I've never used Gumtree but there is an item I'm interested in buying. The seller lives far away so I would have to pay via Paypal. I know Paypal offers buyer protections but I'm still a little concerned. I can't see anything about the seller except for her address. How do I know whether it's a genuine seller? Is there any way you can view past activity?
You could ask your buyer to at least give a scanned copy of his ID. You should also save a screenshot of your conversations about the deal This is a pretty good proof when you want to file a dispute if ever that you got scammed.
I sent Gumtree a message and they responded swiftly via email. They told me she has a long history on Gumtree and no negative incidents to report. Unfortunately the jacket I was looking at is too big for me so I wont be buying it. It's good knowing I can get assurance from Gumtree, though.
That’s great that you heard back from gumtree and they offer some sort of buyer protection by sharing seller history details. I’ve not traded much on gumtree, and the few things that interested me were items within my city, which I preferred to take a look at in person before buying. No long distance transactions made yet on gumtree.
