Facebook Marketplace & Venmo

[mel]

I listed an item on Facebook Marketplace and have a potential buyer (we're meeting up today). I've admittedly only sold a handful of items on FBMP and all for less than $50, so there was no real skin in the game for me. The buyer asked if I accept Venmo as a form of payment. It's not a small amount, and I don't want to get caught up in a scam if there's potential there. 

Is Venmo a safe form of payment for a Facebook Marketplace transaction? FWIW, her seller profile is 4.7 stars, but I can't see the buyer's profile (does such a thing exist?).

[followyourarrow]

I accept Venmo, but only when we're ready to exchange the item, not in advance. I really prefer cash though.

[ssmjlm]

I've done Venmo for FB marketplace before. Just make sure they use friends and family so there's no fee.

I just show my QR code and they scan and pay.

[nicolewi]

I think it’s fine. I just paid via Venmo for an item that I am picking up today. Granted, it was only $25. I don’t really know how someone could scam you by paying via Venmo?? But I’m not super sophisticated about this.

[mpc]

I've had a lot of people want to pay with Venmo or cashapp or zelle. I think a lot of people just don't keep the cash on hand.

[liverandonions]

I use Venmo often but we also have a neighborhood specific garage sale site so it feels a little safer given these are my neighbors 😀

I would probably accept Venmo on marketplace too depending on the item and the total. Like PP maybe in person to confirm it went through etc

[mel]

OK, thanks everyone! I will definitely only accept in person and won't hand the item over until I verify the funds went through and are showing available in my account.

nicolewi, I read that people will somehow send a fake payment and you don't realize it unless you verify it's actually available in your Venmo balance.

[gerberdaisy]

I accept and use Venmo. Just in general I only venmo or cash, I don't have the other apps (cash app, zelle) and would never accept a check.

[eb777888]

So, grain of salt because I've never done a Venmo transaction for FB Marketplace, but on my city pages all of the scams come from Zelle. Don't know why but something I've noticed. They don't come from Venmo ever, always Zelle.

[VillainV]

Yes, definitely make sure it has actually gone through. Sometimes even well-intentioned buyers will miss the final step in Venmo and not complete the transaction.

FWIW, I had a bad experience accepting cash once, so I only accept Venmo or PayPal anymore.

[gerberdaisy]

May 8, 2024 9:48:00 GMT -5 eb777888 said:

So, grain of salt because I've never done a Venmo transaction for FB Marketplace, but on my city pages all of the scams come from Zelle. Don't know why but something I've noticed. They don't come from Venmo ever, always Zelle.

I don't know all the details, but I would never use Zelle.  Being directly tied to your bank account always makes me nervous and there hass been a lot of fraud activity with Zelle.

[mel]

My bank uses Zelle and every time I log on to the app there's always a big disclaimer about not using Zelle for anything other than friends/family transactions. Even then I don't trust it, lol.

[felicity]

Zelle is the one I've heard of being used for scams, although I don't fully understand how people pull it off.

I've sold to someone using Venmo for an expensive item and it worked great. They paid at pickup.

[wanderingback]

May 8, 2024 10:39:57 GMT -5 felicity said:

Zelle is the one I've heard of being used for scams, although I don't fully understand how people pull it off.

I've sold to someone using Venmo for an expensive item and it worked great. They paid at pickup.

From what I've read and googled, the scams with Zelle are "obvious.." Not that I fault anyone for being scammed. But what I've read and googled it's things like you'll get an email that looks like it's from zelle and you have to click on the link. Or you'll get a call saying you're due a refund and they walk you through a process where you really are transferring money to someone else.

It's not like if you give someone your phone number and they send you money that is a scam.

I know a couple of people on a family/mom's group have mentioned getting scammed by PayPal when the person sent the money and then took it back or something like that. 

[rhian]

I think as long as you confirm payment while you're still with them and before you let them leave with the item, Venmo is fine. But it's also totally fine to say you only accept cash if you're more comfortable with that - there have been times as a buyer, I've asked if they accept Venmo, and they say cash only. Venmo is a little more convenient for me since I don't have to go get cash, but cash only wouldn't stop me from purchasing something.

[wildrice]

As a seller, I would worry at all.

My sister and I got scammed out of $800 worth of Taylor Swift tickets by paying with Venmo. Once the money is gone, you can't get it back as a buyer. So it's very safe for the seller, lol. I probably wouldn't use it again to pay for something unless I had it in my hand.

[sent]

I've had people tell me "hang on a minute, I have to transfer the money" on the buyer's end when using Venmo so seems like Venmo has something in place to not allow a transaction to occur if the buyer doesn't actually have the funds.

[rachers]

I use Venmo all the time - but yes, make sure the final step happens. I sold a toy kitchen and we had an awkward back and forth when she tried to pay because I didn't know you had to confirm the transaction.

Zelle is the only one I avoid.

[artichokie]

Trust no one. Tell them you prefer cash only.

Why risk it?

[Zoly]

So, I actually had a bad experience with FB Marketplace and Venmo. A couple weeks after I sold something, we got a dispute and the money went into holding. The buyer messaged me that her Venmo had been hacked and they were disputing everything. I wasn't especially worried because I had screenshots of our messages and her picking up the item. But in the end, Venmo sided with the buyer/hacker and we lost the money she had paid me. It was about $30, so it wasn't a huge amount, but I was annoyed.

[wanderingback]

But to answer OPs question, I don’t really use Facebook marketplace but I have sold a few things on a local group. I always just accept cash. It makes it easier and then nothing to worry about. Even though most people don’t carry a lot of cash these days I think it’s totally normal to get cash for these type of situations. If someone absolutely insisted on using an electronic form of payment would make me raise an eyebrow.

[purplepenguin7]

It should be safe if they are in person paying you. The scam with Zelle/venmo usually revolves around asking you for the security code the platform sends to reset an password and then hacking into your account or paying extra, and have you “refund” the difference. Don’t give out any information except your qr code or phone number and don’t accept anything more than the negotiated amount no matter what the reason is. Aside from that you should be ok.

[mel]

Welp, in an interesting turn of events, as I was en-route to our meeting place, she messaged that she wasn't interested in the item anymore. So that sucked.

But thanks for all the anecdotes!

[expectantsteelerfan]

May 9, 2024 8:47:00 GMT -5 mel said:

Welp, in an interesting turn of events, as I was en-route to our meeting place, she messaged that she wasn't interested in the item anymore. So that sucked.

But thanks for all the anecdotes!

At least she told you instead of just no-showing and then ghosting you?  Sorry, I seriously hate selling things on FB marketplace unless it's to people I know, but I also know it's the best way to get some money for some stuff that still has use, so it's a necessary evil.