Last updated 30 August 2026
We never handle your money. Green Coterie has no checkout and takes no cut — you pay the other gardener directly. That keeps things simple, and it means how you choose to pay is what protects you.
Green Coterie never handles your money. Every payment happens directly between you and the other gardener, which keeps things simple — but it also means the choice of how you pay is the thing protecting you. Here is what is safe, what is not, and how to spot someone who is up to no good.
The safest option for anything local.
You see the plant before you part with a penny. If it is not what was described, you simply walk away. Nothing to reverse, no account details shared, no third party involved.
The right choice if the item is being posted.
Comes with PayPal Buyer Protection, so you can open a dispute if the item never turns up or arrives badly misdescribed. There is a small fee, normally paid by the seller. Choose “Goods and Services” at checkout — not “Friends and Family”.
None of these can be reversed once the money has gone. If someone steers you towards one of them, that is the moment to stop.
No protection whatsoever. Treat a request for it as a warning.
This option exists for splitting a takeaway with someone you know. It has no buyer protection and is close to impossible to reverse. A seller asking you to use it to dodge the fee is asking you to give up every safeguard you have — and it is the most common way people are scammed on marketplaces.
Effectively cash, gone the moment you send it.
Once the money leaves your account there is usually no way to claw it back, and you have handed over details you cannot un-share. Fine for someone you actually know; not for a stranger on the internet.
Always a scam. No exceptions.
Nobody selling a plant legitimately wants paying in Amazon vouchers, iTunes codes or Steam cards. Scammers like them because the codes are spent instantly and cannot be traced. If this is suggested, stop and report the member.
Irreversible and untraceable — for a cutting?
These are built for moving money quickly with no way back. There is no honest reason to use them for a garden plant, and a request for one tells you everything about who you are dealing with.
Scams on marketplaces follow a handful of scripts. Recognise one and you have already avoided it.
They want to move the conversation off Green Coterie straight away
Keeping it in messages here means there is a record if something goes wrong. Rushing you to WhatsApp or email removes that.
They insist on Friends and Family, or on a bank transfer
Both strip away your ability to get the money back. A genuine seller will not mind you choosing the protected option.
They offer to overpay and ask you to refund the difference
A classic. The original payment is reversed or was never real, and your refund is genuine money you will not see again.
They cannot meet, and arrange their own courier
Often paired with a request to pay upfront. The courier does not exist, and the plant never arrives.
The price is far too good for what is being offered
Rare plants going for pennies are bait. A price that makes no sense usually is not real.
You are being hurried — “someone else is interested”
Pressure is a tactic. It exists to stop you thinking. A real gardener will wait while you make up your mind.
They ask for your bank details, card number or a verification code
Nobody needs these to accept a payment from you. A code sent to your phone is how an account gets stolen.
Most exchanges here are a friendly doorstep handover, and they go fine. A few sensible habits keep it that way.
Act quickly — most routes to getting your money back have a time limit.
Green Coterie is a place for gardeners to find each other — we are not party to any arrangement you make, and we cannot recover money paid outside the site. See our Terms & Conditions.