What to know before selling items online this spring

HARTFORD, Conn. (WFSB) – Platforms like eBay, Poshmark, Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace offer ways to make money off old items without holding a garage sale.

Before picking which website to use, know what protections, if any, the platform offers.

“If you’re the seller and you don’t get the money that you expected. For instance, scammers will sometimes use peer-to-peer apps and they will make it look like they’ve paid you. They’ll even imitate a PayPal or a Venmo email and if you don’t look at it closely enough, you think you’ve been paid, you send the item on its way. And then unfortunately, you find out that that transaction didn’t go through. So now you’ve lost out on money and you no longer have the item. What kind of protections will that site give you?” said Kristen Johnson with BBB Connecticut.

Johnson recommends never accepting a check as payment because it can take a week or more to learn if that check will actually clear.

She said to be wary of anyone trying to move the conversation off of the selling platform or asking personal questions. They could be trying to scam you.

“If the buyer or seller is asking you for personal information or banking information, that’s always a red flag,” Johnson said.

BBB says sellers can get the most money for items if posts have quality pictures and a detailed description. Post items during the season in which there is demand for that item, such as posting fitness equipment in January when people are making New Year’s resolutions.

Many police stations offer space to meet up when buying or selling something online. It is recommended to not meet at your home whenever possible.

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