The Dos And Don’t When Buying Or Selling On Classified Ads Platform/Online Marketplaces
E-commerce is becoming one of the most lucrative industry in Nigeria, now it looks like everybody on Facebook and Instagram has a shop. Decentralized marketplaces like Jiji, Swapix, and a host of others are getting really popular too. In these marketplaces, all you have to do as a vendor is list your products and like magic, you’ll receive calls from several prospective buyers. Remarkable, right? It isn’t so easy most of the times, an unimaginable number of fraud cases have been reported to have happened in these marketplaces. Get careless and you could become somebody’s MAGA.
When buying on classified ads platforms as there are so many on ground, to avoid being defrauded or shortchanged, you should;
- Research the buyer/seller thoroughly
- Establish a form of communication to make thorough inquiries
- Read, understand and agree to the terms and policy of the seller before opening a trade.
- Meet in a public place if within your region to determine the product’s authenticity/ensure getting the complete money for the product.
- Do not pay in advance for a product you’re yet to confirm its authenticity neither should you deliver a product when you’re uncertain if you’ll get the complete cash in a situation when both parties are in different locations.
Since money is a sensitive issue as it isn’t easy to get, purchasing goods from an online vendor and then being defrauded either by getting something different from your order or not getting any product at all could be a big bone to swallow. (Pretty sure we’ve seen several hilarious reviews on “What I Ordered vs What I Got”).
In the case of the seller, money was used in purchasing the products they sell and some sellers get their goods on credit hoping to make profits and balance those they purchase from. If a buyer gets the products and doesn’t pay up completely or pay up at all, they end up being shortchanged, running at a loss or even running into debt.
In order to avoid this which mostly happens, a trusted escrow service should be involved to handle the buyer’s money and ensure the selling party keeps their own ends of the agreement before disbursing the said money to the seller after the buyer’s confirmation. That way, nobody ends up getting shortchanged or defrauded (As we say in Nigeria, this is the oga kpata-kpata of them all).
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