Getting paid
For people selling on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace or OfferUp who are deciding how to take money from a stranger. Every statement about another service links to that service's own page.
For a small in-person sale, cash you count and check on the spot is the simplest way to get paid, and nothing can be reversed.
For a larger sale, anything you ship, or a buyer you have doubts about, use a method that confirms the payment before you hand over and has a dispute process. Nilfpay does this for the seller at no fee; PayPal does it for shipped items tagged as goods and services, for 2.99%.
Zelle, Venmo and Cash App move money fast and free, but between two strangers they offer little or no protection, and only your own app, never the buyer’s screen, tells you the money arrived.
Side by side
Numbers in brackets link to the source.
| Question | Cash | Nilfpay | Zelle | Venmo | Cash App | PayPal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fees for me, the seller | $0. | $0 for you. The buyer pays a 4% service fee, 50¢ minimum, added at checkout. [1] | Typically none. Zelle says there are “typically no fees for consumers to send or receive money” and recommends confirming with your bank. [2] | Personal payments cost you nothing to receive. Payments tagged as goods and services carry a seller transaction fee, shown as 2.99% on Venmo’s fees page. Moving money to your bank is free in 1 to 3 business days, or 1.75% ($0.25 minimum, $25 maximum) for an instant transfer. [3] | Receiving a personal payment costs you nothing. The sender pays 3% when they fund it with a credit card. A Cash App business account pays 2.75% per payment received. Instant Deposit to your bank costs 0.5% to 1.75% ($0.25 minimum); a standard deposit is free and takes 1 to 3 business days. [4] | Friends and family from a bank or balance: no fee. Goods and services: the seller pays 2.99% (“Send/Receive Money for Goods and Services”); an in-person QR code payment is 2.29% + $0.09. Instant transfer to your bank is 1.75% ($0.25 minimum, $25 maximum); a standard transfer is free. [5] |
| Can the buyer fake the payment | Counterfeit bills exist. Check the security features the U.S. Currency Education Program lists for each note, and count the money in front of the buyer. [6] | No. The card payment is captured at checkout and the order shows as Paid in your app before you hand anything over. There is no screenshot to trust and nothing to check on the buyer’s phone. | The payment itself cannot be faked, but the proof can. Zelle sends nothing you can rely on from the buyer’s side. Only your own bank app showing the deposit counts. Zelle’s own guidance is “Beware of Payment Scams.” [7] | The payment itself cannot be faked, but a screenshot on the buyer’s phone can. Open your own Venmo app and look at your balance before the handover. | The payment itself cannot be faked, but the proof can. Look at your own Cash App balance, never the buyer’s screen. [8] | The payment itself cannot be faked, but emails styled as PayPal payment-pending notices and confirmations are among the most copied by scammers. Log in to PayPal yourself and look at the transaction. |
| Can the buyer reverse it later | No. Once the cash is in your hand, it is yours. | Rarely, and never silently. The buyer can open a dispute with Nilfpay, and card disputes exist on top. Your pickup code or your delivery tracking is your evidence. If a card dispute is lost after the handover, you carry it. | Not by the buyer once you have it. “You can only cancel a payment if the recipient hasn’t yet enrolled with Zelle®.” After that the money is in your bank account and “cannot be canceled.” Whether a payer’s bank can later pull back a payment made from a compromised account depends on the bank. [9] | Yes, in some cases. Venmo’s user agreement: “A transaction may be reversed or subject to a chargeback if: The buyer pursued a successful chargeback as determined by the card issuer.” Goods and services payments can also be claimed under Venmo Purchase Protection, and Venmo may refund the buyer “by reversing the payment from the seller’s account.” [10] | Not by the buyer once sent. Cash App’s terms: “You will not be able to cancel the transfer once the transfer has begun processing.” A payment funded by a card can still be disputed by the buyer with their card issuer. [11] | Yes. A buyer can open a Purchase Protection dispute “within 180 days of the date you sent the payment,” or a chargeback with their card. Seller Protection can cover you when you shipped with tracking. [12] |
| Do I have to share my phone number or bank details | No. Nothing to share. | No. The buyer sees your shop page, its name, your link or QR code, and any social links you choose to add. Never your phone number, email or bank details. | Yes. The buyer pays to the email address or US mobile number you enrolled with Zelle, so they get one of the two. [13] | Partly. The buyer needs your Venmo username, phone number or email, or scans your Venmo QR code. Your bank details stay private. [14] | Partly. The buyer needs your $Cashtag, phone number or email, or scans your QR code. Your bank details stay private. [15] | Partly. The buyer needs your PayPal email or phone number, a PayPal.Me link, or scans your QR code. Your bank details stay private. [16] |
| Do I get the money instantly | Yes. Nothing is faster. | The order shows as Paid the moment the buyer pays. Payouts go out daily and land in your US bank account the next business day, or you pick the money up in cash at Western Union or MoneyGram. | Yes. “In most cases, the money is typically available in minutes” between enrolled users, straight into your bank account. [9] | Into your Venmo balance, yes. Into your bank, free in 1 to 3 business days or 1.75% for an instant transfer. [3] | Into your Cash App balance, yes. Into your bank, free in 1 to 3 business days or an Instant Deposit fee. [4] | Into your PayPal balance, yes, though PayPal can hold funds on some accounts and transactions. Standard transfer to your bank is free; instant is 1.75%. [17] |
| Works for in-person sales | Yes. Cash works face to face and nowhere else. | Yes. The buyer scans your QR code or opens your link and pays on their phone. They read you a 4-digit pickup code and you hand over. | Yes. Have the buyer send it while you watch, then check your own banking app before the handover. | Yes. Note Venmo’s rule: personal accounts “may not be used to conduct business, commercial or merchant transactions” with other personal accounts unless the payment is tagged as goods and services or goes to a business profile. [10] | Yes. Watch your own balance update before the handover. | Yes, but Seller Protection excludes “physical, tangible items delivered in person” unless the buyer paid in person “using PayPal’s goods and services QR code.” [18] |
| Works for shipped items | No. | Yes. You set a flat delivery fee, then mark the order shipped with the carrier and tracking number. Tracking that shows delivery to the buyer’s address counts as delivered. Without it, an item-not-received dispute goes to the buyer. | It works as a transfer, but Zelle is built for people who know each other: “a great way to pay friends, family, your co-workers and others you trust.” We found no purchase protection program on Zelle’s pages. [7] | Yes, tagged as goods and services. Venmo Purchase Protection then applies to both sides, with the seller fee. A buyer’s item-not-received claim is not eligible when they “collect the item in person,” or when “the seller has provided proof of delivery.” [10] | It works as a transfer. We found no buyer or seller protection for payments between two people in Cash App’s terms; for merchants with an ordering profile the terms say the transaction is “between you and that merchant, not Cash App.” [11] | Yes. This is where PayPal is strong: Seller Protection covers item-not-received and unauthorized-transaction claims when you provide proof of shipment or delivery, meaning “an online and verifiable tracking number.” [18] |
| What happens if the buyer disputes | There is no dispute process. If a bill turns out to be counterfeit, the Secret Service says to “submit suspected counterfeit currency to your local police department”; your bank may also help identify it. [19] | The buyer opens it in Nilfpay. A person reviews the order, the pickup code or the tracking, and the messages, then decides. The buyer can also dispute with their card issuer. | There is no Zelle process between a buyer and a seller. Zelle’s help center points people to their bank, and its reimbursement language covers “qualifying imposter scams,” which is about the payer, not a seller who shipped and was not paid. [20] | For goods and services payments the buyer can file a Venmo Purchase Protection claim or a card chargeback, and Venmo “may assess a chargeback fee” to the seller. Personal payments have no claims process. [10] | No Cash App process between two people for a personal payment. A buyer who paid with a card can dispute with the card issuer. [8] | The buyer opens a PayPal dispute or a card chargeback. PayPal decides. “Personal payments including a payment sent using PayPal’s friends and family functionality” are not eligible for Seller Protection. [18] |
| Who it is best for | Small in-person sales, roughly up to a few hundred dollars, where you can count and check the bills. For a $40 desk, cash is hard to beat. | Sales to strangers where you want the money confirmed before the handover, custom orders you want paid before you start, and anything you ship. | In-person sales where you can watch the money land in your own bank app before handing over, and payments between people who already know each other. | Small in-person sales where you check your balance before handing over, and shipped sales tagged as goods and services when you accept the fee for the protection. | Small in-person sales with a buyer who already uses it, where you check your balance before handing over. | Shipped sales to strangers, tagged as goods and services, with tracking. The longest track record of any option here for disputes. |
Trade-offs
FAQ
Zelle works as a fast bank transfer, and once the money is in your account the buyer cannot cancel it. What it does not do is confirm anything for you or step in if something goes wrong: Zelle describes itself as a way to pay people you trust and has no purchase protection program that we could find. If you take Zelle from a stranger, watch the deposit land in your own banking app before you hand over, and ignore every email or text about the payment.
No. A screenshot is a picture, and a picture of a payment is not a payment. The same goes for a confirmation email, which can be sent by anyone. Open your own bank or payment app and look for the money as available, not pending. If a buyer pushes back on that, they are telling you something.
For small amounts, cash is hard to beat: no fee, no account, no reversal. The two risks are counterfeit bills and meeting a stranger with money in your pocket. Count it in front of the buyer, check the security features for larger bills, and meet in a busy public place. For a few hundred dollars or more, or when a buyer cannot meet, a card payment confirmed before the handover is the better trade.
Refuse them from strangers. Counterfeit cashier’s checks look real and your bank may show the money as available for days before it bounces, at which point the bank takes the money back from you. There is no way for you to confirm a check on the spot, which is exactly why scammers use them. Our free scam checker recognizes the wording.
It reduces them and gives you evidence, and it does not make them impossible. The card payment is captured at checkout, the buyer reads you a 4-digit pickup code at the handover, and shipped orders carry tracking. A buyer can still dispute with Nilfpay or their card issuer; a person at Nilfpay reviews the order and the evidence. If a card dispute is lost after the handover, the seller carries it, which is why the pickup code and the tracking matter.
You set up a free shop page in about two minutes, and it is also what lets you take one-off payments: the Send a payment option lets a buyer pay you any amount without an order. There is no monthly fee and no minimum, and the buyer pays the 4% service fee at checkout, so a single sale costs you nothing.
Sources
Last verified: September 22, 2026. Nilfpay facts are Nilfpay's own; provider facts are quoted from the pages below.
Nilfpay confirms the buyer's card payment in your app before you hand anything over. Sellers pay $0; the buyer pays a 4% fee at checkout, and the money lands the next business day, in your bank or as cash at Western Union or MoneyGram.
See how Nilfpay worksFree for sellers. United States.