The two scams almost every private seller meets

Overpayment, then a refund

A buyer sends more than you asked for.

A cashier’s check, a money order, sometimes a convincing screenshot of a transfer.

Then they ask you to wire the difference back — often to a shipper, or somebody else entirely.

The original payment fails days later.

A bank accepting a check is not the same as that check clearing. By the time anyone notices, the money you sent back is gone.

Sight-unseen, and they will send a shipper

An enthusiastic buyer who never wants to see the vehicle.

Often out of state. Often overseas. Always with a transport company standing by.

The transport fee is the hook. You are asked to pay it, or to take a payment that covers it and forward it on.

Somebody who will not look at a used vehicle before buying it is doing something other than buying a used vehicle.

Six questions that filter without naming a price

Screening is not haggling.

These sort the people who will turn up from the people who will not, and none of them touches what you will take:

• When are you looking to buy?
• Are you paying cash, or arranging financing?
• Have you seen the photos and the listing?
• Where are you coming from?
• When can you come and look at it?
• Will anybody be coming with you?

Write down where they came from

By day three you will not remember who said what.

One line per caller — name, number, where they found it, what they asked.

Cross out the ones who never showed. You will stop wondering whether to call them back.

A call log sheet

Ours has the six questions printed on it, a column for where they found the listing, and the two scams named outright in a callout. Free, no account.