How to stay safe from third-party seller scams

When shopping online, there’s more to consider than what to buy and how much to spend. If you plan to shop marketplaces such as Amazon, Etsy and Walmart that host third-party sellers, you’ll also want to watch out for scams.

Derrek Casebolt thought he was getting a steal when he bought a gaming controller and headphones bundle, normally priced around $170, for about $100 from a seller on the Walmart app. Soon after, Casebolt — who works for UPS in the Fresno, California, area — received a phony tracking number for the order and learned he’d been scammed. “I saw the number, and I was like, ‘That's not right.’ I immediately knew.”

Casebolt then double-checked the order details and noticed the seller had used a name similar to that of a legitimate company, but the spelling was off. He tried to contact the seller unsuccessfully. “When I couldn't get ahold of them, I immediately let Walmart know,” he says. “But they didn't really give me any information. They just told me to go to my bank.” The bank that issued Casebolt’s credit card removed the charge.

According to a TransUnion study from the second quarter of 2024, among the 40% of consumers who said they were targeted by online, email, phone call or text message fraud, 18% said they were targeted in third-party seller scams on legitimate e-commerce websites.

Here’s how to stay safe from third-party seller scams.

Know how third-party scams work

Most third-party sellers — businesses that sell products through another company’s marketplace — won’t pose a problem. But some are scammers that use all sorts of tactics to rip off and extort buyers. Knowing what you’re up against can help you protect yourself. Some common third-party shopping scams include:

• The seller has a product on sale for an extremely low price. The item turns out to be counterfeit, defective or simply doesn’t exist. 
• The seller gives a bogus tracking number to make you think they shipped your item, when they did not, or they send the wrong item. 
• The seller refuses to accept returns or will do so only if you pay a high shipping fee. 
• The seller asks you to pay outside of the marketplace, such as with cash or on a separate platform like Venmo.

Verify the seller

It isn’t always immediately clear that an item is being sold by a third party, not by the company whose website you’re using. Read search results and product pages carefully.

You can use the Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker database to search for scams by website or business name. You can also do a Google search for the item or company name along with words like “scam” or “fake” and see what results come up.

Read reviews

Don’t just glance at an item’s overall rating. Take time to browse individual reviews. Look out for common complaints. Do multiple reviews highlight similar issues with delivery, returns or product quality?

Be skeptical of overwhelmingly positive reviews, too. “Sometimes people are paid or given free products to review the product that they're reviewing,” says Christine Todaro, an attorney in the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Check retailer policies

Etsy, Amazon and other sites offer protection for buyers dealing with third-party sellers. Typically, retailers promise to issue refunds if an item doesn’t arrive or isn’t as the seller described. Read what circumstances these policies cover and don’t cover, and be sure to keep track of any return or refund deadlines that you may need to follow, Todaro says.

Pay with a credit card

Credit cards offer protection that debit cards, gift cards and other payment methods don’t. You can dispute a credit card charge within 60 days of it appearing on your billing statement.

Freeze and monitor your credit

Credit freezes won’t prevent someone from stealing your credit card information. But if you fall for a shopping scam that compromises your personal data, having a freeze in place can stop the fraudster from using the information to apply for credit in your name.

You can report scams to the FTC and the Better Business Bureau.