Marktplaats has stopped Crossing Straight. The payment option provided some extra security for buyers to prevent scams. However, it turned out not to be enough for Marktplaats to continue to offer the service. How can you pay securely?
On the Help page of Marktplaats.nl quietly announces to the auction site that it will no longer offer Equal Crossing. Equal Crossing was a service that made it safer for buyers and sellers to use Marktplaats. When agreeing on the sales price (and using Equal Crossing), payment is made via iDeal to an intermediary and the seller receives a barcode after payment that is used at the post office. After handing in the package and scanning the code, the buyer will receive a track & trace link. After a confirmation of receipt from PostNL, the intermediary transfers the money to the seller.
Although Equal Crossing made purchasing on Marktplaats safer, there are drawbacks. First of all, the additional costs. The service is certainly not cheap: 40 cents transaction fee, plus 4.5% of the value. Also, the confirmation of receipt is from PostNL, not from the recipient. This could cause fraud if the seller sent something other than what was agreed. It also often took a long time before the seller had actually received his money in the account.
Alternative to Cross Right Away
Marktplaats announces that it will offer an alternative to Even Crossing, but strangely enough, it is not yet doing so. The auction site will not let you know how this alternative will prevent fraud and when it will become available. For the time being, users should therefore pay more attention to safety. Making a resale system completely vandal-proof has its challenges.
To buy and sell safely on Marktplaats, it is therefore wise to first make clear agreements about the deal. What is the agreed price? How high are the (possible) shipping costs – and who will be responsible for these? When will the package be posted – or will it be collected?
Tips for safe use of Marktplaats
Of course it can happen that you find a seller who sends a box of newspapers instead of your product. To prevent this, you can check in advance what the experiences of other buyers are with the reviews. Do not only look at the number of stars, but also the number of reviews. Also in case of a successful transaction, dare to ask for a review yourself, in order to be more reliable for other users.
It is usual, when you send the product, to do this only when your payment request has been met. Only when you see the money in your account is it time to go to the post office. For this you can simply use a Tikkie (or a payment request link) in the chat on Marktplaats. Do not give out your telephone number just like that, so that it cannot be misused to harass you or for spam.
When you meet physically, this can be done at home, and in other cases it is better to do this in a safe place. You can easily be robbed in a remote parking lot. It gives you the opportunity to preview a product before taking it over. You can then choose to make the payment via cash. If you also use a payment request or Tikkie in that case, check whether this has been paid before you give the product. Fake banking sites have surfaced in the past that allow a buyer to pretend to have paid.
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