I LOVE Facebook shopping. I’ve found so many goodies locally from Facebook Marketplace, and I also sell my Pink Zebra almost exclusively on Facebook via my VIP group and Facebook parties, which is known as "social selling."
Today, however, I want to share my personal tips on buying from Facebook hobby or interest groups. This idea came to me after encountering several scammers in the Primitive Doll Collectors group that I founded on Facebook. I had several group members fall victim to scam artists, and it could have easily been avoided if they had known a few things ahead of time. While I am not an expert by any means, I do consider myself somewhat of a social media aficionado, as I do this for work as well as for my side business and hobbies.
Here’s what I always tell people now.
For Group Admins
If you are a group administrator, you need to have member approval turned on. This means that you have to manually approve people’s requests to join your group and they cannot join automatically. I urge you to look for several red flags when looking at someone’s request to join.
- First, you will see in their request when this account / person joined Facebook. Nearly every scammer I have encountered has a brand spanking new Facebook profile. Why? Because they create a profile, scam buyers, steal money, get caught, then start the cycle over and make a new profile AGAIN. When I get a member request and the person has a profile that was created within the last day or week, or even month, they are getting declined. Another thing to do is click over to their profile, where you can see…
- Do they have friends? If not, or they only have a couple, this is another sign that the profile is a fake. Decline.
- You can also add questions that members must answer when they request to join. If they don’t answer the question, or they answer it unsatisfactorily, feel free to decline!
- Use that block button! I have many people blocked from my group far various reasons.
For Buyers
- Never, ever pay with Facebook Pay, Venmo, or Cash App! You will NOT have any buyer protection against fraud. Scammers will try and tell you their PayPal is down. Do not listen. PayPal doesn’t “go down” or block accounts like they say.
- ONLY pay with PayPal. Further, ONLY pay via a PayPal invoice, OR via a PayPal money request that is done through Goods and Services and NOT Family and Friends. Again, the Family and Friends option does not offer buyer protection. The seller does not pay a fee via Family and Friends, so they will want you to pay that way, but too bad! They are NOT your family or your friend. They are selling you goods, so that is how you will pay. You simply MUST pay via an actual invoice OR Goods and Services if you want protection. The buyer will pay a small fee, but that is the cost of doing business. By the way, sellers are obligated to pay those fees. Buyers should never be asked to pay them.
- Look at the photos. Do they look like stock photos? If so, avoid them! You want to see photos of the actual product, not stock photos. If they look like real photos, do they look like they were taken by the same person and have the same backdrop and settings? This is often a good sign. If the photos all look different, and as if they were taken by a different person, this may be suspicious. Always feel free to ask for MORE photos, too.
- Ask for proof via a photo of the item with their name (as seen on their Facebook profile) and today’s date written on a piece of paper beside the item. This is common practice on Facebook and should prove that the person physically has the item on hand on that date. If they are unable to produce this photo, it’s because they do not have the item! Do not buy!
- Have they sold before in the group? Ask an admin! They might know! Or, if you click on the seller’s name within the group, you can often see their previous listings. You can see if they’ve successfully sold before and have a history of good sales.
I sincerely hope this helps you while shopping on Facebook. I’ve had several people reach out to me after being scammed, and they were completely heartbroken. I now offer this advice as often as I can, and I try my very best to keep my group members as safe as possible. Please feel free to share with anyone you know who may be vulnerable to getting scammed in Facebook groups.
No comments