How do I avoid scams when selling expensive bike online in France?

Reader question: I want to sell my electric bike, but it is valuable (€2,000). I am worried about being scammed if I try to sell it online. How do I prevent this?

There are many online platforms for selling second-hand goods in France.

Two of the most popular are leboncoin and eBay and with care you should generally be on safe ground with these.

As a seller, your main concerns will be about being paid and making sure your item is sent safely.

Leboncoin is commonly used

Paris-based firm leboncoin advises sellers to contact buyers only via its secure messaging and to use its own payment system. It warns to delete email queries not using @leboncoin.fr, @news.leboncoin.fr or @messagerie.leboncoin.fr.

Also be wary of emails asking you to click links relating to a Chronopost delivery, especially if you have not arranged to send the item this way or if the email is not clearly related to a recognisable transaction.

Leboncoin offers a way to print off a delivery label and several delivery options, which you can see on their website.

Once a purchase is confirmed, the buyer pays and the money is held by the firm while you send the item.

You receive payment once the buyer confirms receipt and that the item is as advertised.

If they confirm reception only, you get the money three days later. If they do not notify you of anything, you get it 10 days after sending.

The money appears in your wallet on the site, from where you can transfer it to your bank account or use it on the site. In the event of the buyer being dissatisfied the money is held until the issue is resolved.

eBay asks people to have their identify verified to have an account and then provides a customer guarantee.

However some eBay sellers state there are instances where a buyer has complained to ebay that the goods purchased have not been received and have been refunded even though the seller has in fact sent them. So it is very important to ensure that your delivery method does not risk this.

Selling your e-bike may not risk this as you could specify collection only.

You can ask the eBay team to step in if there are problems.

It uses detection methods to identify suspicious bidding activity and aims to step in before transactions are finalised.

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