Warnings and things to watch for

libra10

Watch out for those selling 'genuine' make phone covers. My son has just had fakes delivered in response to one of these scams.

RandallnHopkirk

One classic scam which can seriously affect the unwary but which seems to not have been mentioned is the fake escrow site.

For those not familiar with escrow, this is a means by which a third party receives funds from the buyer and holds them on behalf of the seller until the buyer confirms receipt of the goods. If all goes well the escrow provider releases the funds to the seller. If there's a problem the escrow provider arbitrates. The idea is that the seller is protected from non-payment and the buyer is protected against non-receipt of goods. This however relies on the escrow provider being genuine.

So here's the scam. A fraudster creates an authentic looking escrow site with a genuine sounding URL. They target sellers offering high value items which are easily re-sold - plasma TVs being a good example. The seller of course never sees the funds and when chasing the escrow provider finds that the trail ends abruptly. It's a big problem.

How to protect yourself? Well, as a seller don't even contemplate accepting escrow from a provider you haven't heard of and you don't know to be genuine - however slick and professional the website looks.

Secondly, fake sites are being set up all the time, mostly by the same group of people and for this reason they all closely resemble one another - copy and paste being the easiest route for the scammer to take. Whilst the look and feel, colours, etc. may vary, the content and text will probably be identical. So if you have suspicions about a site, copy a block of text from, for example, their terms and conditions and put it into a search engine. If you find lots of other similar sites with identical text you're onto a scammer. Genuine escrow sites write their own Ts&Cs, they don't copy and paste from other sites!

System

possibly depends on the auction, Paypal or the credit card company won;t do anything if he paid for what was advertised.

System

Re DVDs from Japan, these are Region 2, not Region 0

twins_2_Be

I don't quite understand the "bidding on a link phone scam". ??? ???

Is that why some items are listed as "You are bidding on a WHATEVER", which sounds like it is stating the obvious but maybe it is for this reason.

I do realise that I will check for the work LINK in the description from now on.

System

I have been using ebay and Paypal for some time, and unfortunatley have learned sone of these lessons the hard way. Here are my tips to new ebay buyers and sellers:

Never agree to sell the item outside of the auction, even if the price is more than you expected. You will have no comeback to ebay if the sale goes pearshaped.

Never sell the item if you receive a payment from Paypal from another email address other then the original buyers - ie dont fall for the Im going to get my dad/sister/friend to pay for it- trick.

Always make sure you post the item to the address shown on the paypal receipt. ie dont except emails that say - I just moved, can you send it here instead..

Always post the item using some kind of tracking so you can prove the item was sent if you experience non payment.

I have to admit :-[ :-[ I have deep reservations about Paypal security and suspect that A LOT of paypal accounts are being hacked for illegal payment use. Think Im exagerating? Look at the login for your paypal account. Username and password. Thats it. Bearing in mind that your credit/debit card is linked to this account it is very easy for key logging programs to record and send this information on to other 3rd parties.
This is extremely common at the moment, and although a buyer receives some protection from his credit card company, a seller is far more at risk excepting payments this way. If you do get ripped off - you can go to paypal for help right? Not so easy, I found paypal unhelpful and unwilling you offer compensation unless the sale is absolutely watertight. Even then its only £250. Still not convinced go to paypalsucks.com for lots of horror stories from buyers, sellers and ex-employees.
PAYPAL IS THERE A BETTER WAY??

sally_pearson

If bidding on expensive items I always check the feedback and look at what the items were. If they are similer to what I am buying and the feedback is good on it then I am happier about buying it. Just because they have good feedback and have sold many items doesn't mean that the larger, more expensive items will be up to much.
And, always trust your gut.

System

Just bid and won for 6 o2 sim cards - i received an e-mail attachment with a link to the o2 website. Cheapest sim i can see is £9.99 - for one!!! Am i missing something or is this a scam??????

robnye

some people are only selling the link, which tends to be freely available if you search for it.

also some people ares till selling the link even theough the offer has finised for now.... but O2 do repeat this offer ie sim cards for 99p, max 6 per person/house/ccard,

so hold onto the link and check it every now and then

System

I accept PayPal, and I also request buyers add 4% to the auction, which is stated at least three times in the auction, at checkout and in winning notification emails from eBay. More than half the buyers pay me without the 4% and in most cases I request the extra to complete the sale, pointing out this detail is listed in the auction.

This makes me realise how many buyers don't read everything on the auction page. I assume most look at the title, a little of the description and perhaps postage costs.

I offer PayPal as an option, not as the only payment method, and ideally I would not accept them at all, but buyers prefer to use it, so I retain is as an option, if they wish to pay the extra.

I also accept NoChex, a cheaper, UK based alternative to PayPal, who now accept credit card payments too. PayPal charge me 3.4% + £0.20, whereas NoChex charge 2.6% + £20.

Although I also get charged through NoChex, it is a lot cheaper, quicker to withdraw and UK based, so I do not ask for 4%. Strangely though, I still receive about four times the amount of PayPal payments with 4% than I do NoChex, for the same amount, without the 4%.

I would advise buyers to read all the details of the auction, product information, payment options and postage charges before making a bid. Also always, without fail, checkout their feedback and view some of their recent auctions and the feedback of those who have left feedback for them too!