eBay Shopping Secrets

Emily Banks asked:


EBay traders rely on their feedback reputation as much as they rely on their goods. Feedback amounts to the comments that both buyers and sellers leave on the transaction. The better your feedback reputation the more people will trust you as a buyer and seller.  Straightforward enough, you say. But some unscrupulous sellers manipulate their feedback to gain their buyer’s trust. Once they have that trust, they start ripping off buyers.

How Do They Do It?

Feedback Fraud -

A seller sets up multiple EBay accounts.  He then buys and sells items between his identities, making sure to leave positive feedback to make himself look trustworthy.



Purchasing Feedback -

EBay has cracked down on this. However, a simple search shows that it still goes on. A buyer purchases a low price item, say under £1, in return for positive feedback to build up their rating. These £1 friends help schew the true feedback status.



Stealing Feedback -

An unscrupulous dealer may hijack an account. After he does so, he can use its good reputation to scam unsuspecting buyers. This usually occurs after someone has been tricked into entering their password at a counterfeit EBay site.  The link to the phony EBay

site usually arrives in a phishing e-mail.

How To Avoid Being Scammed -

An important thing to in any EBay transaction is to check the other party’s feedback. Try and avoid a seller who has a large negative, or even neutral, feedback rating. Be especially careful if your purchase is an expensive item.

Things to Look Out For -

* Check the IDs leaving feedback.  If there are many from the same ID, alarm bells should ring that the seller might be purchasing feedback.

* What items are the feedback for? A hard sell of Very low-priced items and a sudden change to the seller promoting expensive laptops, you should be suspicious. Check by clicking on the item link - it will show you the auction and winning bid prices within the last couple of months. Pay attention to both.

* Is the feedback for buying or selling? If it’s all been for buying items and suddenly the person is selling, be careful.  Watch out for novice sellers and treat them as a seller with zero feedback.

* Look for the Buy Safe seal. It means that the seller has been vetted and approved by an independent company called Buy Safe. But some legitimate sellers even don’t use this.



What To Do If You’re Scammed -

You should report the incident to EBay, and also to Paypal, if need be. This offers you some recourse, and means you can file an insurance claim through them. Online auctions are like car boot sales.  It’s a case of caveat emptor, buyer beware.

EBay suspends accounts where feedback manipulation is obvious. They have stated, however, that it’s a grey area. SquareTrade is a mediation service that tries to resolve buyer/seller problems.  But if it’s a scam that has caused the problem, they may not be able to assist.

EBay states that only 0.01% of the transactions on its site are scams.  They do their best to police them. And certainly, the vast majority of people experience no problems.

Remember to do your homework before bidding on an item, especially an expensive one.

Emily Banks/Freelance Writer.  Why not visit Buzzed Up?

Ramandeep singh ghumaan asked:


There are many eBay scams out there to keep an eye out for when you are selling on eBay. This article will cover a few of the known and not so known scams to be aware of. Whether you’re a causal seller, or a professional seller on eBay, you need to know about these scams so that you can take measures to prevent or recognize if it’s happening to you.

Bid Shielding

This scam is something you need to watch out for as a seller on eBay. Basically the scam is run using two separate eBay accounts. The scam works like this. You put your item up for auction. Let’s say your item is worth $100 and you have no reserve. The first bidder (scammer) comes along and bids $5 on your item. Right after that, another bidder working with the first bidder comes along and bids $200 on your item. Since your item is only worth $100, you receive no more bids for the duration of your auction. Right before your auction ends, the first bidder backs out and cancels their bid, leaving the $5 bidder the winner, effectively shielding all other potential bidders because of the $200 bid.

Because of the potential for this scam it is always good to have a reserve on your auction. Also, I would put some sort of disclaimer on your auction stating that if you suspect bid shielding on your auction, you reserve the right to back out of the sale. It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on your auctions and watch for this type of behavior. If you suspect this is happening to you, be sure to report the parties involved to eBay right away.

Wholesale List Scam

This scam takes advantage of the fact that many people don’t pay close attention or read the fine print on an auction. This scam is targeted at buyers who are looking for deals on electronics and technological items on eBay. The wholesale list scam is basically an auction that looks like the seller is offering a great deal on a product like an iPod for example. They may have a buy now price of $40 for an iPod that is worth $150. However, if you actually read the fine print on the auction, you will find that you are not really buying the iPod. In fact you are purchasing a wholesale list.

To avoid this scam, just be sure that you read the entire details of the auction before making a bid or a purchase. Basically, just use common sense. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is, so read the auction carefully.

Bad Check Scam

This eBay scam is exactly what it sounds like. The bad check scam is simple. Someone purchases your item and sends you a check as payment. You receive the check, and send out the item. However, 2 weeks later you find out the check bounces and now you are out your item and the money.

To avoid this, simply do not send out any products until the check has cleared.

Spoof eBay Emails

This eBay scam is an attempt to get your personal information and/or eBay account information. Basically the scammer sends you an email that looks like it’s from eBay. The email may direct you to a website (that also looks like eBay) where it asks to you verify your information. In reality, the website is created by the scammer to collect your personal information and use it for identity theft. The scammers can be very tricky and make everything look very official.

To avoid this scam, you need to be wary of any emails that you get. The first thing you need to check is the email header. Emails from eBay, will have “@ebay.com” as the last part of the senders email. Also any links that are in the email may be directing you somewhere other than where they say they are. Also copy and paste the links into your browser, and only visit official links that start with “www.ebay.com”. If anything seems suspicious to you, forward the email to eBay and wait for their response. They will let you know if it’s legitimate or not.

In conclusion, most people you run into on eBay are good honest people and not out to scam you. You may do business on eBay for years and never run into any of this. However, occasionally these things do happen so it’s important to use common sense and use your best judgment when it comes to this stuff. Just be aware that it can happen, and take the necessary precautions and you will be fine. There’s a lot of money to be made on eBay, so don’t let anything scare you off. Keep yourself armed with knowledge and information and you will be successful out there in the auction world!

william miller asked:


The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on ebay is about setting up small income streams using ebay. Several ebay users that have taken advantage of this technique. I have noticed that most of the ebay power sellers use the same methods described in the Silent Sales Machine Hiding on ebay .

This ebook is written for anyone that uses ebay or plans to use ebay in the future. If you have not used ebay, it is very easy to get started. Ebay has step by step instructions on their website. A link to ebay’s start up page is provided. This makes things very simple. There are also instructions to help you set up a free merchant account.

The author has you complete a simple exercise to get you thinking about what products to promote. This is a fun and easy fill in the blanks exercise. Several examples are then given to make sure you get the concept.

The benefits of setting up a silent sales machine on ebay are given. This concept is explained in detail. It is very beneficial for most ebay users. Tips to increase the number of visitors to your website are included. However, you do not need a website to use this system. It is optional.

The author gives several examples to help you follow ebay’s policies. Next, there is a detailed section about writing your own ebook. This is not required, but it can be very profitable. He gives you numerous ideas to get you started. I have used two of the techniques with success.

Jim teaches you how to make additional money from your ebay ads. He gives an actual screen shot of ebay to make sure your account is set up correctly. This is very simple to follow with step by step instructions.

Paid and free resources are provided to improve your ebay ad. Jim explains how you can make money even if you only break even on your ebay ads because you are making money on the back end. The benefits of obtaining multiply ebay accounts are explained.

A free tool is included to help you determine if a product is worth selling. This is very important. You do not want to sell something that no one wants. Several useful links and resources are included.

There are several example letters available to help you set up a partnership. This is not required, but just another way to make money. Next, the benefits of building your own list are discussed.

Jim, mentions that you can make money with a list as small as 100 people which is very obtainable. Pay per click, quality content, and affiliate programs are mentioned.

A step by step guide is given to set everything up on ebay in 30 minutes without your own website. Information about copyrighting your own products is provided. Several cool links and videos are included throughout this ebook.. Drop shipping, auctions, and yard sales, are discussed.

This is a great ebook for people that use ebay or plan to use ebay in the future. I have noticed that most ebay power sellers use some of these techniques mentioned in The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on ebay. The author provides numerous researches to improve your business. He also includes several detailed examples from some of his students.

Step by step instructions with screen shots are included throughout this 129 page ebook. This makes it very easy to set up your ebay accounts. This is an excellent ebook for ebay users or future ebay users. I have made some money using two of Jim’s techniques. Therefore, I highly recommend The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on ebay.