| Avoiding eBay Scams |
|
| Contributed by Cjay | ||
You can never avoid all eBay scams, but if you read the following it may prevent you from losing endless hours of sleep and it might just prevent you losing your hard earned cash too. There are many scams and scammers out there and to even try to list all the scams I’ve heard of would take me past retirement age (and yes there are still of couple of decades till then!) If you are careful, sensible and diligent you should be able to avoid most scams. Firstly you should know all about the item you are interested in buying. You should visit shops in your area and find out how much it would cost to buy the item there, is what you want available locally etc. You should remember that when you buy on eBay you will have postage/shipping costs and you cannot be 100% sure of the condition of the item. It may well turn out that it is cheaper to buy the item locally, or from a less risky source. If you intend to buy antiques or collectibles you should do plenty of research and ensure you know the value and rarity of the items you are interested in. You should always remember that most collectibles on eBay are mass-produced and as such, you will have plenty of opportunities to buy the item you want. You would be advised only to buy items with photos. This is a good way to ensure that the seller actually has the item. Having said that you should be aware that scammers have been known to take photos from on line catalogues or other auctions. You should check out the lighting and background of the photo. Professional pictures have clearer backgrounds and better lighting. Remember no photo is an indication that it could be a scam. You should check the seller’s history. You will find this on the feedback page. It will tell you how long the seller has been a member and where they are located. People who have been members for a long time, but have not been active as sellers are more likely to be scamming. It is easy to get feedback as a buyer by buying cheap items. You should check what the seller has been buying and selling. You will find all this info and links on the feedback page. You should then do an eBay search to find auctions the seller has been involved in. You should check to see if the seller has sold the same item previously. If this is the case you should check with the buyer of the previous item if they have received the goods yet. You should check the description of the item you wish to buy. Does it sound as if this person is eager to sell the item? Do they sound like they know all about the item they are selling? You should ask questions. This will not only give you information about the seller, it will also give you the opportunity to ask about the condition of the item or to see additional photos etc. If the item you are interested in is expensive you should telephone the seller but it should be noted that you must bid on the item to get the sellers contact information. Perhaps the item you are interested in is valuable because of its colour, you should take steps to ensure that the lighting in the photograph is not distorting the actual colour of the item. You should ask the seller to photograph the item along side a common household item. For instance if the item should be dark green you could ask the seller to photograph the item with a tin of Heinz Beans. You would then be able to see if the can of beans in the photo is darker or lighter than it should be. Before you decide to buy an item you should ask yourself, “If I saw this item in a shop would I purchase it?” If the answer is no, then why would you be buying it on eBay? I’m sure there are many reasons, some being:-
You must check out the seller’s returns policy. If there is nothing mentioned, ASK!!!! Sellers may say it’s sold as seen, therefore you cannot return the item. Others may say you can only return the item if it is not correctly described. Having said all that, even if a seller states ‘no return’ it does not give the seller the right to wrongly describe or misrepresent the item they are selling. However it would make it more difficult for you to make a claim in the event of anything being wrong with the item. Always remember that item descriptions are really a sales technique. Using adjectives like unique, rare and uncommon is a device to entice you to buy the item and to encourage you to make higher bids because the seller has mad you think the item is harder to locate than it really is. In general most items sold in eBay auctions are common and appear on eBay again and again. Occasionally hard to find items do appear on eBay. Remember some sellers will do and say almost anything to sell their items. Before you bid on an item you should decide how much you are willing or can afford to lose. Some people decide that should things go wrong, they could afford to lose, say, £50 without batting an eyelid. You should check that the seller’s registered eBay address is the same address that you have to send the payment to. If it isn’t then it could be a scam! Payment Options – There are several ways to pay on eBay, not all sellers will accept all payment options. Options available on eBay are:- Pay Pal, bank deposits, banker’s draft, cash, credit cards, escrow, instant money transfers, personal cheques and postal orders.
· Escrow – This payment method is recommended for high priced items. However you must be cautious when using this service to pay for your item. You should only use eBay approved Escrow companies. Your payment is held by Escrow until you receive and approve the item. · Instant Money Transfers – This method of payment is not recommended. This is a service that was designed to allow you to send money to people you know and trust. Payment is not traceable, it is difficult to identify and designate recipient, and it is vulnerable to criminal use. There is no recourse if the item is not delivered as promised even if you used your credit card to send the payment. Should a seller insist on payment using this method you should not send them any money!! · Personal Cheque – This method provides proof of payment, it is traceable to a particular mailing address and most banks offer a stop payment service should problems arise before the cheque is cashed. However, it should be noted that charges maybe incurred for using that service. · Postal Orders – This is an inexpensive method to send payments all over the world. You do not need a bank account, postal orders are easy to buy and cash at the post office and they are traceable to a particular mailing address. Feedback – you should always leave feedback, but never leave feedback until your purchase is received and you are satisfied with it. If for instance the item is not as described, feedback is your leverage to get a return. If a seller is unwilling to correct his/her mistakes or is deceptive, you should always leave negative feedback. This is your opportunity to warn other bidders about this seller. Remember had other buyers left their negative feedback they could have saved you time and money. This system will only work if buyers leave negative feedback when things haven’t gone well. Should you get scammed and it’s for, say, £25, it’s not really worth getting stressed over. I know £25 is a lot of money, but you should know when to cut your losses. Yes some scammers thrive on that as it allows them to continue scamming other people but it really isn’t worth pursuing small losses. However you should lodge a complaint with eBay and don’t forget to leave negative feedback, then learn from your mistakes and move on. It is advised that you use separate eBay accounts for selling and buying. This means that should you need to leave negative feedback about a purchase, the seller concerned cannot damage your selling account by leaving negative feedback in your selling account in retaliation. It is also advisable only to use a buying account until it has about 40 feedback's. Then you should start a new one. This means that as you know that you will be using a new account in several months you can be honest when you are leaving feedback. It also means that no one knows what you are buying. Should you fall foul of the scammers you should ensure that any e-mails you send should be polite. Explain what the problem is and why you are unhappy. Do not make accusations or call the seller names. This will not help your case. When you begin with an attack it puts the seller into a different frame of mind. You should ask someone to check your emails before you send them. You should never threaten to leave negative feedback in your first e-mail. If you have been scammed do not threaten the seller. EBay will suspend you immediately. This is known as user-to-user threats. Unfortunately scammers will use this to their advantage. They will try to provoke you into threatening them, if you succumb they will forward your email to eBay and your account will be cancelled. It should be noted that even if you have filed a fraud complaint with eBay it would be closed because eBay do not investigate complaints for non-members. You should never try to renegotiate the price after you receive the item purchased. If you are unhappy then explain why, be clear and polite. Sellers may refund postage both ways if it was their mistake. However, if you demand that you pay a lower price than that originally agreed, no seller will ever even consider this. You can get some great deals on eBay, but remember most items will appear on eBay again and again. There is no need to rush in and buy the first one you come to. Take your time; get the right item from the right seller. It would appear that greed causes most of the problems. Had the buyer researched the item he/she wanted to purchase and had the buyer asked the seller questions about the item before even considering bidding for it, then the buyer would most definitely save himself or herself a lot of aggro. Whilst there are eBay scams, and probably always will be, a bit of common sense, caution and clear thinking will help to protect you. May all your sales be profitable ones and may all your purchases be inexpensive and scam free. Only registered users can write comments.
|
||