Hi, I'll take it, no need to see it. I sent $900 instead of $600 by mistake - please refund the $300 to my account and my courier will collect the item tomorrow.
You list a phone, a bike, a sofa. Within an hour a buyer wants it, no haggling, doesn't need to see it. Then something about the payment is odd.
The versions you'll meet
The overpayment. "I sent $900 instead of $600 by mistake - please refund $300 to this account." The $900 never really arrives (fake screenshot, bounced check, reversed transfer). Your $300 refund is real.
The shipping agent. "I'm abroad / at sea / in the army. My courier will collect it. Please pay the courier's fee and I'll add it to the transfer." The courier is them.
The fake payment page. You get an email "from PayPal" or "from the platform" saying the money is held until you confirm shipping, or until you upgrade to a business account by paying a fee. The email is fake; nothing is held.
Off-platform, fast. "Let's move to WhatsApp, the app is slow." Off the platform there's no buyer protection and no record.
The tells
- Buyer wants to pay more than you asked, or in an unusual way (check, gift card, "certified funds", crypto).
- Buyer can't collect in person and has a story about why.
- Any request for you to send money - a refund, a courier fee, an "insurance" - before you've seen cleared funds in your own bank app.
- Pressure and urgency: "my agent is on the way", "I need this today".
- Emails about payment that come from anywhere other than the platform's real domain.
Safe rules for selling
- Only trust money you can see in your own banking app, not in a screenshot or an email.
- Never refund an overpayment. Ask the buyer to cancel the payment on their side instead. A real buyer can; a scammer won't.
- Never pay a "courier" or "agent" the buyer chose.
- Prefer in-person handover with cash or an instant bank transfer you confirm on the spot.
- Stay on the platform's chat until money is in your account.
Paste the conversation
Scamed picks out the overpayment sentence, the courier story and the off-platform request, and checks any link the buyer sent.