Selling on OLX

Before you list old coins on OLX or Facebook Marketplace

OLX and Facebook Marketplace are legitimate places to buy and sell — but the moment a “buyer” asks you to pay anything, scan anything or share any code, it is a scam: a real buyer never asks the seller for money, and being paid never needs your PIN or an OTP. Here is what to check before you post, and the tricks to expect once you do.

OLX and Facebook are not the problem

Both are legitimate places to buy and sell, and posting is usually free. The trouble is a particular kind of scammer who looks for old-coin listings, because someone selling an inherited coin often has no idea what it is worth — and that is what makes a huge fake offer believable. Both platforms publish their own scam warnings, and OLX’s help centre names QR-code, payment-link and “pay first, get double” scams outright.

Check what each platform allows before you post. OLX’s list of items it does not allow includes Indian currency notes — old, new or error notes — and it puts coins in its Other Hobbies category. Facebook’s Commerce Policies forbid buying or selling currency and spell out no exception for collectors’ coins, so a coin listed on Marketplace may be taken down.

Before you post: keep your phone number off the ad

On OLX, know who can see your number. OLX’s terms say it may share a seller’s phone number with users who pay for its premium features, even when the number is not shown on the ad, and its help centre says a paid ad package makes your contact details public — after which they cannot be hidden. So treat any unexpected call about your coin with suspicion.
Never type your number into the title, the description or a photo. OLX rejects ads that do, and with good reason: anyone can read a classified ad, including people looking for sellers to call. Once your number is out it cannot be taken back, and that is where the fee calls start.
Keep the conversation in the platform’s own chat for as long as you can. OLX itself advises this. The move to WhatsApp or a phone call is usually where the pressure begins, and the platform cannot see anything said there.

Check the real price before anyone else gives you one

Knowing the real price is one of the best protections you have, and it takes only a few minutes. An ordinary ₹10 coin is worth ₹10. On 1 October 2026 our coin price index held 11,592 recorded sales from 10 independent coin shops: the median was ₹175, 77.7% sold for under ₹500, and only 6 sold for more than ₹1 lakh. Particular varieties do sell for more, and the site shows their real ranges too.

An asking price on OLX is not a value. Anyone can type any number into a listing — see why an asked price is not a sold price. If a “buyer” offers lakhs for an ordinary coin, the offer itself is the bait.

The “buyer” who wants you to pay first

This is the scam the RBI itself warned the public about in 2021, and it follows a set pattern. Someone offers far more than your coin is worth — often lakhs — then says one small payment stands in the way: a registration fee, “RBI clearance”, GST or TDS, an insurance charge, an export fee. Pay one and the next arrives. The fees climb like a ladder until you stop paying.

A real buyer never asks the seller for money. The RBI has said in writing that it does not deal in old coins and notes, never asks for any charge or commission, and has authorised nobody to collect one on its behalf — read its exact words. And a private seller cannot legally export a coin 100 or more years old from India, so an “export fee” for one is a lie in itself.

Variations you will meet, the first two described in OLX’s own help centre: the buyer says he is in the army and sends an ID card to prove it — the card is fake; he asks you to send a small amount, sends back double, then asks for a large sum and disappears; or he sends a letter with the RBI’s name or logo on it. The story changes. The direction of the money does not.

Being paid never needs your UPI PIN

One rule defeats the second family of tricks. When you are paid, you do nothing — the money simply arrives. If something a buyer sends you asks for your UPI PIN, it is sending money out of your account.

A QR code is for paying. A “buyer” who sends a QR code so that you can “receive” the money is asking you to pay him. The RBI said it plainly in a press release of 28 January 2022: receiving money does not require scanning a QR code or entering a PIN.
A UPI “request” asks you to pay. Approve a collect request with your PIN and the money leaves your account. NPCI ended collect requests between individuals from 1 October 2025 because of this kind of fraud — but requests from merchant accounts, QR codes and payment links still exist, and they work the same way.
A payment link wants your money. A link that opens a payment page is there to take money from you, not to give it.
A screenshot proves nothing. A “payment done” screenshot or a “credited” SMS can be faked in seconds. The only proof is the money showing in your own bank app or passbook.
Never share an OTP or your UPI PIN — not with a buyer, a “courier”, a “bank officer” or anyone else. Nobody needs either one to pay you.

Meeting in person, or sending it by post

Meet somewhere public, in daylight, and take someone with you. A busy market is a better place than your home.
Get paid in full before the coin leaves your hand. Count cash. For UPI, open your own bank app and see the money there — not on the buyer’s phone.
If you are posting it, payment comes first — confirmed in your bank app, not on a screenshot — and then send it with tracking. Photograph both sides of the coin, and the packed parcel, before it goes.
Do not be hurried. “Only today”, “my boss is waiting”, “the offer closes in an hour” — the hurry is there to stop you checking.

If you have already paid

Call 1930, the national cyber-crime helpline, or report at cybercrime.gov.in. Do this first — money reported in the first hours is far more likely to be frozen.
Report the account on OLX or Facebook too, with the platform’s own report button, so it can act before the next seller meets the same person.
File a written complaint at your local police station and keep the acknowledgement.
If the message used the RBI’s or the government’s name, forward it to PIB Fact Check (factcheck.pib.gov.in).

Other places to sell

OLX and Facebook are not the only routes. A local coin dealer usually pays on the spot, though below what a collector would, because the dealer has to sell it on. A coin fair puts you in front of many collectors in one day. An auction house can suit a genuinely rare piece, but it takes time. Wherever you sell, every rule on this page still applies.

And there is this site. The Currency Bazaar was built for this exact problem: buyers can reach you only through chat on the site, your phone number is never shown, and every message is scanned for fee requests, off-site payment links and “RBI clearance”, with a warning shown to the person receiving it. That does not make it fraud-proof. A scammer can still sign up as a buyer, no scanner catches every wording, and payment passes directly from the buyer to you — we never hold the money — so everything above applies here too. The trade-offs are real. Posting on OLX or Facebook is usually free; here, sellers pay a one-time listing fee, shown on the plans page before you pay. There is no commission, and buyers pay nothing. It is a young site with far fewer visitors than OLX or Facebook, and nobody can promise that your coin will sell.

If you would rather list with your number hidden

A one-time fee of ₹99, ₹299 or ₹2,499, no commission, nothing charged to buyers — and no promise of a sale. The plans page says all of it before you pay.

See the plans

Last updated: 2026-10-02