11 Thrifting Scams to Avoid in 2025

Thrifting and reselling clothes can be an incredibly fun and satisfying pursuit, but it unfortunately isn’t without risks. Scammers know how eager thrifters are to score great deals, and for sellers to chase profits, and sometimes the urgency and the thrill can make us good targets. After reviewing thousands of threads from reseller groups, doing a lot of research, and reflecting on my own misfortune, I put together the article below about some of the most common scams in 2025—and more importantly, how to protect yourself from them. From sneaky smishing messages to common fraud schemes, knowing how these scams work and how to avoid them will help you protect your hard-earned money and keep thrifting fun.

1. Phishing Emails

Sometimes you might see emails that look like they’re from platforms like eBay or Poshmark, but they’re actually from scammers trying to steal your login information. They might ask you to “confirm” your login details by asking you to click a link. Typically there’s a sense of urgency too, like perhaps there’s a problem with your account that requires you to sign in and check, a refund has been processed that requires you to sign in and confirm it, or perhaps there’s a “security issue” and they want you to sign in to confirm details—to “prevent” your account from being hacked.

Here’s what you can do to avoid being scammed:

• Check the sender’s email address (not the name of the sender, but the actual address). See if it really came from the platform. Legitimate emails don’t come from URLs like @ebay77.fakedomain.com.
• Don’t click links in unsolicited messages. If you’re not sure if it’s real, sign in to the platform in your browser (without clicking a link) and check your messages there.
• Use a password manager. Your password manager will only populate your login info on legitimate sites where you’ve saved your account details. If those details don’t pop up, you’re probably not on the real site.
• Look for obvious errors, like typos and grammar issues, bad formatting, etc. Real content should not have errors.

For more tips, Poshmark put together some useful ideas here.

2. SmS PHISHING (SMishing)

I get these ones a lot myself—text messages that claim to be from shipping companies or marketplaces warning of some urgent issue or missed delivery that require you to click something or reply to get more details. As with email and other message phishing:

• Don’t click links or reply to unexpected texts.
• Check on the platform directly to see if there’s a legitimate issue.
• Never provide account details, verification codes, or other details in texts.

3. Account Takeover

Whether it’s from a weak password, social engineering on a platform you use, a shared computer, or something else, someone taking over one of your accounts is a very real and scary threat. That’s exactly what happened to me in May while I was on vacation—someone managed to take over my account on Ralph Lauren. I’m still not sure how it happened, and even though I (very fortunately) caught it in minutes, they had still managed to spend hundreds of dollars on my saved credit card details for shipments to another part of the country. I was on another continent, but luckily someone I was traveling with could make free calls back to North America and we were able to cancel the orders, secure my Ralph Lauren account, and freeze that credit card with my bank. I ended up not losing any money or having further issues, but that was a very stressful two hours. It’s also a very good reminder that anyone can be tricked and be victims of scams (including yours truly!) and it’s important to always be vigilant and be ready to react.

Here are some tips to avoid account takeovers:

• Use strong, unique passwords, and enable 2-factor authentication.
• Log out of shared computers and browsers.
• Don’t reuse passwords across websites.
• Don’t store your credit card information in your account on shopping platforms.

4. Overpayment & Etransfer

I sell a lot on Facebook Marketplace, generally with porch pickup, and sometimes I’ll get people asking to prepay by etransfer. One buyer recently sent me a “payment link” that was actually a payment request. Fortunately it was an obvious scam, but it was a frustrating waste of my time and I’m sure that it works on a handful of people, and that’s enough for scammers to keep trying.

While not common in Canada, sometimes in the U.S. buyers will ask to pay by check—never accept checks. They can bounce or be reversed, and that money you thought you had can disappear. Even worse are overpayment scams, where the buyer “accidentally” pays too much, asks for a refund, and then a few weeks later you end up out the refund you sent and whatever the check amount was. Make sure you always:

• Never accept checks.
• Always insist on exact payments.
• Use instant, non-reversible methods of payment, including cash if it’s a local purchase.

5. Off-Platform Payments

Have you ever had someone offer to pay you for something (or buy something from you) by PayPal or Venmo to save on platform fees? If you were to proceed, you might get a fake payment notification and ship a product you shouldn’t, and as a buyer you might send payment and never get anything (and have no recourse without the protection of the platform), or it might even be a way to steal your account information.

You should always complete transactions on the resale platform. If someone insists on paying elsewhere, politely decline and then block them if they persist.

6. Return Fraud

If you sell a lot of clothing online, inevitably you’ll be hit with scams where the buyer claims an item “isn’t as described”, even though you’re sure it was shipped in perfect condition. The buyer might be trying to get a refund plus keep the item; they may even return a broken copy of the item (so maybe they had the same piece already and it was damaged, but they can get a better version from you at no cost by claiming yours was the damaged one), or they might return a different item entirely. Whatever the case, it’s fraud, but many resale platforms are going to side with the buyer in examples like these because they’re hard claims to dispute.

If you want to minimize your risk of fraud, you can:

• Take clear, timestamped photos of every angle and any flaws before packing.
• Disclose all imperfections in the listing.
• Record a short video of you packing the item that shows its condition.

7. Counterfeit Goods

If something seems too good to be true on a resale platform, it probably is—especially if it’s from a premium brand. Research “sold” filters for that exact brand and model to get realistic price ranges, and try to get photos of tags, serial numbers, packaging, labels, and anything else that might help to authenticate an item. For commonly copied brands, consider using platforms that authenticate products or guarantee authenticity.

8. Item Not Received

A buyer might falsely claim non-delivery of an item you shipped. This is always frustrating, and a big reason why you must always use shipping that has tracking. For high-value items, pay extra to require a signature.

9. Non-Payment for Porch Pickup

For local sales I always prefer to leave items on my porch and have someone pick them up. It saves me lots of time and it’s easy. But there are unfortunately people out there who will take items without paying or they might not leave enough cash (like maybe you agreed on a price for something of $25 and they leave $20 with no explanation). Here are some tips to avoid people taking advantage of you:

• Set up pick-ups when you’re home and can confirm payments.
• Have a camera set up to record visitors and have a prominent note confirming that visitors are being recorded.
• Arrange sales on a platform that has reviews for buyers and sellers and stick to people that have good reviews.

10. Drop-Shipping Scam

One interesting recent scam involved sellers listing secondhand clothing on Vinted at great prices, and when customers purchased, a brand new version of it showed up at their door. The problem was that the item also included an invoice from Zalando, a clothing retailer, which customers were expected to pay. The sellers pocketed the entire purchase price and customers were expected to pay again for the new item.

Here’s how to protect yourself:

• Check seller profiles for multiple listings of the same products; this can be a red flag.
• Avoid new reseller accounts or accounts with no reviews.
• Report unexpected invoices to the resale platform and retailer immediately.

11. Fake Thrift-store Charities

Pop-up thrift stands at fairs and festivals might claim proceeds and donations go to charity, but they might be pocketing your money instead. If they say they’re a charity or non-profit, confirm their status. Consider donating to an established non-profit thrift store instead.

Conclusion

These scams might sound far-fetched, but all issues that I found were either reported in my analysis of the Poshmark Resellers Facebook group, things I have experienced myself, or common scams reported by others in the clothing resale community. It’s always important to stay vigilant and think twice before you buy or sell something—especially if the transaction seems too good to be true.

Have you experienced other scams in your own clothing thrifting adventures? Let us know in the comments below so that we can help other thrifters and resellers protect themselves.