Photo: Sharaf Maksumov (Shutterstock)
You may have noticed sellers on Etsy might say something like, “buy this item on my independent website instead,” and offering a discount to buy directly from them instead of using Etsy as the intermediary. And in most cases, that’s totally fine—it’s usually better for a small business’s bottom line. But if the discount is unrealistic, be wary—the Better Business Bureau (BBB) released a report warning shoppers about shopping outside of reputable websites like Etsy, where fraudsters post fake items, offer too-good-to-be-true discounts, and redirect people to scam sites.
Sites like Etsy provide fraud protection, but scam sites (of course) don’t: The products don’t exist and the scammers will keep your payment information. If you want to support independent sellers, just be sure to research their website, look for reviews, check the BBB for fraud claims, and do a quick internet search with the word “scam” after their website name. Also, look for the “lock” on the left side of the URL bar that indicates whether the website is encrypted. Alternatively, of course, you can shop on well-known third-party sellers that come with built-in buyer protection. If the discounts on the independent website are extreme—say, 50% or more—that should raise a red flag.
And finally, consider shopping exclusively with your preferred credit card. If you do end up falling for a scam, any money that you lose on a credit card is more likely to be recovered—just call your credit card company and let them know. Shopping with a debit card or payment app tends to make it more difficult to recover lost money from scams and fraud. (Also, if you do find an site that you discover is a scam, do everyone a favor and report it to the BBB here.)
