CarBluff for Sellers
Call their bluff before you hand over the keys.
Selling your own car? This checks a message FROM a buyer, not a listing. Paste what they sent you and get a Buyer Message Risk Score in seconds. First check free.
Buying instead? Scan a listing free →Buyer Message Risk Score. This grades the words the buyer sent you, the same way CarBluff's buyer-side scanner grades a listing, but for the opposite direction of the deal.
No known buyer-scam patterns found in this message. That is not a guarantee the buyer is legitimate: still meet in person, never accept a check or money order for more than your price, and never send any money back to a buyer.
CarBluff for Sellers scores known scam patterns in the words a buyer sent you. It cannot verify who the buyer actually is. Always meet in person, confirm payment has fully cleared with your own bank before handing over the car or title, and never send money back to a buyer.
Free · printable
The seller's anti-scam checklist
One page you can print or keep on your phone: the overpayment / fake-check script spelled out, how to tell "funds available" from actually cleared, and the rules that keep your car and title safe. Grounded in the FTC's fake-check guidance.
How it works
CarBluff for Sellers is a free check built for private-party car sellers: paste a message a buyer sent you and it grades it against known buyer-scam patterns. This is a different check than CarBluff's main scanner, which grades a listing written by a seller. This one grades a message written by a buyer.
Overpayment / fake-check script
A buyer offers to pay with a check or money order for more than your asking price, then asks you to wire, Zelle, or Cash App the difference back. The check is fake and bounces days after it appears to clear. The FTC's own guidance puts the average loss at $2,000.
Fake shipping / transport company
A buyer agrees to buy sight-unseen, then names a "shipping company" or "agent" to handle pickup and payment instead of meeting you. The company either doesn't exist or is working with the buyer, and money sent to it never comes back.
Over-asking offer, no negotiation
A buyer agrees to pay meaningfully more than your asking price without trying to negotiate down. A real buyer negotiates down, not up. This is a named tell in the FTC's own description of the overpayment scam.
Urgency to release the car before payment clears
A check or money order is offered alongside pressure to hand over the car, the title, or ship it out today, before the payment has actually cleared with your bank.
The seller-message check is free, like every scam check on CarBluff · see pricing.