Real-world pattern · Marketplace safety
The seller moved payment off the marketplace. Protection disappeared.
A documented marketplace scam pattern: a seemingly normal listing, then a request to pay outside the platform with an irreversible method.
What happened
The FTC warns that marketplace protections can depend on the platform’s own payment system. A seller may ask a buyer to continue the conversation elsewhere and send money by wire transfer, gift card, cryptocurrency, or another method outside the marketplace. That change can remove platform protections and make recovery difficult if the item never arrives.
The payment decision point
The payment-method change is the stop sign. Do not treat a familiar listing, profile photo, or chat history as proof that a request to leave the marketplace is safe. Pause before payment and verify the seller, item, and protection available through the platform.
Signals to pause on
- The seller asks to move payment or chat outside the marketplace.
- The item is unusually cheap, but the seller creates urgency to pay first.
- The seller demands wire transfer, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or another hard-to-reverse method.
- The listing uses only stock photos or cannot show the actual item.
What to do now
- Paste the seller’s message or payment request into SignalCheck before responding.
- Check the marketplace’s refund, return, and buyer-protection rules for that seller and item.
- Search the seller, site, and item independently; do not rely on star ratings alone.
- Keep the messages and pay only through a protected method after the details match.
Have a similar request in front of you?
Check the link, message, or screenshot before sending money or personal information.
Check the evidence