This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Today's question comes from Tyler in Flagstaff, Arizona. Tyler's been using Facebook Marketplace to sell items, but has recently run into a series of scam attempts. He'll describe at least one of those attempts, but they have understandably made him a bit cautious. Now, unfortunately, this is quite common on not just Facebook Marketplace, but any sort of platform where your buyings were selling items. And a scam can come from a couple of different directions.
Like you might think, well, most scammers are selling something and they're trying to get money and then not deliver an item. But in fact, if you are a seller, which is what happened here, you are also at risk of buyers who are not real buyers. And these nefarious buyers want you to click links, which give them access to your bank accounts. There could be some other angles and such. The point is there are lots of bad actors in this world.
So what do you do about this? Well, you wanna protect yourself without being too distracted by it. Like you don't wanna spend all your time worrying about not getting scammed. You don't wanna just walk away and say, I'll never do anything because I might get scammed and that's not a great way to live your life, right? So what are some simple things you can do so that you're able to focus on making profits as a seller or just use a platform like Facebook Marketplace securely?
So let's talk about it. And by the way, Facebook Marketplace can be a great place to resell, to buy stuff and then resell it or just to sell existing stuff that you have. So if you're looking for a quick way to make some money or clear out some stuff in your house, like this is not a sponsor message. They're just a great platform for that. So not a bad thing at all to consider.
You just wanna look out for the scams. Let's talk about it in 30 seconds. [Music]
This is Tyler from Flagstaff, Arizona. I've started selling stuff on Facebook Marketplace but recently encountered a bunch of scam attempts. For example, when I tried to sell a couch, I heard from three different people who said they wanted to buy it sight unseen, but they each said they'd be sending someone over to pick it up and well, it all seems sketchy and of course no one ever arrived.
These experiences have made me cautious. Like what strategies can I employ to safeguard against scams and how can I ensure a secure transaction process for both myself and my buyers on the platform? [Music]
Tyler, I totally understand the sense of feeling cautious and maybe even a little bit worried, especially if somebody has had a negative experience, maybe getting a little bit further down the process, not realizing it's a scam until later and perhaps losing some money. Thankfully, it doesn't sound like that's what's happened here. And there are some things you can do to eliminate probably 80 to 90% of this stuff.
So first thing, it sounds simple, but just trust your instincts if it seems like it's too good to be true or if the buyer has some pretty unusual requests like wanting to buy this couch and take it off the market without seeing it and then sending somebody else to pick it up and so on. Like, it's better to just trust your instincts and back out of the transaction. There's somebody else who's gonna want to buy that couch. And then along with that, these platforms, they're very aware that there are people trying to take advantage and that affects their whole business model because people have to have trust in the system. So they have ways of making payments typically, or they have a very clear process that you're supposed to follow as a buyer and seller.
And it's almost always a good idea to follow that process. Like if you have a buyer or seller who wants to act outside that process, that is a huge red flag. So it's usually best to stick to the secure payment method that Facebook Marketplace or whatever platform encourages you to use. As part of that, avoid overpayment scams. Like be wary of buyers who offer to pay more than the asking price or who propose any sort of complicated payment method.
Again, trust your instincts on that. And finally, for these local and in-person transactions, whenever possible, stick to local buyers. Arrange the in-person transaction. Make sure that there's actually a meeting before money exchanges hands. And combined with the other things, again, that's gonna eliminate most of the common scam attempts that you experience.
Because those people will just move on and go to somebody else. So there's no system that's foolproof, but if you take those precautions, that can make it a lot easier to trade on Facebook Marketplace and other platforms. And like I said, I think it's a good thing to do. Like if you've got stuff to sell, or if you wanna buy stuff and save some money, why not check it out? I mean, it's a really simple platform with a lot of users, which makes it easy to trade.
So good luck, everybody. Let me know how it goes. sidehustleschool.com/questions. If you're trying to figure something out about your side hustle or small business, we'll continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from listeners as they launch their projects. Thanks for tuning in today.
My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
