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Dutch online marketplace – pro scam?

Dutch online marketplace – pro scam?

The US has Ebay, China has Alibaba and the Netherlands has marktplaats.nl (owned by Ebay). On the Dutch marketplace many items are traded between a willing seller and a willing buyer. But on an increasing occasions, people get deceived in a scan in which they believe they are buying a good, but never receive the item.

On many Dutch TV programs they discuss these scams and come up with a number of resources to decrease the likelihood of being trapped in a scam. Items like googling e-mail addresses / names / bank account numbers pop-up frequently. Another important item is the number of years the trader is active on the platform, with 8 years of activity many people believe that they are trading with a reliable person.

But what makes marktplaats.nl so attractive to scam compared to Ebay and Alibaba is that there is no possibility to send feedback to the seller that all users can look into, reviews and scoring of sellers is not possible. I have previously notified Marktplaats of this fact and have not received a reaction.

Multiple brand new iphone 5s are advertised on marktplaats for €300 by a seller with 7,5 years of activity. Many people will know that when a deal looks to good to be true, it usually is…. I hope Marktplaats will do the same in the future.