# Side-selling > Side-selling is the sale of produce by a farmer to a buyer other than the cooperative, company or programme they are contracted to or registered with, often for immediate cash or a better price. It breaks the link between registered plots and delivered volumes. Also known as: side selling, extra-contractual sales, leakage ## Why does it matter? Side-selling cuts both ways. Registered volumes leak out, weakening the business case of [cooperatives](/glossary/cooperative/) and sustainability programmes. Unregistered volumes also leak in: a buyer receiving produce from farmers side-selling from other programmes may be buying from plots it has never assessed. For traceability, the risk is that declared plots and physical volumes no longer match. ## What causes it? - Need for immediate cash, especially before harvest payments. - Price differences between buyers. - Late payment or unreliable services from the contracted buyer. - Debt or pre-financing from other traders. ## How can data help detect it? - **Yield plausibility**: deliveries far above or below what the farmer's plots can produce. - **Cross-buyer checks**: the same farmer or plot selling to several buyers beyond its capacity. - **Timing anomalies**: deliveries outside the local harvest season. These checks require farmer identities consistent across buyers, which relies on [deduplication](/glossary/deduplication/) and on buyers agreeing to pool these checks. ## Common pitfalls - Treating side-selling purely as disloyalty, without addressing payment and price. - Checking only within one company's data. Cross-buyer volume checks are part of Farmer1st's pre-competitive [fraud detection](/services/fraud-detection/) service. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is side-selling illegal? Usually not. Farmers are generally free to sell to whom they choose unless bound by a contract. It is a commercial and data problem more than a legal one. ### How can side-selling be reduced? Common levers include prompt payment, transparent pricing and premiums, pre-financing and services that reward loyalty, and data that makes farmers' own records portable so they gain from staying in a programme. ## Sources - [IFAD, International Fund for Agricultural Development](https://www.ifad.org/en/) - [OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains](https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-fao-guidance-for-responsible-agricultural-supply-chains_9789264251052-en.html)