Tips on how to avoid gumtree scams

Manfred-Klose

I have been buying from gumtree, since forever, i remember in the early days when you had to buy the cape ads every wednesday to be on the lookout for something you need(ed), and then boom here was this site, the average amount of new ads that were posted on gumtree was probably about 5 new ads a week(2006 i think ?), back then you could still bump up your ad everyday without much hassles(alot has changed and needles to say i am very happy with all the good deals i got over the years)..................(I remember the early days of guitarforum classifieds as well ?)

now, i have learnt alot from buying and posting ads on gumtree, and i am sure many of you reading this as well, i made alot of weird friends on gumtree by buying and selling gear, some of them turned out to be very cool friends.

So i thought i would share some things to look out for when buying or selling that is obvious for a scam:

*if someone sends you an email with with their number to ask if you could call them(most cases these are scams, but i am wrong sometimes),
*if you send someone an email to ask a question about the details of the gear advertised, and the reply you get is a very rude one liner, specially if its something very expensive
*if you do an image search and notice the same image used on the ad is also used somewhere else on the internet
*if someone wants to pay by check, by any means what ever you do, don't accept cheques, they bounce
*if someone wants to pay by EFT, let them, but wait at least 3 days before you release anything, proof of payments is easy to fake
*the scammer can also deposit the cheques at the bank as well, here you need to wait at least 10 days, sometimes the bank only realizes the check bounced and just pull out the money from the account again.
*you check what other ads is available from the gumtree user, to get an idea who you are dealing with, Dr. Dre headphones for R150 is normally a dead give away.
*search the email address and phone number, to find out if the same ad is advertised say in a small town 1000km away.
*if it seems dodgy, take a friend along

Lucky with musical instruments the scams is not that much, but when it comes to cars, household items, you are in for a bumpy ride

(Please add anything else from your own experiences)

sharonzaz

Lucky with musical instruments the scams is not that much

depends, its gotten worse.

I wanted to sell a goldtop Gibson a while back, selling was 20k.
however, it does no matter if i was selling for 10 rands, I do not know a single musician who would not want to play an axe before buying and this dude just said, yeh ill take it.
dead giveaway, chop.

DaFiz

I'm very pedantic about my gumtree post... A full explanation of the items along with price, picture and map to my area.
Then I get an sms asking if it's still available, along with a silly offer and asking where about I am.
It's very difficult to reply politely sometimes. I recently sold a motorcycle on gumtree and the buyer used my own computer to access his bank and pay directly into my account.
The transfer was immediate and we loaded the bike onto his bakkie and off he went...
I sold a Fender Precision to a GFSA member a while ago... He did the transfer and sent a courier to my home...
I like gumtree and use it all the time. Have had lots of smaller cash deals as well.
You gotta watch out for scams in every application so gumtree is not unique in that regard.

http://www.gumtree.co.za/cp-braai-accessories-in-tableview/alva-3-burner-hooded-bbq-515555429

Reinhard

There is this one low baller/opportunist/asshole who will send you a low ball offer on everything. It has reached the point where I sent him an email not to contact me ever again.

kapepper

Reinhard wrote: There is this one low baller/opportunist/asshole who will send you a low ball offer on everything. It has reached the point where I sent him an email not to contact me ever again.

sorry reinhard, wont do it again ?))

For me to take the next step in gumtree....

I also will do a google search of the name or telephone number and use your common sense and gut feeling...