Potential buyers are advised to exercise caution when negotiating a purchase on the marketplace, but especially in cases of ads where detail is offered primarily via e-mail as there is a (recent) history of people being scammed this way or being offered stolen goods. See also the disclaimer.
Tips:
- Always ask for proof of purchase and check the IMEI number with Fairphone support.
- Realise that pictures can be obtained easily from the net. Whilst moderators will instantly ban any users posting pictures that have been around on the net for a while as part of an offer, there is no guarantee that all these cases will be detected. Whilst a picture can be helpful to describe the state of a device, it does not guarantee that the picture is of the device that is being sold, if it exists at all.
- Meeting in person can be useful (never compromise your safety, (very) public places may provide some protection), but a mention of a willingness to does not imply the offer is genuine.
- Buyer protections that are offered by some payment methods are not always effective in fraud cases. Direct bank transfers can only be reversed if the money has not left the destination account. Paypal ‘friends and family’ has similar issues.