|
Brian McGregor's
Articles Archive |
Five Tips for Safe Buying on eBay
by Brian McGregor
Sorry to have to concentrate on the negative, but the popularity of auction sites means that they have become a target for sophisticated fraudsters. Here are five tips about this.
1. Check out your seller
Make sure your seller has a solid feedback rating, and that feedbacks are linked to an item. If you're bidding on a higher value item, I wouldn't consider buying from a seller with less than 25 feedback rating. Even with a good rating, check for any neutral or negative feedbacks the seller has received. See if the seller has responded to these - you can tell a lot about a seller from the way they handle a "complaint" Email the seller too, with a question about the item. Good, attentive sellers will email you back usually within 24 hours. If they don't get back to you in that timescale, it doesn't make them dishonest but it may pay you to be more cautious.
2. Don't wait for the horse to bolt
Print out the winning auction page as your evidence of the transaction. If the unthinkable happens and you need to communicate with a credit card company about a dispute it is much easier if you have hard copy of the auction.
3. Stick to your maximum
Although it doesn't happen much over here in the UK - yet, shill bidding will increasingly occur. If you didn't know, shill bidding is where the seller uses another User ID to increase the bidding on his/her item. There are several nuances to shill bidding, but if you stick to a maximum limit on anything you're bidding for you won't be taken in by them. As a derivation of this, beware of any item where User's with zero or very low feedback ratings are bidding against each other. They may be new IDs set up by the seller for the purpose of driving up the bidding. If this occurs, check out the seller's other auctions - you might see a pattern emerge!
4. Be safe
There are several groups now operating across Europe with hijacked online auction accounts. they hijack existing accounts to gain reputable feedback. They typically do this by emailing members and pretending to be "eBay security" or "QXL membership department", asking the recipient to confirm their User ID and Password. One way to detect them is to find users who typically selling low value items who are now selling top end digital cameras, laptops, TVs, sound systems etc. Their auctions might include phrases such as 'email me for special buy now price'. What they are looking for is to get in email conversation with you where they can suggest you pay them a discounted price through an escrow service they suggest (which will be a fraudulent service), or to send payment by Western Union. Do not do this - you will never see your money again.
5. Keep your ear to the ground
Make a habit of looking in on eBay's Community pages and checking out the Discussion Boards. You will find out here all the nasties that are currently happening.
About the Author
Brian McGregor is an internet business creator, consultant and author. He is the author of several books including 'The eBay Formula', an essential guide to selling successfully on eBay. He has also written many articles and is published on the internet and in the printed media. He is also editor of the eBay Auction Newsletter, which you can subscribe to free. For a free ebook on how to use the leverage of eBay to help your business grow, go to http://www.leads-generation.co.uk/lgdl. For full information about Brian, go to his main website http://www.workwinners.com
You can copy and use this article providing it is unchanged and the About the Author profile is also attached unchanged.
=============================
Back to Articles Index
=============================
Home | Newsletter | Articles | Privacy Policy | Site Map | Testimonials | Contact
Workwinners Home | The eBay Formula | Keyword Pro | Free Sky TV | Dialup Broadband | Oil Paintings Business | Radar Detector Guide