eBay Shopping Secrets

Dave Simpson asked:


 

Recently, I decided to buy a Coach purse for my wife she’s always had a hankering for one and I had some brownie points to earn – you know how it goes. The problem with designer purses is that I haven’t got a clue – I don’t know a Gucci from a Prada or a Wal-Mart special – so I was ripe for the taking. However, applying some sensible techniques kept me safe. First off, let me say, most sellers on EBay are genuine – I know because I built up a good business selling CD media there, became a Platinum Powerseller and made lots of genuine contacts along the way. But unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to everyone. It is not uncommon for sellers on EBay to try and scam people by selling them fake goods – especially items like designer Coach purses. Luckily, it is often quite easy, with a bit of care, to spot these fakes as I shall explain.

The first thing I did was, naturally, check the sellers feedback – this is always a good starting point when buying anything on EBay. I try and avoid anyone with a low or no feedback. This doesn’t mean that they are dishonest – they could be new to EBay – but they could also be a scammer who uses multiple accounts to rip people off, or even worse they could be someone previously banned starting up again. A good tip if you really want to buy an item from someone with low feedback is to e-mail them a specific question first, genuine sellers will always respond quickly – after all they want the sale – no answer – don’t buy! So, I chose a seller with lots of feedback – over 1100 in this case, and then went through this with a fine tooth comb. I specifically looked for negative feedback and mentions of fake Coach purses. It’s worth noting that hardly any seller has 100% positive feedback – there could be many reasons why this is the case - but in my experience anything over 95% should be ok.

The next thing I looked at was the listing itself. I’m always suspicious if the photo is lifted from the manufacturer’s website. You can tell by just visiting the website – in this case I headed over to the Coach purse website - and compared the images there, they weren’t the same ones so it showed me that the seller had probably taken the photos themselves – meaning that they at least had the item! Another trick is to check the larger image – if there isn’t one, and it’s just a thumbnail then the seller has almost definitely just lifted it off someone else’s site, and I immediately become suspicious. A good photograph will also show any imperfections, fake badges, poor quality material and so on, so if it is a fake, don’t expect the seller to be drawing your attention to these things!

Although this seller specialised in Coach purses, another thing I always look out for is anyone who lists multiple items of the same kind of thing. This is especially true for items like designer purses, since, by their very nature, they aren’t made in large quantities. There are websites out there that sell these items in large quantities, and I find quite often they are all fakes.

Satisfied with the feedback and images, the next thing I did was to closely read the sellers description of the item. I was especially looking for mentions that it was an authentic Coach purse. Quite often, the more devious fake sellers will try and wriggle out of any possible problems with EBay by being ‘creative’ with their descriptions. For example, they may use words like ‘genuine reproduction’, ‘manufacturers overstock’ and so on to basically hide the fact that it’s not the genuine article.

So, at last I picked my Coach purse, and decided to bid. After all that work, I was determined to win, and to be honest I probably paid a little over the odds – guess I don’t always get it right on EBay. My final safeguard was to pay using PayPal. Not only is it the simplest way to pay since EBay bought them over, but they also gave me around $2000 dollars in coverage if something went wrong with the purchase. I knew that if the purse did end up being fake then I could dispute the transaction and still get my money back.

The end result was that my wife’s new Coach purse arrived safe and sound 3 days later and she loved it! Another good EBay purchase.

M. D. Robinson 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 your 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 its 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. Lets 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. Its 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 dont 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 its 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 eBay. If anything seems suspicious to you, forward the email to eBay and wait for their response. They will let you know if its 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 its 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 is a lot of money to be made on eBay, so dont let anything scare you off. Keep yourself armed with knowledge and information and you will be successful out there in the auction world!

Marian Krajcovic asked:


Countless people have been scammed and defrauded on ebay . ebay is a fun place to bid on items and to sell items ‘ but you must know how to recognize a fraud, and how to avoid them, or you quickly join the ranks of those who have lost their money to ebay frauds. Of course, if you are scammed, there are some actions you can take the correct the situation ‘ but in many cases, the scammer does indeed get away! The best option is to avoid being scammed.

You can easily avoid many frauds with the payment method that you use ‘ whether you are a buyer or a seller. ebay owns Paypal, and in most cases, Paypal is the payment method you should use. First, as a buyer, if you are scammed or less than satisfied with the item when it arrives, you can dispute the charge easily, and demand a refund. The seller must reply and show proof that the item was shipped, and that it arrived in the condition that you expected, or Paypal will return your funds to your account.

As a seller, you can protect yourself by only accepting Paypal . This will eliminate the chances of receiving a bad check or having the buyer dispute a credit card charge. Instead, they must dispute the charge through paypal, and you of course will be able to prove that you shipped the product. You cannot, however, prove that the product arrived in the condition that was expected. In this case, you should demand that the product be returned to you before the refund is issued.

Another common fraud that buyers use is the bidding fraud. This type of fraud is run either with two separate ebay accounts ‘ with one person in control of both of them, or with two friends with separate ebay accounts. A very small bid is placed on your item, using one account. This is followed by a very high bid, from the other ebay account. Right before the bidding ends, the high bid is cancelled or withdrawn, leaving the low bid as the winning bid. This bid can only be avoided by setting a reserve price ‘ the lowest bid that can be placed is the same as the reserve price that you set.

If you are an ebay seller, you can further protect your auctions by placing a notice on your auctions page, declaring that you have the right to back out of the sale if you suspect potential fraud. As both a buyer and a seller, also beware of spoofed emails. These emails appear to be from ebay . The email may claim that you need to verify your information, and ask you to login to your ebay account, using the link provided. If you follow that link, the site looks exactly like ebay, but it is actually a fraud to get your ebay login details, as well as your credit card details! ebay will never ask you to do this. If you suspect a spoofed email, report it to ebay immediately!

Don’t let scammers ruin your ebay fun! Just use good common sense, and a reasonable amount of caution, and everything should run smoothly. Report suspicious activity to ebay, and if a deal doesn’t feel right, simply back away from it and move on to the next auction.

Serge asked:


Every month we got about half a dozen requests from eBay users which are scammed by Ukrainian scammers. The problem of e-bay that pay pal system is not available for Ukraine users. Therefore e-bay sellers from Ukraine prefer Western Union as the only way of getting money from buyers. After money is sent by Western Union you have got a good chance to be scammed. To e-bay users’ regret, Western Union is not available to return money back.

In 2008 we got request from e-bay user to make investigation concerning e-bay scammer from Ukraine. Customer bought laptop for 2500.00 USD, transferred money by Western Union and got neither refund nor notebook. Customer supplied us with scammer’s Western Union billing information; we identified the scammer and applied to the police of Ukraine to start criminal investigation.

The police of Ukraine started criminal investigation but the arguments were too weak to push this case into the court and the police had nothing to do but to close criminal case.

Reasons were:

If somebody pays by Western Union it doesn’t mean that somebody pays for some goods, business services or anything else. Scammer announced that he got charity from some American who decided to help his ill grandfather. Scammer was asked: “How do you think why rich American whom you do not know transferred 2500.00 USD to help your grandfather?” Answer was the most innocent: “First I didn’t catch why. But in few weeks this American asked me to make him a favor: to search and buy historical rarities in Ukraine and make illegal export of them to US. I refused his proposal and wanted to return money but unfortunately I have already used them for recovering of my grandfather. So this American is a real scammer who made charity for my ill grandfather and now makes blackmail.” The police checked and discovered that scammer’s grandfather was really ill.

E-bay messages and via correspondence between scammer and e-bay buyer were shown to the scammer. The police made identity of Ukraine PC from which correspondence was made. But scammer said: “PC has not got digital sign which confirms identity of user. Besides the apartment where PC located was rent by other person from Africa who lived there and maybe made a scam. You are welcome to close criminal case in Ukraine and search your scammer in Africa”. The scammer showed “renting contract”.

Anyway one of Ukraine investigators found the way how to catch this scammer. He rent expensive land rover, took a gun, took dictaphone, hidden camera and met scammer. He informed the scammer that he was representative of criminal world and some corrupted police officer sold information to criminals about the scammer. “Criminal representative” offered agreement in accordance to which:

1. Scammer has to continue scamming

2. Scammer has to specify where he scams and how he scams. This way criminal authority will be available to give exclusivity for this scammer in this field of scam and nobody will interfere the scammer’s business.

3. Criminal authorities have friends in the police and will defend scammer from the police in case of his failure.

4. Scammer has to grant criminal authorities 50% of his profit.

5. Scammer made scam before this agreement, earned money but didn’t pay to criminal authorities. This way the scammer has to pay fine 5000.00 USD immediately.

6. If scammer does not agree with any paragraph of this agreement “criminal representative” will make him injures and will be back in a week to continue discussing this agreement.

The scammer had nothing to do but to inform “criminal representative” how he scams whom he scams and where he scams. Scam scenario was voice and video recorded. Having got this evidence we applied Office of Public Prosecutor to appeal solution of the police and reopen criminal case. The prosecutor of Ukraine satisfied our appeal and scammer was caught.