conditions!
How this Scam Works:
A buyer will tell you they want to pay securely through PayPal and don’t mind paying the extra PayPal fee, so you will feel better about processing the transaction. They will send you the money via the ‘goods and services’ payment option to your PayPal address, and you will receive the funds. Everything seems to be going smooth; however, at some point, the buyer will tell you to ship the item to an address that doesn’t match their paying shipping information because the item is gift for someone, or that they recently moved homes. They will twist this story to make it sound believable, so you hesitantly agree, and you ship the bag to the address provided that wasn’t linked to PayPal. However, once the buyer receives the bag, they will file a dispute with PayPal for not receiving an item they paid for. And guess what? They will win the dispute and get a full refund, and you will have no way of getting your item back. This is because you have no evidence that you shipped an item to the buyer’s PayPal address.
How to Prevent this Scam:
Make sure you read PayPal’s policies and rules very carefully before using PayPal, and ensure you’re eligible for seller protection.
The Kijiji/Facebook Marketplace ‘Meet-up in Person’ Scam
This scam doesn’t happen often, but we have heard some real horror stories when it comes to meeting up strangers to sell expensive handbags and other luxury items.
How the Scam Works:
Someone will show interest in the item you posted for sale and ask to meet-up in person to view the item; however, when they meet up they will act uninterested and make excuses for why they don’t want to buy it anymore, or they may not even show up at all. However, this is extremely dangerous because on your way back home, or while you wait in your car for the buyer to arrive, they may have arranged for a group of people to rob you the minute you step out of your vehicle. Or even worse, they may follow you back home to see where you live if they’ve noticed that you post multiple high end bags for sale and are planning a robbery.
How to Prevent this Scam:
If you must meet a stranger in person for a product viewing, ensure to bring someone with you, and pick an open, safe location, with cameras during the day and people in sight. Also ensure that you never drive straight home after a product viewing for your safety and protection.
The Interac e-Transfer Scam
This is a newer scam that has recently surfaced the re-sale market a few years ago and looks quite real!
How the Scam Works:
Scammers are aware that every seller would prefer to receive a secured payment method like email transfer, which is something that cannot be disputed or retracted. This is why the buyer or ‘scammer’ will offer to pay via email transfer, but send a look-a like-email transfer page that requires the seller to click the icon and in order to ‘deposit the funds’ and enter their banking details (as usual). However, if you do not look carefully, you may have just clicked on the scammers link and sent them the log in information to your online banking account!
Another way scammers use email transfer to scam sellers is by sending an email that looks like it came from Interac that states the funds are on hold until tracking is provided.
How to Prevent this Scam:
Set up auto deposit so you do not need to manually accept the funds by logging in to your online banking to deposit the funds from a sale. Get familiar with your bank and call them without hesitation if you have any concerns regarding strange banking emails.
The Poshmark ‘Return’ Scam
There will always be those sketchy buyers trying to take advantage of the system.
How the Scam Works:
A buyer will securely buy your item through Poshmark, but when they receive your item, they can request a refund and return on your item if it was not accurately described. Poshmark will initiate the return and instruct the buyer to send back the item to seller in order to get the refund, but the scammer will send back either a fake item or something else that isn’t the item you sent! Poshmark will refund the buyer and now you are out the money and the item.
How to Prevent This Scam:
Record the return unboxing and proactively collect as much proof as you can just in case incidents like this occur where you may need to appeal/fight the case. Also ensure you take photos videos of the items prior to shipping to the buyer and keep them on hand.
Stay Safe and Sell Cautiously
We hope sharing this information will help you protect your safety and prevent you from potential risks and scams when selling on your own!
If you’re looking for help with selling your pre-loved handbags and luxury items, contact us today for a free quote today. We offer significantly lower consignment feels than leading competitors to help put more money back in your pocket.