Private / Public, buying a coin or paper wallet

[David-M]

Maybe a silly question- but when buying/selling a coin or paper wallet with a private/public key on it, you
1) check the balance via the public key
2) transact
3) store or import the private key to an online or mobile wallet and send the full amount to a new address.

But what if public key used isn't the one for that private key?

David

[Rannasha]

Maybe a silly question- but when buying/selling a coin or paper wallet with a private/public key on it, you
1) check the balance via the public key
2) transact
3) store or import the private key to an online or mobile wallet and send the full amount to a new address.

But what if public key used isn't the one for that private key?

David

You have to trust the issuer of the coin / paper wallet to provide a valid private key that matches the public address.

Or make the paper wallet (or coin) yourself.

[Bitalo_Maciej]

You can "sweep" the funds from the private key on the spot. By "sweeping" I mean send the Bitcoins to an address that you generated private key for. If that succeeds then you can be sure that the funds are yours and you weren't scammed.