Purchasing something on marketplace? Such as Facebook, Craigslist, Kijiji ? You should take the necessary few simple steps to ensure it is not a scam or a fraudulent listing.

Fraudsters are everywhere and popular sites such as Facebook marketplace is another place they have popped up. How do we know this? It is because our customers have purchased items and when we have arrived to pick it up, there is no such items for sale.

We want to bring awareness to our future customers and the public of these scams and fraudsters. As a pick up and delivery service, we have customer who purchase items from sellers on these marketplaces without visiting to check the items or speaking to the seller over the phone. Sometimes it may not be practical to physically visit the seller to view the item as the seller may be located too far, the item value may not justify the travel to actually view it or several other reason.

However, there are some simple steps buyers can take to ensure they are not being defrauded once they have decided to purchase the item.

  1. Have a video call with the seller. Most scammer will not want to do this but a genuine seller may be open as they are motivated to sell and want the buyer to be comfortable with their purchase.
  2. Ask for the sellers address and phone number. Sometimes they may be reluctant to provide an address and provide just cross streets and will state they will share the location and phone number after a deposit is sent. After they receive the deposit they will block the buyer. Deposits are requested in the from of an e-transfer. DO NOT SEND A DEPOSIT unless you have taken the necessary steps to verify the seller.
  3. Talk to the seller over the phone. In some cases they will provide a phone number that is a local phone number but will not answer the phone but instead make excuses such as they are at work, they are busy etc. However, they will insist on a deposit being sent.
  4. Visit the location, this is the best case, to verify the seller is legitimate.

We hope this article helps you on your marketplace purchases. If you have any deliveries that you would like picked up and delivered please call 604-441-5299 to schedule. We are available 7 days a week and very flexible with timings. You can also book online for a pick up and delivery

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