vindje.com / Guides / Buying on Marktplaats
As a buyer, nearly every Marktplaats scam comes down to one of two things: you pay for something that never arrives, or you click a link that steals your bank or card details. Each scam has a recognizable script. Learn the scripts and you will spot them in the first two messages.
A popular item, often a phone, console, e-bike or designer bag, priced 30 to 50 percent under the going rate. The seller cannot meet: they moved, they work offshore, their mother is ill. They ask for a bank transfer and promise to post it with track and trace.
The money goes to a mule account and the parcel never comes, or a box arrives with a brick or a cheap copy inside. The tell is the combination of low price plus no pickup. One alone can be innocent. Both together almost never are.
The 'seller' sends a link to a page that looks like Marktplaats, PostNL, DHL or your bank, asking you to pay through it, or to 'confirm your account' with a small amount like 1 cent. The page captures your login codes or card details, and the account is emptied shortly after.
Marktplaats payments never need a link from the other person. If you want to use a platform payment, start it from the app yourself. Check the address bar on anything you open; a lookalike domain with extra words or odd spelling is the giveaway.
Scammers take over old, trusted accounts with years of good reviews and post fake listings from them. The profile looks perfect, but the listings are new, all priced low, often in categories the original owner never sold in, and the contact quickly moves to WhatsApp.
Scroll through the seller's earlier listings and reviews. A person who sold baby clothes for eight years and today lists four iPhones and a MacBook is a warning.
'Lots of interest, send 50 euro and I will hold it for you.' Sometimes the item exists, often it does not. Even when it does, you have no way to get the deposit back if the seller sells to someone else. Decline politely and offer to come today instead.
A variant is the 'courier will collect' story for large items: the seller asks you to pay the transport company up front, and the transport company is the scammer's own website. If you arrange transport, arrange it yourself with a company you found.
This one costs you the item instead of the money. Signs: no box or receipt for recent electronics, a bike lock that has been cut, the seller meeting in a car park or station, or a price that only makes sense if it was free to the seller. Check serial numbers in the police Stop Heling register before buying bikes, phones and laptops.
Stolen goods are not always obvious. A phone that is still linked to someone's Apple ID or Google account is useless to you and often stolen, so ask the seller to show it has been reset and signed out before you pay.
Print this in your head before you message anyone.
Describe what you want in your own words and vindje.com searches Marktplaats in Dutch, then reads every listing and keeps only the real matches. For example:
PlayStation 5 with disc drive and two controllers, seller with reviews, pickup only, under 350 euro near RotterdamSearch Marktplaats like this
No. Most sellers are ordinary people clearing out a room. The scams cluster in a few categories: phones, consoles, e-bikes, concert tickets and anything priced well below the market.
Look for the combination of a low price, ship-only, a new or recently revived account, and pressure to pay quickly. If two or more apply, walk away.
Call your bank's fraud line at once and block your cards or app access, then change your passwords. Report the conversation to Marktplaats and file a report with the police.
The main risk then is fake or stolen goods, not lost money. Test the item before paying and be wary of meetings in public car parks for expensive items.
Often for convenience, but scammers prefer it because Marktplaats cannot see those messages. Keep the chat in the app until you have agreed on a pickup.