Do not send an e-bike buyer's overpayment to their courier or refund the difference to a different account. Pause the sale and contact your own bank through a verified channel. If the payment is a check, seeing the funds in your available balance does not prove the check is genuine or finally settled.
Spot the Extra Transaction
The proposed sale may begin normally: a buyer accepts your price and says someone will collect the bike. The problem appears when they send too much and ask you to pay the transporter on their behalf.
You are now being asked to do something beyond selling your bike: move money from your account to a third party selected by the buyer. An urgent pickup, a convincing courier invoice, or an explanation about a business account does not remove that extra risk.
The used-bike valuation guide can help establish a selling price. It cannot validate a buyer's payment or justify forwarding the amount above that price.
An Available Balance Is Not a Safe Refund
The FTC explains that banks may make check funds available before discovering a check is fake. If you forward money and the check is later rejected, you can be left responsible for the money you sent.
Do not choose an arbitrary waiting period and assume it guarantees safety. Contact your bank using its official app, statement, or another verified route. Explain both the incoming payment and the request to forward part of it.
Other payment methods have their own rules and fraud risks. Do not assume they follow check-clearing rules, and do not rely on the buyer's screenshot as proof. Verify the transaction with the relevant provider.
Keep the Bike and the Money Movement Separate
Do not release the bike while the payment issue is unresolved. Tell the buyer you will not act as their payment intermediary. If an excess payment is genuine, resolve it through your bank or the selling platform's proper process rather than sending a new payment to an account named in a message.
A buyer correctly naming your electric bike does not authenticate them. Product knowledge is easy to obtain; it should not override a problematic payment request. Someone can quote genuine specifications while still asking you to send money you cannot recover.
If You Already Sent Money
Contact the provider used to send the money immediately, report the suspected fraud, and ask what options remain. Preserve the buyer's instructions, payment records, and courier details, and report the account to the selling platform.
There is no guaranteed recovery, but prompt reporting is more useful than negotiating another payment with the buyer. Do not pay an additional fee to "fix" the original transfer or release money you are supposedly owed.
