Online Safety for Sellers

Selling a motorcycle online is affordable, fast and easy. It also comes with some risks, such as online scams and fraudulent buyer inquiries.

Here are a few examples of common online scams:

• The interested buyer is willing to pay more than the asking price for the bike, and asks you to send the extra money to a shipper or agent.
• You receive a text message from an interested buyer who claims that they are in the military, without access to the Internet and would prefer to pay for the motorcycle via PayPal.
• The interested buyer sends you an email that requires you to provide your full name, mailing address, telephone number and bank account number.
• The interested buyer refuses to call or speak to you face-to-face, continues to send text messages and claims to have a buying agent who will pick up the motorcycle.
• The offer sounds too good to be true. The interested buyer is not asking any questions about the motorcycle or asking price. They want to mail you a cashier's check right away.
• The interested buyer sends you an online message that sounds awkward, generic and copied/pasted.

We also recommend that you visit the FBI's Common Fraud Schemes Page to learn about other common online scams. You can also contact the Internet Crime Complaint Center to report online scams.

If you are ever uncertain if the interested buyer is real, contact us to get a second opinion. We are more than happy to help and answer any questions that you may have.