Safety Tips

Paxful offers more than 300 payment methods to buy and sell cryptocurrency. Some of these payment methods require additional caution. As a seller, you should be aware of these specifics to increase the safety of your cryptocurrency and have an overall pleasant experience on Paxful.

Cash Payments

• Ensure that the buyer deposits cash in your name, and ask for the receipt.
• Make sure that you are trading with the actual person making the deposit. Avoid dealing with third parties in such situations.

Online Wallets

• Ensure that the buyer’s account is verified on the wallet service provider (i.e. verified PayPal account).
• Ask for the buyer’s ID. Make sure the user’s full name matches both their ID as well as their online wallet account.
• Ensure that you are trading with the owner of the account and that no third parties are involved.
• For extra precaution, you can ask the buyer to write on a piece of paper the confirmation of the purchase of cryptocurrency along with the trade ID, including the trade amount, and take a picture of it. In case of a chargeback, you can show this picture as evidence.
• Paypal specific tips:
  • Ask for a selfie with ID and a note saying, “I am making payment of x.xx to email address + real name."
  • Make sure the person has sufficient balance in their account and they pay directly from their account. If they pay by card, a chargeback is much less likely to occur. Stick to low amounts and limit new buyers to one trade per day/week to limit chargeback risks.
  • Accept payments only from verified PayPal accounts to ensure they have a bank account linked to it. This will help in case of chargebacks as PayPal will have information about such users.
  • Make sure that payment comes as a single transaction from the Paypal account owner.
  • Prefer payments as “Friends and Family”.

Debit/Credit Cards

• This method is just as risky as online wallets as you could easily be charged back. Use the same precautions as for online wallets. 

Gift Cards

• To avoid gift card deactivation, ask for a receipt and make sure the gift card is bought with cash.
• Be aware of card resellers. If the card was obtained from third parties, there is a risk of the card becoming invalid during or after the trade. Ask everyone to provide a picture with their username and trade ID.
• Be careful when accepting e-codes or gift cards bought with debit/ credit cards, as any debit/ credit card purchase can be charged back.

Check out our guides on selling cryptocurrency and creating a sell cryptocurrency offer.

If you need any assistance from our Support team, do not hesitate to contact us. Check out this article on How to Contact Support.