Tips for a safe sale on second-hand platforms

11/03/2025

I'm tidying up the closet and suddenly I come across that quirky garment they gave me at the last family reunion, and I think, what if I sell it on a second-hand platform? Anyway, nobody's gonna find out and I won't miss it.

You're probably right, at least in part. The relative is not going to find out, but you could lose a lot if you do not take certain precautions when putting it up for sale.

Buying and selling on second-hand platforms can be a great way to earn extra income and give a second life to products we don't use. These platforms are generally secure, but they can be exploited by criminals during payment. Therefore, caution must be exercised.

The most frequent form of fraud is as follows: a person sells an item and then someone contacts them. This person asks for details and the seller's phone number to contact outside the platform. Next, the buyer contacts them through an instant messaging application like WhatsApp and confirms that they have made the payment, sending a link that supplants the sales platform. Once the seller clicks on the link, they ask for the bank details to pay the price into their account. It's actually a hoax to get hold of your bank details and passwords.

As always, it is important that you never click on a link sent to you by someone you do not know, even if it seems legitimate, and that you always access payment data within the platform itself. If the payment is not there, notify the technical service and if it is discovered that it is a fraud, report it.

There are signs such as the urgency or the immediate request to leave the platform, which can serve as an alert. And in case of doubt, the platforms themselves give advice on use and warn about the frauds that their users have suffered. Take advantage of the experience of others and share yours too.

In conclusion, always keep a critical and attentive approach, check how the platform is used, use secure payment methods and protect your personal data. By following these tips, you can significantly reduce your risk of becoming a victim of fraud.

“Disclaimer: Please note that this is a translation of the original in Spanish that has been obtained using eTranslation (the machine translation tool provided by the European Commission), with the intention of giving you a basic idea of the content in English until a human translation becomes available. The Banco de España accepts no liability whatsoever in connection with this translation.”