• ..





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 scam, and how to avoid them, them or



you quickly join the ranks of those who have lost



their money to eBay scams. 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 scams 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 scam that buyers use is the



bidding scam. This type of scam 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withdrawn, leaving the low bid as the winning bid.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 scam 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