26 TIPS ON HOW TO BE SAFE IN YOUR EBAY SELLING AND BUYING
BY: BRIAN MCGREGOR
the irony of ebay is that as it grows to be ever more successful, it
unsavoury element of the internet towards it. i'm talking about peopl
MAKE IT THEIR BUSINESS TO ATTEMPT TO DEFRAUD YOU AND I IN OUR EBAY AN
transactions.
OF COURSE, NOT ALL DODGY DEALINGS ON EBAY ARE FRAUDULENT. SOME ARE JU
mischievous. others are by chancers, who perhaps reckon their victims
bothered to pursue them.
whoever causes it, it's left to the targeted buyer or seller to try a
out the problem. all that we as users can do is to be extremely vigil
CAUTIOUS IN ALL OUR EBAY AND PAYPAL ACTIVITIES.
here is a list of practical steps, in no particular order, which buye
SELLERS CAN TAKE TO HELP AVOID BECOMING THE NEXT VICTIM.
hopefully you are already aware of some of these. it doesn't necessar
FOLLOW THAT IF ONE OF THESE APPLIES THE AUCTION OR PERSON IS FRAUDULE
if you use your head, and build up a view of the overall transaction
based upon a number of these factors, you will reduce your chances of
CONNED.
a) stock photos and descriptions
BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE THE ITEM THEY ARE "SELLING", SOME FRAUDSTERS
stock photograph of the item. and they will probably use the manufact
product description too. so, stock photos and no original description
A SIGN. SEARCH FOR OTHER AUCTIONS BY THE SAME SELLER, AND SEE IF THEY
brazen enough to advertise the same item more than once.
B) A PRICE TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE OFTEN ISN'T TRUE
a fraudster wants your money quickly, so you may find they offer to c
their auction early with you as the "winner" having bid a price which
TO BE SOMEWHAT OF A BARGAIN. WHY WOULD ANYONE CLOSE THEIR AUCTION EAR
price hadn't reached market levels? i'll give you one guess.
C) HIGH VALUE OR HIGH VOLUME, NEWLY REGISTERED SELLERS
although the vast majority of new sellers are genuine and honest, be
of buying from people selling high value items in bulk, very early on
EBAY CAREER. THIS PATTERN ISN'T QUITE NORMAL. THINK BACK TO YOUR OWN
sales. you would have been tentative, and probably have tried single,
value items initially. so, a new seller fitting this profile may be s
WHO HAS PERHAPS BEEN PREVIOUSLY SUSPENDED AND HAS REGISTERED ANOTHER
d) 1 day listings
ALTHOUGH 1 DAY LISTING ARE USED BY GENUINE SELLERS WHO HAVE MORE THAN
or who want a quick sale, unfortunately this duration is attractive t
fraudsters too. they sometimes use a 1 day auction duration to gain a
SALE BEFORE THEIR ACTIONS CAN BE REPORTED AND ACTED UPON. SO, BE EXTR
auctions with 1 day listing.
E) INVITATIONS TO TRADE OFF-EBAY
this is a classic ploy of fraudsters. having made some kind of contac
you, or you with them, they will invite you to purchase or to sell of
I.E. WITHOUT USING EBAY'S AUCTION SERVICES. THE ATTRACTION HERE TO TH
fraudster is that they can drive the transaction along the lines they
whether that be escrow, paypal etc. another reason why trading off eb
A GOOD IDEA IS THAT YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR OWN FORMAL RECORDS OF THE
transaction, and you forfeit any cover from ebay buyer protection and
buyer protection. plus, and this might be a minor point, but you will
ABLE TO LEAVE FEEDBACK TO LET OTHERS KNOW YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THIS
seller/buyer.
F) PAYMENT METHODS WITH NO RECOURSE
fraudsters prefer to chose payment methods in which the buyer has no
protection, like wire transfers where the buyer has no way of tracing
THE MONEY IS GOING. WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFERS AND BIDPAY ARE FAVO
and should be totally avoided. postal orders are similar although the
popular payment method among the genuine sellers as they require no c
TIME. BANK TRANSFERS AND CHEQUES CAN ONLY PROVIDE THE POSSIBILITY OF
investigating the details of the account the money was transferred in
the best protection use paypal and fund with a credit card. note ther
LIMITS ON EBAY AND PAYPAL PROTECTION, AND YOU SHOULD MAKE YOURSELF AW
what these are.
G) UNUSUAL SALES PATTERN
if your seller's feedback indicates that they normally deal in collec
dvds or other specific items, be suspicious that they are suddenly li
LAPTOPS, PLASMA TVS OR OTHER HIGH VALUE ITEMS. THE CHANGE MAY INDICAT
this seller's account has been hijacked.
H) BAD ENGLISH GIVES YOU A POINTER
some fraudsters operate from abroad but pretend to be in uk or usa. a
aren't particularly adept at the english language they might use a tr
TOOL LIKE BABELFISH TO CREATE THEIR EMAILS TO YOU. SO, WATCH OUT FOR
that are not good english. in itself, it doesn't prove anything, ther
plenty of genuine ebay sellers for whom english is not their first la
BUT IT MIGHT ADD TO FURTHER EVIDENCE YOU HAVE.
i) location location location
IN THE CASE OF LAZY FRAUDSTERS YOU MIGHT FIND THEIR LOCATIONS DON'T M
by that i mean the auction says the goods are in the uk, but the sell
details show their location to be, say, ukraine. this is not a good s
OFTEN IN THESE CASES IF YOU CONTACT THESE SELLERS YOU WILL RECEIVE AN
as to why the item is not in the uk, and therefore can't be collected
person. in short, if an auction says the item is in the uk and the se
THAT IT IS NOT, I WOULD AVOID THE AUCTION. AND DON'T FORGET TO CROSS
with their paypal account, and see in which country this resides.
J) ASK QUESTIONS
always, always ask your seller a question. any question. their respon
you receive one, will help you judge how genuine the seller is. bewar
AUCTIONS THAT CARRY A MESSAGE ASKING YOU TO CONTACT THE SELLER VIA A
email address as opposed to via the 'ask seller a question' link. thi
be an account hijacker trying to prevent buyers from 'asking the sell
QUESTION'. THEY WANT TO STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING BECAUSE SUCH QUESTIO
be routed to the real account owner.
K) "EBAY CAN VOUCH FOR ME" EMAIL
a warning about a relatively new tactic used by fraudsters. if you ar
hard to land as a buyer/seller, they may claim they can get ebay to e
PROOF OF THEIR VALIDITY SO THAT YOU CAN TRUST THEM. EBAY, OF COURSE,
never do this. the email sent out, however authentic looking, is fake
designed to get you to part with your money or your goods. this appli
EQUALLY TO SQUARE TRADE AND PAYPAL. THEY WILL NEVER EMAIL YOU CERTIFY
genuineness of anyone.
L)A PAYPAL WARNING
there are fraudsters who use stolen paypal accounts to accept payment
lower the possibility of this, check your seller's location as shown
AND THEN SEE IF IT IS ONE OF PAYPAL'S PERMITTED COUNTRIES BY CLICKING
http://www.workwinners.com/nlr701.htm. if paypal don't offer their se
the country that the seller resides, be very wary.
m) passwords
never have the same password on your ebay and paypal accounts. or ind
ANY OTHER FINANCIAL OR PERSONAL SITE. CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS EVERY 30-
on both ebay and paypal.
N) ESCROW
if your seller asks you to use escrow, and proposes an escrow company
used before, this is a clear indication they are fraudulent. there ar
FAKE ESCROW SITES WHICH WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY FRAUDULENTLY. THE ONLY E
site recommended by ebay is
http://www.escrow.com. an alternative in
http://www.auctionpix.co.uk please don't be tempted to use any other
COMPANY, HOWEVER PROFESSIONAL LOOKING THEIR WEBSITES MIGHT BE. IT IS
that 99% of escrow companies on the internet are fraudulent. they are
solely to defraud money out of unsuspecting buyers, and to get goods
PAYING FOR THEM FROM UNSUSPECTING SELLERS.
o) pointers in feedback
TRY TO READ THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK AS WELL AS THE NEGATIVE. READ THE W
seller responds to negative feedback as this will often give you an i
how the seller will react if something goes badly wrong. if the selle
OFFERING HIGH VALUE GOODS, BE WARY IF THEIR FEEDBACK HAS BEEN BUILT U
from low value purchases. also, if the overall rating is good, but th
disproportionate number of negatives in recent days/weeks, this might
THE ACCOUNT HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER. FINALLY, BE AWARE THAT FEEDBACK IS N
guarantee it once was. feedback can easily be manufactured. also, if
id has been hijacked, you'll be reading the feedback of the original
OWNER, NOT THE PERSON WITH WHOM YOU'RE CURRENTLY DEALING!
p) credit card payment
FOR HIGH VALUE ITEMS, OR FOR AMOUNTS OF MONEY YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LOS
sure you pay by credit card which has online fraud protection. this w
you some recourse if the seller is fraudulent. in this context, payin
PAYPAL IS NOT THE SAME. PAYPAL DO HAVE A BUYER PROTECTION SCHEME, BUT
are criteria which the ebay auction has to satisfy in order to qualif
if the transaction qualifies, paypal's standard protection currently
MAXIMUM VALUE OF $1,000. NOTE THAT PAYMENT BY DEBIT CARD PROVIDES ZER
protection.
Q) ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE CHECK
use the ask the seller a question link, and request they email you wi
address and telephone number. any reputable seller will give you thei
AND TELEPHONE NUMBER. WHEN YOU GET THE NUMBER, CALL IT, AND SEE IF YO
through to the genuine seller.
R) KEYSTROKE CAPTURING VIRUS
this is a computer virus which you inadvertently download onto your p
task is to capture the keystrokes you make, and to send them to the v
PLACER. THE FRAUDSTER THEN USES PATTERN RECOGNITION SOFTWARE TO IDENT
extract personal information, like username, password, credit card nu
etc. to avoid this happening to you, it is wise to have good, up-to-d
VIRUS, FIREWALL AND SPYWARE CHECKING SOFTWARE ON YOUR PC. HERE IS WHE
can get free software for each of these functions:
VIRUS PROTECTION -
HTTP://FREE.GRISOFT.COM/FREEWEB.PHP/DOC/2/ firewall -
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/comparis D=HO_ZA
spyware checking -
http://www.lavasoft.com/support/download/ S) SHILL BIDDING
shill bidding is where people work in cahoots to inflate the bidding
item. a seller has a "partner" who makes bids on the seller's items w
VIEW TO BUMPING UP THE BID PRICE. THEY HAVE NO INTENTION OF BUYING TH
fortunately, shill bidders and their associated seller can be stupid.
shill bidder will usually makes bids on other items from the same sel
HERE'S HOW TO CHECK TO SEE IF SHILL BIDDING IS A FEATURE OF A PARTICU
seller. first, look at the seller's closed auctions over the last 30
most of the closed auctions have no bids, it is unlikely the seller h
BIDDERS WORKING WITH THEM. IF ALL OF THE CLOSED AUCTIONS HAVE BIDS, T
look at the bid history. see if the same bidder appears in the list o
bidders, usually with aggressive bidding and normally at the start of
AUCTION. IF SO, YOU MAY HAVE UNCOVERED A SHILL OPERATION, SO AVOID TH
seller's auctions.
T) KEEP YOUR TRANSACTION INFORMATION
keep
