If it's a new profile (recently made) I would be hesitent

Drop laurie a message and he'll check if they are looking legit

If the offer is too good to be true then it's normally a scam.

If the user is new to the platform, it's a huge red flag.

Another easy way to tell if the ad is a scam is to download the pictures in the ad and upload them in a Google Reverse image search. images.google.com/

Scammers re-use real images from other advertising platforms around the World, so if you find the same images from another legit seller, then it's a scam.

Here is an example of a previous scam: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/General/scammer-?page=1

Christian

Here is a couple of my hacks:

- ask for a photo of a random bit of the kite/item, preferably that describes something that someone who is engaged in the sport can understand and is unlikely to have a photo on google (and double check it on reverse images) - "hey, i'm a bit worried about chafing on the pivot point on the leading edge, which side do you normally launch on, can you send some pics of the rub patch?/"do you mind pulling out the donkey dick and taking some closeups of the latch for me, i had a warranty issue on the older bar last year?".
- ask them where they are located, then say "oh man, thats awesome, I am going to be in XX nearby next week for work/holiday/whatever, can i come pick it up"
- ask for a phone number. it is really hard to get an AU mobile number outside of australia and very hard to get one without positive ID and 99% of people use mobiles.
- even if you intend to pay by paypal, offer to do a bank transfer and request their bank details or payID (which will usually include their name in the account name, and a local aussie BSB/acct. This is not a 100%, services like Wise will give you a local bank account, but again they have had to produce ID at some point and it will help to gather this detail.

Not a 100% guarantee if they don't want to give you their number or use a landline, but if all of the above are no - they won't take photos of the gear, they won't tell you where they are, they won't provide a phone number and they won't provide bank details, then you are dealing with a scammer or an unhelpful douchebag, so either way its time to check out.A legit seller is usually going to give you a positive or reasonable response, a scammer will usually give you some evasive answers and then go quiet once you become too much work. Point 1 doesn't stop someone who actually has the product from not sending it to you, buying online from private buyers is always a leap of faith, but the above may help.

To be honest, i am quite surprised how lazy scammers are, if you stand to make a grand or two compared with any other work to make this money i would be putting in a lot more effort!

Finally, good gear is not super-cheap, it if it is well under the price it should be it means that its stolen or fake. i know geography and cost may not allow it, but if you can - consider buying from a shop. I am finding more and more that the benefits of buying from a dealer (for cars, kites and other big purchases) in terms of after-sales support, warranty and peace of mind outweighs the extra cash i outlay up front.

There was a few obvious posts for kites with no pictures (free ads) that the description and photos were copied from a US location. Wanted to investigate and make sure its 100% scam so messaged person, everything he was saying did not make sense and when I asked to inspect he stopped responding. So yes there definitely scammers targeting this site.