Is bank transfer safe for marketplace?

Why UK banks now block marketplace transfers

UK banks have spent the last two years rolling out automated friction and outright blocks on Faster Payments to suspected marketplace sellers. The reason: APP (Authorised Push Payment) fraud reform. Since October 2024, banks have been on the hook for reimbursing victims of APP fraud up to £85,000 in most cases, with the cost split 50/50 between the sending and receiving banks. The maths is simple — it’s cheaper for the bank to block a suspect payment than to refund it later.

Santander has been the most public about this. They report blocking over 1,800 customer payments to suspected Facebook Marketplace sellers in 2025 alone (Source: Santander UK). TSB, Lloyds, NatWest and others apply similar logic — sometimes quietly, sometimes with explicit Confirmation of Payee warnings before a marketplace transfer goes through. The pattern is now consistent across UK retail banking: bank transfer is being actively designed out of the marketplace journey.

Why bank transfer fundamentally fails marketplace deals

Three structural problems, none of which the banks can fix without rewriting Faster Payments:

• No held-payment mechanism. Faster Payments was designed for fast settlement of money you intend to send. There is no built-in escrow. Once the money leaves, it’s gone.
• No recall window. Unlike a card payment (where chargebacks exist) or a Direct Debit (where indemnity claims exist), Faster Payments has no consumer-facing recall mechanism. Banks can attempt a recall but the receiving bank can refuse.
• Recipient identity is shallow. Confirmation of Payee gives you a name match — it doesn’t tell you whether the person is honest, whether the item exists, or whether the seller has dozens of fraud reports against them.

Bank transfer vs the safer alternatives

My bank blocked my marketplace transfer — what now?

If Santander, TSB or another UK bank has blocked your transfer to a marketplace seller, you have three options:

1. 01

   Use PIN Pickup instead

   The bank blocked it because they suspect fraud. PIN Pickup is the held-payment alternative they're effectively pointing you towards. The buyer pre-authorises in SilentID, the money sits with Stripe, and only releases at handover with a 6-digit PIN.

2. 02

   Suggest cash on collection (with caveats)

   For sub-£100 deals from a face-to-face meet, cash is workable — accept the fake-note risk and the lack of receipt. For anything over £100, use PIN Pickup.

3. 03

   Walk away from the deal

   Your bank's fraud-detection systems exist for a reason. If they've flagged this seller, the seller has likely been flagged before. If the seller refuses any safer payment method, that itself is the answer.

UK APP fraud reform: what it means for you

The Payment Systems Regulator’s mandatory APP reimbursement rules (in force since October 2024) require banks to reimburse victims of APP fraud in most cases up to £85,000, with cost split 50/50 between sending and receiving banks. In theory, that improves your recovery rate. In practice, Cifas reports only 18% of fraud victims actually get their money back — disputes, partial-liability rulings, evidence requirements and the gross-negligence carve-out reduce the headline rate sharply (Source: Cifas, UK Fraudscape).

The reform has had one welcome effect: banks have started taking prevention seriously, hence the rise in marketplace transfer blocks. But the lesson for marketplace users is unchanged — the safest money is the money you never sent. PIN Pickup is built on that principle.

UK marketplace fraud — the numbers

Related guides

• Safe Payment for Marketplace Pickup (hub)
• Safe Payment for Facebook Marketplace Collection
• How to Receive Payment Safely as a Seller
• SilentID vs Bank Transfer (full comparison)