Buying and selling on local classifieds works because most people on the other end of an ad are real — a neighbour clearing out the garage, a tradesperson advertising a service, a student selling a bike. The handful who aren’t are predictable. After moderating thousands of listings, the same scam patterns come up over and over. Here are six worth recognising before you reply to an ad or accept a buyer.
The price you write on a listing decides whether it sells. Too high, nobody messages. Too low, you signal something is wrong, and you leave money on the table when the buyer who would have paid full whack scrolls past your suspiciously cheap ad. Here is how to land in the band that actually clears in a reasonable timeframe.
A rental listing competes with dozens of similar flats in the same neighbourhood. The flat that gets viewings booked in days, rather than weeks, is the one that answers every applicant’s checklist up front instead of forcing them to message and ask. Here is what to put in the ad, in the order that works.
A used phone or laptop is often half the price of new with most of the useful lifespan still in it. The catch is that “used” covers everything from “barely opened the box” to “water damaged and reglued.” A ten-minute inspection at the meet-up filters one from the other reliably. Here is the routine.
Most classifieds fraud has nothing to do with the item being sold. It happens at the moment money changes hands. Get the payment step right and the rest of the deal is usually straightforward. Here is how to pay as a buyer, and get paid as a seller, without leaving yourself exposed.
