On eBay, there aren't that many scammers, but most of them are greedy. This means that they will always try to pull their scams on expensive things like cars and computers so that they can make a lot of money quickly. Since people don't buy these things very often, they might not know about the different scams.
Automobile Scams.
When it comes to cars, scammers will usually try to get you to send them money before you get the car. Some people aren't afraid to pay 50 or 25 percent of the money before the item is delivered, even if it's for a car and the payment method isn't very safe. They figure that the seller will have to give it to them if they want the rest of the money.
But a car never existed! It's not hard to find pictures of cars, and experienced scammers will have a whole collection of pictures of all kinds of cars. The seller just got $5,000 from you for nothing, and you can give them as much bad feedback as you want. They'll just go open a new eBay account and look for the next person to scam.
Even though it's not a full-on scam, you might find that the car does show up, but it doesn't live up to the description. This is a common problem with used car dealers, and it's nothing new. If this happens to you, open an eBay dispute and say that the item wasn't as described. You might get a partial refund.
Scams on computers.
If you bid on a computer at an auction but don't win, the seller may send you an email asking if you'd like to buy the same computer from their website.
This is not a good plan! You have no guarantee that the item will ever come, and you've given them your credit card information as well as your money.
There are sellers with only positive feedback who use this scam often, and since you won't be able to leave them any feedback on the transaction, their reputation will stay the same. If you tell eBay that you were scammed when you bought something outside of the site, they will tell you to go away and not do it again.
How to avoid being scammed.
There are many ways to avoid getting ripped off. First, if you're going to buy something expensive, make sure you know a lot about the seller. Make sure they've sold similar high-priced items before and haven't just sold a bunch of $10 items to boost their feedback rating. If you want to be even more careful, insist that the money be put in an escrow service (eBay recommends escrow.com; don't use any other service unless you're sure).
To be honest, it's usually not a good idea to use eBay to buy things like cars and computers. You can get them anywhere, and the discounts aren't that big any more. It's better to use eBay for things that are unique and hard to find elsewhere. In the next email, you'll get some advice on how to buy collectibles.
