How to sell safely: payment, handover and scams

Which scams target sellers?

Scams don’t only target buyers. Consumer-protection bodies and police describe a handful of tricks aimed at people selling second-hand items. They all try to get one of two things from you: the item before any money has arrived, or your card and bank details. Knowing the patterns makes them easy to spot.

• A fake payment confirmation. The “buyer” sends a screenshot, a photo, an email or a text saying the money has been sent, sometimes with a link or QR code to “confirm” the payment. The goal, as the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) puts it, is that you hand over the item before you notice nothing arrived.
• “I paid too much, please refund the difference.” The buyer claims to have paid more than agreed, or twice, and asks you to send the extra back. The original payment then turns out to be fake or is taken back, and the money you sent is gone.
• Card details or codes “to receive money”. You get a link to a page that looks like a payment service or a bank and asks for your card number, or someone asks for a code you got by text message. The Berlin police describe the variant with a link for entering card details: instead of a payment, money is taken from the seller’s card.
• A fake courier or transport fee. The buyer says a courier or shipping company will pick the item up, but first you’re supposed to pay the transport costs to that company, and the money goes straight to the scammers. German consumer advisers warn never to pay transport or insurance costs in advance.
• “Send it first, I’ll pay later.” The buyer can’t come in person and wants the item sent before the money is there. Consumer advisers recommend sending nothing until the payment has actually reached your account.

Afër has no payment service and no delivery service. A message about an “Afër payment”, “Afër secure delivery” or money waiting for you on Afër is therefore always fake. If a buyer insists on any of the above, stop replying and report them.

How do you make sure you’ve really been paid?

On Afër the buyer pays you directly. There is no escrow and no protection programme, so the money has to be in your hands before the item leaves them. The FTC, too, points to the advice to sell to a local buyer you meet in person and accept only cash. A bank transfer can work too, as long as you check it yourself.

1. Agree the exact price and the payment method in the Afër chat before you meet: cash, or a transfer that arrives right away.
2. With cash, count the notes together. For the current euro notes, the European Central Bank recommends “feel, look, tilt”: raised print you can feel, a watermark and a security thread when held against the light, and a colour-changing number and hologram when tilted. The Bank of Albania’s 1000-lek note also has raised print, a portrait watermark and a security thread.
3. With a transfer, open your banking app yourself, not through a link someone sends you, and check that the money is actually credited. Police in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate advise never clicking links in text messages or emails, and the US Better Business Bureau (BBB) recommends acting only once the payment has been received directly in your account.
4. Check that the sender’s name in your app matches the person in front of you. Only then hand over the item.

Never accept a screenshot, a forwarded email or “the bank says it takes a few hours” as proof. If more money arrives than you agreed, don’t send any difference back; ask your bank first. And no real buyer needs your card number, PIN, online banking password or a code from a text message to pay you. A bank such as HSBC states that it will never ask you to share one-time passcodes.

Where and how should the handover happen?

Meeting in person is the safest way to sell, because you see the money and the buyer sees the item. Police and consumer advice for local sales boils down to a few simple rules:

• ✓Meet during the day in a busy public place, such as a café or a shopping centre.
• ✓Bring a friend or family member, and tell someone where you’re going.
• ✓For large items like a sofa or a washing machine, where the buyer has to come to you, don’t be home alone. Ask someone to be there, and move the item near the entrance or into the garage beforehand.
• ✓Let the buyer test the item properly: switch it on, try the functions, look at it closely. A good test now saves arguments later.
• ✓If the buyer suddenly changes the place, the price or the story, or you feel uncomfortable, end the meeting.

Hand over the item only once the money is really in your hand or in your account. “I’ll transfer it on the way home”, a screenshot or a promise to come back later is not a payment.

It’s fine to say no. If the buyer wants to pay less at the meeting than you agreed in the chat, you don’t owe anyone a sale. Many of these points mirror our guide for buyers, how to buy used without scams, so you know what a careful buyer will expect from you.

Which personal details should you keep to yourself?

Keep the conversation in the Afër chat for as long as you can. Everything you agree on, from the price to the meeting point, stays there in writing. Once you move to WhatsApp, Viber or a phone call, the chat’s protections no longer apply. Consumer advisers also recommend not giving out your home address, phone number or email without a reason.

Your phone number is optional in your Afër profile. If you add it as a private seller, signed-in users only see it after clicking “Show number”; before that it stays masked. A dealer’s number is shown in full to signed-in users. Guests never see a full number. Share your address only when a buyer really needs to come to you, once the appointment is fixed.

• Never send photos or scans of your ID card, passport or driving licence. German police link requests for ID copies to identity theft.
• Never share card numbers, the security code on the back, your PIN or your online banking password.
• Never pass on codes you receive by text message. The FTC is clear: don’t share any verification code with someone you don’t know.

What do you do on Afër after the sale?

Once the money is with you and the item is with the buyer, close the sale in the app. That way nobody asks about an item that’s gone, and both of you can leave a review.

• Open “My listings” and tap “Mark sold” on the listing. The button appears on active listings; if you paused yours, tap “Resume” first.
• In the “Select buyer” sheet, pick the person from your chats. You can only select someone you’ve replied to in the chat. Sold it outside Afër? Tap “Sold elsewhere” in the same sheet.
• Do this only after the handover: in the app, a listing marked as sold can’t be made active again, only deleted. Afër says it itself: pick the buyer only once you’ve handed over the item.
• The buyer then sees “Confirm purchase” in the chat and taps “Yes, I bought it”. Until they do, you can still tap “Cancel selection”.
• After the buyer confirms, you both have 14 days to review each other. Your button is “Rate the buyer”; reviews appear once both of you have rated or the 14 days are over.

Something feels wrong? In the chat, tap ⋮ (“More”) and choose “Report” or “Block”. After blocking, you can no longer message each other, and you can’t confirm a sale or review each other in that conversation. You can also report a listing with “Report”. Our team reviews reports and can remove a listing or suspend an account.

If you’ve lost money or entered card details, call your bank straight away and report it to the police: in Kosovo to the Kosovo Police (Policia e Kosovës), for example through its app “Lajmëro Policinë” or on 192; in Albania to the State Police (Policia e Shtetit), whose website has an online form for reporting cybercrime. More on safe contact is in our safety tips.