Everything about E-bay seemed perfect: it had a nice shopping portal, a list of buyers that was almost complete, and a place where it was easy to shop online. It's too good to be true, in fact.
If this is the case, the buyer should be on red alert because if something on E-bay seems too good to be true, it probably is, and it may not even be worth the buyer's time and money.
There are a lot of frauds and scams on the Internet right now, and E-bay is no exception. So, it's important for buyers to know how to spot the first signs of fraud before it catches them. Here's what you need to do:
- People who shop online should pay attention to phishing emails. These are emails that tell subscribers that their account will be closed if they don't fill out the forms included in the email. Once given, strange things will happen, like identity theft.
- Buyers should be aware of sellers who only accept payments through wire transfers like Western Union. In fact, E-bay does not recommend that their buyers use wire transfer services. It's definitely a scam if the seller insists on it.
- Buyers should also be aware of sellers who let them pay the bid amount through wire transfers directly from the buyer's checking account. Worst of all, the seller says that the bank account given is Escrow's.
- Buyers should look for a section called "Feedback" on the seller's page. If a seller has a lot of feedback and almost half of it is negative, even if the seller has also given positive feedback, it is likely that a transaction with this seller will turn out to be a scam.
- Buyers should also be aware of prices that seem too good to be true. When items are priced way below what they should be, it's likely that fraud is about to happen.
- People who shop online should be wary of emails that claim to be from eBay and say that a certain seller is a good one. It's already strange because eBay doesn't send emails. Also, Ebay would not certify a seller even if they had a great track record of selling.
- Online shoppers should be wary of places that say they are an escrow service but ask for payments to be sent to a person instead of a business. This is definitely a scam.
So, every E-bay buyer needs to keep these tips in mind if they want to avoid possible scams. Safe is better than stupid.
