How to Avoid Scams as a Seller This Christmas

The run up to Christmas is busy for resellers. More sales, more parcels, more messages from buyers. It's also when scammers get busy, and sellers are an easy target because a text about a parcel or a payment looks completely normal when you're shipping every day.

Here are four simple habits that help, whether you sell on Vinted, eBay, Poshmark, Depop or Mercari. Each one comes from published safety advice, linked at the end, plus a couple of our own tips.

1. Ignore the link in a delivery text

A report shared by Stacker on 19 Oct 2026 says delivery scams "spike dramatically between early October and January". The texts pretend to be from carriers like USPS, UPS, FedEx and DHL, and say a parcel is on hold, an address needs updating or a small fee is due.

The US Federal Trade Commission's advice is simple:

• Don't open the link or give any details in the message.
• Check tracking yourself. Go to the site or account you ordered through and look up the parcel there. For a sale, that means opening the marketplace app or the account you bought the label from, not the text.
• Report it. In the US and the UK you can forward a scam text to 7726. In the UK you can also forward scam emails to report@phishing.gov.uk.

2. Keep the chat and the payment in the app

Vinted's Help Centre puts it plainly: "Avoid leaving Vinted to contact others or send payments." It also says "You don't have to leave Vinted to confirm a payment". So any message with a link to "confirm" or "release" a payment is one to ignore.

This isn't just theory. On 20 Oct 2026 CYROS, a German consumer warning service, reported fake sellers on Vinted pushing buyers onto WhatsApp to pay outside the platform.

That report was about buyers, but the habit works both ways. If a buyer asks to move to WhatsApp, text or email, or wants to pay you by bank transfer, politely keep it in the app. A friendly line is enough:

"Thanks for your interest! I keep all messages and payments on here, so feel free to buy through the app."

If you get a phishing email pretending to be Vinted, Vinted asks you to forward it to phishing@vinted.com. And when you're the one buying stock, CyberScotland's tip applies directly: if a seller only accepts bank transfer, walk away.

3. Lock your accounts before the rush

Your selling accounts, your email and your payment accounts are worth a few minutes this week.

• Turn on two step verification. The UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) says to turn it on for your important accounts, like your email. Start with email, because it's usually how you reset everything else.
• Use a strong, unique password for each account. That's CyberScotland's advice for the Christmas shopping season. If one password leaks, the others stay separate.
• Our tip: open the app yourself. If a message says there's a problem with your account, don't follow its link. Open the app or type the address in yourself and check there.

4. Never share a one time code

A one time code is the number sent to your phone or email when you sign in or confirm something. Malwarebytes' advice (6 Oct 2026) is clear: don't share a one time code, or a screenshot of a security message, with anyone.

Our own rule of thumb: a buyer shouldn't need your code to buy something. If anyone asks for it, however friendly or urgent they sound, stop the chat there.

Quick recap

• Ignore links in delivery texts. Check tracking in the app or account yourself.
• Keep the chat and the payment in the marketplace app.
• Turn on two step verification, starting with your email, and use a unique password for each account.
• Never share a one time code.
• Forward scam texts to 7726.

Where ListSnaps fits

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Sources

• Stacker / PeopleFinders, via KRDO (19 Oct 2026): Package and delivery scams spike as early holiday sales begin
• US Federal Trade Commission, consumer alert (23 Apr 2025): Think that text message is from USPS? It could be a scam
• Vinted Help Centre: Recognize spoof and phishing messages
• CYROS (20 Oct 2026, in German): Fake sellers on Vinted push for payment outside the platform
• National Cyber Security Centre: Stay alert to holiday shopping cyber scams and Stop! Think Fraud: festive shopping advice
• CyberScotland Partnership (15 Oct 2026): Sort the detail, shop smart
• Malwarebytes (6 Oct 2026): Marketplace scam uses your name and number