Buying Pre-Owned Online Without Getting Burned

The resale market is where the best value is, and where most of the fraud is. Three habits remove most of the risk.

1. Stay on the platform

Marketplaces protect transactions that happen through them. A seller who asks you to pay by bank transfer or message them privately is asking you to give that protection up. Decline.

2. Pay by a method with a dispute process

Card payments generally come with a right to dispute a transaction if goods do not arrive or are not as described. The mechanism is known as a chargeback, explained in Wikipedia's article on chargebacks. Bank transfers, gift cards and cryptocurrency offer nothing comparable.

3. Ask for what a real seller can supply

• A photograph with today's date written on paper beside the item.
• Close-ups of the serial number, stitching and hardware.
• Proof of purchase, with personal details covered.

A genuine seller finds this mildly annoying. A fraudulent one finds it impossible.

On arrival

1. Film the unboxing in one take.
2. Run through the checks in seven checks for a designer bag.
3. Raise any problem inside the platform's dispute window, not by private message.

What a fair price looks like

Search completed sales, not asking prices. An item listed well below recent sales is either a mistake or a trap, and mistakes are rare.