To think there's any risk being paid by bank transfer?

[TildaKauskumholm]

Just selling item on Gumtree. Buyer offering to pay full amount by bank transfer then collect at weekend. I see that wants to secure it, but is there any risk for me? He can't get the item then claim the money back by saying it's fraud etc? Would usually only take cash for this kind of thing.

Ex Bank Manager here. This is fine. In fact, your buyer is exposing himself to risk, because you should never pay for items by Bank transfer, as it offers you no protection should the item purchased be faulty. If you pay by Debit Card, Credit Card, or Paypal there are schemes in place to protect the buyer. Cash and Bank transfers offer no such protection.

Long story short : your buyer is taking a risk. You have no risk whatsoever.

There is very little risk if it is a bank transfer. It is possible that the log in details are stolen/hacked and they are making payment from another person's account. It depends what you are selling - if it's a secondhand sofa or baby clothes, it's probably genuine, if it's something like a car or an iphone, I would be more cautious.

@Huskylover1That was the advice I was given by my bank... They were wrong though. Luckily I did my due diligence on checking the identity of my buyer and found he had a long history of fraud and using stolen bank details.

It's just under £100, and the buyer does not have my address, only name so far, messages go through Gumtree. Seems more of a risk for him, but being suspicious, just wondered if he could claim it was fraudulent after collecting the item. I do have the written messages though.

Just seen the bit about stolen bank details ... maybe I will suggest a deposit by bank transfer, balance in cash on collection.

I would ask him to bring the cash on the day

There is a well known gumtree scam trying to obtain peoples bank details.

Do not give anybody you don't know in real life your banks details