Not every marketplace seller is who they claim to be. This ten-minute routine covers ratings, business checks, listing red flags and payment options before you commit.
This guide is general information, not technical or legal advice. If you’ve lost money or personal information, contact your bank, IDCARE on 1800 595 160, or report it through ReportCyber at cyber.gov.au.
Quick summary
- Marketplace protections vary: some operators help with refunds, others leave everything between buyer and seller, so read the policies before you buy.
- Don’t trust star ratings alone; fake reviews can be positive or negative, so read recent comments and search the seller’s name with the word complaint or review.
- You can check a claimed Australian business for free on ABN Lookup, which shows whether its ABN is active or cancelled, plus its business type and GST status.
- Ghost stores fake a local identity with closing-down stories, missing addresses and brand-new websites, and a reverse image search can expose stolen photos.
- Credit cards come with legal protections; bank transfers, cryptocurrency and gift cards generally do not, and a seller pushing the deal off the platform is a warning sign.
Marketplaces put thousands of sellers in front of you, from hobbyists to businesses with warehouses. The protections you get depend on the marketplace and who is actually behind the listing. This routine takes about ten minutes, and all you need is the seller’s name, the listing and the price.
Why Marketplace Sellers Aren’t All the Same
Some marketplace operators leave payments, returns, refunds and delivery entirely up to the buyer and seller. On those platforms, a problem means sorting it out with the seller yourself, and the operator will not step in. Others run a process that can help you get a refund if the item never arrives or does not match what was advertised. Read the marketplace’s policies before you buy, check that the protection covers the item and seller in question, and note there is often a short window to claim.
Product safety adds another wrinkle. Under Australian Consumer Law, online marketplaces often act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers and are not classed as suppliers, which limits what the regulator can do about unsafe goods sold through them. Treasury is leading work to strengthen the product safety framework, but for now much of the checking falls on the shopper. Faked listings are common enough that one study estimated up to a third of Facebook Marketplace ads could be scams.
Step 1: Read the Ratings Properly
Start with the seller’s ratings, then read comments from recent buyers rather than relying on the star average. Fake reviews can be positive or negative: dishonest competitors sometimes plant negative reviews, and some sellers hand out free products in exchange for praise. Some websites place a label or badge next to a review when the reviewer received something in exchange, so look for those markers.
Look at where a review is posted, who wrote it and the reviewer’s history. Then search the seller’s name online along with the word “complaint” or “review” to see what turns up outside the marketplace itself. The Federal Trade Commission received over 100,000 reports of online marketplace scams in 2023, and the same tricks reappear again and again.
Step 2: Confirm the Business Exists
The ACCC has received more than 700 complaints about suspected ghost stores, online retailers that present themselves as local businesses when they are not, and the watchdog is aware of around 150 of them. Warning signs include a sob story such as “closing down, all stock must go”, no physical address or phone number on the site, and a website that only appeared recently.
If a seller claims to run an Australian business, look up their Australian Business Number (ABN) on ABN Lookup, a free public register from the Australian Business Register. It shows whether the ABN is active or cancelled, plus the business type and GST status. An ABN that comes back cancelled, or a seller who will not provide one, is a serious warning sign. Overseas sellers will not have an ABN, which does not make them dishonest, but a claimed Australian identity that does not check out does.
Legitimate sellers provide contact details you can verify, so test the phone number or email address listed before you commit.
Step 3: Scrutinise the Listing, Price and Photos
A price well below the normal retail price is the classic lure, and it clusters around big sale events: Australians were predicted to spend a record $6.8 billion across Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a period the ACCC flagged for ghost store warnings. Watch for:
- Photos that also appear on the websites of genuine Australian businesses. A reverse image search or Google Lens can show where an image came from.
- Descriptions that don’t match the photos, or goods for young children with no safety details.
- Pressure to decide quickly, or a seller who steers the conversation away from the platform.
AI-generated images make this harder, because realistic pictures of models, products and shopfronts can be produced at will. Photos that look too polished and prices that look too good, together, are a reason to dig deeper.
Step 4: Pay in a Way That Gives You Recourse
Credit cards have legal protections, which is why the FTC points to them among safer payment methods, and some marketplaces add their own buyer protection on top. Avoid paying a stranger by bank transfer, cryptocurrency or gift card, because none of those give you a straightforward way to recover money.
Buy now, pay later splits the cost into instalments, but check what protections come with the contract before choosing it at a marketplace checkout; our guide to how buy now, pay later works explains the model and its costs.
Be careful
Never move a deal off the platform. Scammers posing as marketplace support ask buyers and sellers to verify accounts, scan QR codes or click links on separate websites, aiming to collect details or payments outside the marketplace’s normal process.
What to Do If the Order Goes Wrong
Start by messaging the seller through the marketplace itself, so there is a record of the conversation. If that goes nowhere, use the marketplace’s dispute or refund process, and check the time limit first because the window to claim can be short. Keep copies of the listing, your messages and the payment record.
If the item never arrives, or is clearly not what was advertised, and the marketplace will not help, contact your bank or card provider about disputing the transaction. If the whole thing turns out to be a scam, our guide to spotting and reporting scams sets out what to do next, including securing any details the scammer collected.
Before your next marketplace purchase, run the seller through the first two steps above; ten minutes of checking beats months of chasing a refund.
Your questions answered
Q: How do I check if a marketplace seller is a real Australian business?
A: Ask for their Australian Business Number and search it on ABN Lookup, the free public register. It shows whether the number is active or cancelled, the business type and the GST status.
Q: Which payment method gives me the most protection?
A: Credit cards have legal protections, and some marketplaces add their own buyer protection on top. Bank transfers, cryptocurrency and gift cards make it very hard to get money back.
Q: Is a seller without an ABN a scammer?
A: Not necessarily, because sellers based overseas will not have one, and that alone is not proof of dishonesty. A claimed Australian identity that does not check out is the bigger warning.
Q: What should I do if my item never arrives?
A: Message the seller through the platform, then use the marketplace’s dispute or refund process before any claim window closes. If that fails, ask your bank or card provider about disputing the payment.