It really is inevitable that any website that helps buyers
and sellers exchange $14 billion dollars a year in
merchandise is bound to be targeted by scammers. Although
the vast majority of people on the site are perfectly
legitimate and only there to buy or sell products legally,
the site still has its fair share of scams going on at any
one time. Here are some tips for avoiding most of the Ebay
scams seen so far.
Bidding Scams
If you have already placed a bid for an item but the seller
decides to end the bidding early, be very wary if that same
person then contacts you and still tries to bargain with you.
Once the bidding ends, you are no longer under the Ebay
umbrella and this person is more than likely trying to scam
you.
Should you be contacted by someone that has seen that you
have bid on another item and tries to convince you that they
have the same product or one better for a much lower price,
walk away. In this Ebay scam, you will be told that the
seller doesn't have enough time to list on Ebay and that the
two of you can conduct your transaction through an escrow
company. Walk away.
Escrow Scams
By far, the vast majority of Ebay scams involve an escrow
company. Officially, Ebay only recommends using Escrow.com.
Sellers who try to get you to send your money to some other
escrow company should be regarded with skepticism at best,
and walked away from in most circumstances.
If you are a seller and using an escrow service to send an
expensive item to the buyer, then make sure that you require
a signature upon receipt. Not doing so is just asking for
problems.
Do not, under any circumstances, use some escrow company that
has been recommended by the other person. Especially avoid
these people if they tell you that they use this or that
escrow company all the time. Unless they are an Ebay
business machine with a very well established history, why
would they ever need to use an escrow account "all the time"?
If you do decide to use an escrow company other than
Escrow.com, then proceed with caution. Log onto their site
and check two things: do they have a URL with
http://companyaddress.com and does the little padlock appear
at the bottom of the web page telling you that it is a secure
site? If you are not on a secure site with a standard URL
address, don't be a fool. Conduct your Ebay business with
someone else.
A good idea to try when attempting to determine if an escrow
company is legitimate is to go to Register.com. Run a
"whois" on the company domain name. If it was only
registered a short time ago, you are being scammed.
One of the favorites used by scammers to make an escrow
account seem secure and legitimate is to paste the "Verisign
Secure Site, Click Here" tab onto a fake site. Take the time
to click on it and if it just takes you to the Verisign home
page, it is a fake.
A way of checking the legitimacy of an escrow company is use
Google and type in their web address. A real escrow company
will have a lot of Google results while fake ones will have
but one and in some cases no search results.
Basically, there are just a lot of Ebay scams out there
involving escrow companies. This is because each scam has
the potential to make crooks decent money because an escrow
company is only used to safeguard larger transactions. If
you want to play it safe, use Escrow.com or no one at all.
Of course there are a lot of other scams out there but we
have touched base on the ones used most often thus far.
Look, if someone is offering you something that is too good
to be true or is trying to go around the normal procedures
established by Ebay to help safeguard their online auctions,
then be very cautious. If you want to avoid the Ebay scams,
avoid these situations and don't let greed tempt you to do
something that your gut is telling you is wrong.
Resources Box:
Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran
and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction
Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources
that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step
system shows even users with little or no business experience how they
too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is
provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice
provided to you by any health care or other professional or
organization.
