Something worth saying out loud now that Christmas market season is ramping up: not every trader invite that lands in your inbox is what it looks like.

This is the time of year when vans are actively looking for pitches, when deadlines are real and close, and when an email that says spaces left, secure yours today gets read rather than deleted. That combination is exactly what makes it worth someone's while to send it.

The one check that matters

Before you pay a pitch fee or hand over documents, find the application route on the market's own official website or council page — not the email, not the message, not a link in either of them. Open a browser, search the market by name, go to the site, find the trader page.

If the market is genuine, its trader information is published. Real markets want traders; they do not hide the application form. You should be able to find the same dates, the same fees and the same contact route on the official site as the ones in the message you received.

If you cannot — if the only route to apply is the email itself — stop there.

What to look at

  • The domain. A market's own domain, or the town or borough council's. Not a lookalike with an extra word, not a free hosting subdomain, not a link shortener.
  • The contact address. A personal-looking free email address — Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail — that appears nowhere on the official site is the single clearest warning sign. Some small genuine markets do use them, which is why the test is not is it a free address but does the official site name this address.
  • How you are asked to pay. A bank transfer to a personal name, a request for payment today, or pressure about spaces going in the next few hours. Real markets have invoices and lead times.
  • What they want from you. Be careful with documents. Your public liability certificate and food hygiene rating are normal to supply. Copies of photo ID, bank details beyond a payment reference, or anything that looks like identity documentation is not.
  • Whether you applied at all. An invitation to a market you never contacted, offering a pitch at a well-known event that in reality is heavily oversubscribed, is the classic shape of it.

If something does not add up

Phone the market or the council on a number you found yourself on their official site. Not the number in the email. Two minutes on the phone settles it either way, and a genuine organiser will not mind being asked — they get this question every year and they would much rather answer it than deal with the aftermath.

If it turns out to be fake, report it to Action Fraud, and tell the real market too. Organisers generally want to know that someone is trading on their name, and they will often warn their own trader list.

And if you have already paid

Contact your bank immediately — same day matters. If it went by bank transfer, ask about the Contingent Reimbursement Model; if it went by card, ask about a chargeback. Then report it to Action Fraud. It is worth doing even when you are fairly sure the money is gone, because the reports are how patterns get spotted and how the next trader gets warned.

The maths of it

Checking the official site costs a minute. Not checking costs a pitch fee, the pitch you did not book somewhere real because you thought you had one, and potentially a weekend in December with the van sat at home.

Worth a minute.