How can I tell if a Marketplace seller is a scammer?

Watch for pressure to pay fast, a price that’s too good, a refusal to meet in person or let you inspect the item, requests to pay by wire, gift card, or “friends and family,” a brand-new or sparse profile, and stories that explain why they can’t meet (out of town, military, shipping service). Any push to pay before you’ve confirmed the item is the core warning sign.

What payment methods are safest on Marketplace?

The method matters less than whether your money is protected until you confirm receipt. Cash, Venmo, Zelle, and wires give a stranger your money with no checkpoint. PayPal Goods and Services adds some protection but is reactive. The safest setup is a protected deal where the money sits in a secure vault that neither side controls until you approve.

I think I’m being scammed — what should I do before paying?

Stop and don’t send money directly. Offer a protected deal instead: you fund it, the money is locked and real, and it only releases to the seller when you approve after receiving the item. A legitimate seller has no reason to refuse. If they do refuse, that’s often the clearest answer you’ll get.

Does paying with a protected deal cost more?

EscrowHaven charges 1.99% on success only — nothing if the deal is refunded. On a $1,500 purchase that’s $30, and only if everything goes right. Set against the risk of losing the entire amount to a stranger, it’s the cheap part of the transaction.

Facebook Marketplace scams: how to spot and avoid them

Almost every Marketplace scam is the same move wearing a different costume: get your money before you can confirm what you’re buying. Learn that one pattern and the rest fall into place — and there’s a single change to how you pay that defuses most of them.

Facebook Marketplace is one of the biggest places people buy and sell locally, which also makes it one of the biggest hunting grounds for scammers. The good news: you don’t need to memorize a hundred schemes. They nearly all rely on the same weak point — the moment you pay.

The scams buyers run into most

Pay-first-then-ghost: you send a deposit or full payment, the seller disappears.
Fake payment confirmation: a “buyer” or “seller” sends a screenshot of a payment that never actually happened.
Overpayment refund: they overpay “by accident” and ask you to send the difference back — the original payment later reverses.
The bait-and-switch item: photos show one thing, what arrives is broken, fake, or nothing at all.
Off-platform “shipping/escrow” services: the seller insists on a fake third-party site designed to take your money.

Red flags that should make you slow down

Red flags worth slowing down for

Pressure to pay quickly or "before someone else takes it."
A price noticeably below what the item should cost.
Refusal to meet in person or let you inspect before paying.
Requests to pay by wire, gift card, or "friends and family."
A story about why they can’t meet — out of town, deployed, using a shipping service.
A "shipping and escrow" service the seller insists you use (it’s usually a fake site they control).

The one change that stops most of them

Every scam above needs the same thing to work: your money has to reach the seller before you’ve confirmed the item. Take that away and the whole playbook collapses.

Your money sits in a secure vault that neither side controls — not even us.

$0 held by us, ever. The vault releases to the seller only when you approve. Nobody — not even EscrowHaven — can pocket your cash or move it without your say-so.

With a protected deal, you fund it and the money waits in the vault — real and visible to the seller, but out of their reach. They deliver, you check the item, and your approval releases the payment. A scammer can’t ghost you for money they never got. A bait-and-switch fails because you don’t approve. “Send a deposit to hold it” stops working because the deposit isn’t theirs until you say so.

See how it works

How each payment method stacks up

A quick reference for when a seller is pushing one method over another. Reversibility is whether you can get your money back if something goes wrong; buyer protection is whether the payment company will fight on your behalf.

Method	Reversible?	Buyer protection?	Best for
Cash / Wire	No	No	In-person, item-in-hand only
Venmo / Cash App	No	No	Paying friends, never strangers
Zelle	No	No	Bank-to-bank between trusted people
PayPal F&F	No	No	Gifts to people you know
PayPal G&S	Limited	Limited	Online purchases (reactive disputes)
Credit card	Limited	Limited	Reversible via chargeback (slow)
Protected deal	Yes	Yes	Paying strangers — funds release on your approval

Paying by a specific app? Read the one that fits

A lot of Marketplace scams hinge on which payment method the seller pushes. If a seller is steering you toward a particular app, here’s exactly where each one leaves you exposed:

Keep reading

Is Venmo safe for Facebook Marketplace?

Why a Venmo payment to a stranger is close to mailing cash.

Is Zelle safe for Facebook Marketplace?

Instant, final, and rarely refundable — the scammer’s favorite.

Is PayPal safe for Facebook Marketplace?

Goods and Services vs Friends and Family — and the gaps in both.

How to safely buy a used car from a stranger

The highest-stakes deal most people ever do with a stranger.

Is Facebook Marketplace safe?

What Marketplace’s own buyer protection covers — and where it stops.

Common questions

The pay-first scam. A seller asks you to send money — a deposit, or the full amount — before you’ve received and inspected the item, then either disappears or sends something that isn’t what was promised. Almost every Marketplace scam is a variation on getting your money before you can verify what you’re buying.