How do I spot scams as a new seller on online marketplaces?
Scammers deliberately target first-time sellers because their excitement and unfamiliarity with the platform make them vulnerable to manipulation. This destroys new sellers' trust and makes them feel foolish, which ultimately stops them from continuing to share and sell their work online.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from September 2026.
- This comes up 67.0× more often in r/Etsy than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1refusing to take payments off-platform and only selling through official checkout systemsDid this help you?
- 2disposing of fraudulent checks instead of depositing themDid this help you?
- 3blocking suspicious buyers and ignoring their messagesDid this help you?
- 4Meeting inside the buyer's bank to watch the cashier's check get printed by a tellerDid this help you?
- 5Requesting cash or wire transfers instead of checksDid this help you?
- 6Opening a temporary account at the buyer's bank to deposit the check immediately on the spotDid this help you?
- 7Ignoring suspicious emails from sellersDid this help you?
- 8Refusing to communicate or transact off the platformDid this help you?
- 9Waiting to see if the item arrives and filing a claim or requesting a refund through platform supportDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I had messaged someone about why my delivery date was pushed back 2 months and it's always kindly and rest assured. I was scammed.”source ↗
“This is the first time I've ever sold anything on Etsy and I was super excited to get my art sent out, only for it to be a possible scam. I'm very disheartened now lol”source ↗
“That is the worst thing about the scammers to me. You think OMG someone likes what I'm doing enough to want to give me money and you get excited :( that is why they target new sellers.”source ↗
“This was my first time ever using Etsy to sell anything and I was eager to get my painting sent out, I feel like an idiot”source ↗
“Looking for advice to ensure I dont get scammed.”source ↗
“I'm just worried about the AFTER, can he cancel it or report it stolen or it in some way revoke the funds from my account once I deposit his legit cashiers check.”source ↗
“All I know is that a friend took a cashiers check, deposited it, got the funds in his account. Then later the bank came back, said it was bad and clawed the money back.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 24Why is every online artisan marketplace full of fake and AI items?
- 2Why does setting up ChatGPT ads on Shopify give a crawl failed error?
- 17How to tell if an international online marketplace seller is a scam
- 2Is it safer to use PayPal or a credit card on unfamiliar websites?
- 21How to start an online store with no money
- 8How to stop sellers from harassing you to change reviews