> Before you pay or meet, check a Facebook Marketplace seller: profile signals, listing photos, a face search on their picture and safe payment. Are Facebook Marketplace sellers legit? Most are ordinary people clearing out a room, but Marketplace is open to anyone, so the useful question is whether this one seller is who they say they are and whether the item exists. You can answer most of that in ten minutes, before any money moves. Work through four things in order: the seller's profile, the listing photos, the seller's own photo, and how they want to be paid. **The payment request is the check that decides it: a seller who wants money outside the marketplace before you have seen the item is the pattern to walk away from, whatever the profile looks like.** The other checks tell you how careful to be. ## 1. READ THE SELLER PROFILE Open the seller's name from the listing and look at the seller information Facebook shows there. What you see can vary by country and by seller, so read whatever is on the page rather than expecting a fixed set of badges. Look at: - **Account age.** A profile created very recently is a reason for care, not proof of a scam. People do open new accounts just to sell. - **Friends and activity.** A seller with no friends, no posts and nothing outside Marketplace has nothing to lose if a sale goes wrong. Some honest people keep their profile bare on purpose. - **Ratings and reviews, if the page shows any.** A seller with no reviews may simply be new to selling. Many past sales with consistent feedback count for more than a polished profile picture. - **Other listings.** Tap through to what else they are selling. The same high-value item listed again and again, or a mix that makes no sense for one household, is worth noticing. None of these alone tells you a seller is fake. Treat them as a dial: the more of them that are thin, the stricter you are about the payment rules below. ## 2. CHECK THE LISTING PHOTOS One way to sell something that does not exist is to use someone else's photos of it. The [FTC's advice for online marketplaces](https://consumer.ftc.gov/node/298547) is to look for pictures of the actual item and to read the description of its condition and location. - Save one or two listing photos and run them through a reverse image search such as Google Lens. If the same pictures turn up on a shop page, an older listing in another city or a manufacturer's site, ask the seller why. - Ask for one new photo of the item with something specific in shot: a piece of paper with today's date and your first name, or the item from an angle the listing does not show. A seller who has the item can do this in a minute. - Check that the pickup location in the listing matches where the seller says they are. ## 3. CHECK THE SELLER'S FACE A fake seller profile needs a believable face, and that face may be taken from someone else. If the profile picture shows a clear face, you can check whether it belongs to this profile. 1. Screenshot the profile picture, or any photo where the seller's face is clear. 2. Crop it to the face and run a face search on [Trace](https://traceaifacescan.app/panel). Trace matches the face rather than the file, so it finds the same person in different photos, not only copies of this one. 3. Read the results. A consistent identity across pages is reassuring. The same face under several different names, or on stock-photo sites, means the profile is using a face that is not theirs. Each result is a public page with a similarity score from 50 to 100: 70–80 is worth a second look, 80–90 is strong, 90+ is near-certain. A score is a comparison of two images, not a statement of who someone is; relatives and lookalikes can score high. An empty result means nothing was found on the part of the public web Trace can reach. It does not prove the seller is genuine, so the payment rules still apply. If the seller sends you a separate selfie or a photo "of me with the item", you can put it next to their profile picture in the free [face comparison](https://traceaifacescan.app/compare-faces/), which gives one similarity score and stores nothing. The difference between this and a normal image search is explained in [reverse image search vs face search](https://traceaifacescan.app/blog/reverse-image-search-vs-face-search/). ## 4. WATCH HOW THEY WANT TO BE PAID This is the moment money can be lost. The FTC's marketplace advice is specific: - If someone tells you to pay with a wire transfer, gift cards or cryptocurrency, stop and find another seller. - Do not buy from anyone who wants you to pay outside the marketplace's payment system. - Choose a safe payment method, such as a credit card or a secure online payment system. A request for a deposit "to hold" an item you have not seen is the same problem in a smaller amount. If the seller says other buyers are waiting and you must pay now, that pressure is a reason to slow down, not to hurry. ## 5. IF THEY MOVE YOU TO WHATSAPP OR TEXT A seller asking to continue on WhatsApp, text or email takes the conversation away from Marketplace, where the listing and your messages sit together. Keep the conversation in Marketplace messages where you can. If you do end up on WhatsApp, the same photo checks apply to the profile picture there; the steps are in [who is texting me on WhatsApp](https://traceaifacescan.app/blog/who-is-texting-me-on-whatsapp/). For the broader signs of a scam script, see [is this person a scammer](https://traceaifacescan.app/blog/is-this-person-a-scammer/). ## 6. MEET AND PAY SAFELY For local pickup, meet in a busy public place in daylight and bring someone with you. Look at the item, test it if it can be tested, and pay only once you have it in your hands. For anything shipped, pay only through a method that gives you a way to dispute the charge. ## 7. IF IT WENT WRONG The FTC's order is: try to work it out with the seller, then report them to the marketplace. If you paid by credit or debit card, contact your card company about a dispute. In the US you can also report the fraud at [ReportFraud.ftc.gov](https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/); elsewhere, use your national fraud reporting service or the police. Keep the listing, the messages and any photos the seller sent. ## RESPONSIBLE USE These checks are for deciding whether to trust a seller who has contacted you or whose listing you are answering. Trace shows where a face appears on public pages, with a similarity score; it returns no names, addresses or contact details, and it is not an identification service. Do not use it to pursue a seller in person after a deal; take a failed sale to the marketplace and the authorities. If you would rather your own face is not in Trace's index, [remove my photos](https://traceaifacescan.app/remove-my-photos) deletes it with no account or ID needed. ## FAQ ### Is a Facebook Marketplace seller with no friends a scam? Not necessarily. Some people keep a bare profile or open a new one just to sell. A seller with no friends, no reviews and a new account deserves stricter payment rules: see the item first and never pay off-platform in advance. ### Should I pay a deposit on Facebook Marketplace? Not for an item you have not seen. The FTC advises against paying outside the marketplace's payment system and against wire transfers, gift cards and cryptocurrency. A genuine seller can hold an item until you come to look at it. ### Why does the seller want to text me instead? Sometimes it is just convenience, but moving off Marketplace also takes the conversation away from the listing and the platform's reporting tools. Keep messages in Marketplace where you can, and be more careful if the move comes with a payment request. ### Does Facebook verify Marketplace sellers? Check Facebook's Help Centre for what it currently checks and what any seller badge means; it is not something to assume. Whatever the seller's page shows, see the item before you pay.