How to Spot a Test Strip Buying Scam
Most people selling extra diabetic supplies are doing it once, maybe twice in their life. That inexperience is exactly what a bad buyer counts on. The good news is that scams in this space are not creative — they reuse the same handful of moves, and once you know them they are easy to spot from the first message.
Here is what to watch for, and what a legitimate transaction should feel like instead.
Red Flag: They Want You to Ship First
This is the most common one by far. A buyer offers a strong number, then explains that you need to mail the boxes in so they can "verify" them before payment goes out.
Sometimes payment arrives. Often it arrives at a much lower number than quoted, with an explanation about condition or expiration dates you have no way to dispute — your supplies are already gone. And sometimes nothing arrives at all.
The problem is structural, not personal. Once you ship, you have no leverage. Any buyer who insists on receiving the product before you are paid has arranged the deal so that all of the risk sits on your side.
What legitimate looks like: the supplies and the money change hands at the same moment, in person.
Red Flag: The Quote Is Far Above Everyone Else's
If four buyers land in the same general range and a fifth offers dramatically more, the outlier is not a great deal — it is bait.
The inflated number exists to get you to commit. Then the price gets renegotiated at the last minute, usually once you have already driven somewhere or already shipped. The classic version is a buyer who discovers a "problem" with your boxes at the meetup and offers a fraction of what was agreed, betting you will take it rather than go home empty-handed.
What legitimate looks like: a quote in a believable range, given in writing, that does not move unless what you brought is genuinely different from the photo you sent.
Red Flag: Overpayment and "Send the Difference Back"
You agree on one number. The buyer sends more — by check, by payment app, by anything — and asks you to return the difference. Maybe there is a story about a shipping agent or an accounting error.
The original payment is fake or reversible. It clears just long enough for you to send real money back, and then it disappears from your account. You lose the amount you refunded, and often the supplies too.
This one has no legitimate version. Nobody accidentally overpays a stranger. If it happens, the deal is over.
Red Flag: Pressure to Move Off the Phone Immediately
Be careful with a buyer who wants to leave text or email right away for a chat app, and who pushes hard for speed — today only, price expires tonight, I have another seller lined up.
Urgency is a tool for stopping you from checking anything. A real local buyer is happy to answer questions in writing and leave a record of the conversation, because there is nothing in that record that hurts them.
What legitimate looks like: the quote is still the quote tomorrow, and the buyer will put it in a text message.
Red Flag: No Verifiable Local Presence
Anyone can register a domain and put a phone number on it. Before you commit, look for signs that the operation is actually where it says it is: a real service area, a phone number that a person answers, a website that names the towns it covers.
Be especially wary of a buyer who will not say where they are based, or whose location changes depending on the conversation.
Red Flag: They Ask for Documents They Do Not Need
Buying sealed, unexpired diabetic supplies does not require your insurance details, your pharmacy account login, your Social Security number, or a photograph of your ID with the numbers visible.
If someone is collecting that, they are collecting it for a reason unrelated to the boxes on your table. Walk away.
The one thing a careful buyer may reasonably ask about is whether the supplies are yours and were obtained through your own prescription or insurance. That is a yes-or-no question, not a document request. Our post on what paperwork is actually involved covers this in more detail.
What a Clean Transaction Actually Looks Like
For comparison, here is the whole process when it is done properly:
You send a photo. Brand, count, and expiration date visible. Nothing else required.
You get a quote in writing, usually within about fifteen minutes, covering everything in the photo as one lot.
You decide. No countdown, no pressure. The number holds.
You pick the place. Your home, a bank lobby, a grocery store parking lot — wherever you are comfortable.
The buyer checks the boxes in front of you. Seals, expiration dates, counts. Takes a few minutes.
You are paid on the spot, before anything leaves with them.
If any step in that sequence gets rearranged so that you hand over supplies before you are paid, stop.
Protecting Yourself on the Small Details
Cover your name and prescription information on the box label before photographing it. The brand and the expiration date are all a buyer needs to see.
Meet in daylight in a public place if you would rather not have someone come to your home.
Bring a second person if that makes you more comfortable. No reasonable buyer will object.
Count the money before the supplies leave the table.
Keep the text thread. A buyer who quoted you in writing has committed to something.
What We Buy
Test strips — Contour Next, OneTouch Ultra and Verio, Accu-Chek Guide and Aviva, FreeStyle Lite, True Metrix, and others
CGM sensors — Dexcom G6 and G7, FreeStyle Libre 1, 2, and 3
Insulin pump supplies — Omnipod 5, Omnipod DASH, Tandem t:slim cartridges, Medtronic infusion sets and reservoirs
Accessories — lancets, pen needles, and unopened meters
Serving Albany and the Capital Region
We buy across a wide radius from Albany — Troy, Schenectady, Saratoga Springs, Clifton Park, Colonie, Glens Falls, Hudson, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Utica and much of Upstate New York.
Getting a Quote
Text or call (518) 779-9751 with a photo of what you have. You will get a real number back, in writing, and you can take as long as you like to think about it.
If something about a buyer feels off, trust that instinct. There is no supply so valuable that it is worth a bad transaction.
