Buyers and Sellers: How to Avoid Being Scammed on Ebay

For those of you who don’t know, I am doing a series of posts sharing my secret tips and tricks on how to get the most out of Ebay.  You can read all of the Ebay-related posts here.

Ebay is very buyer-oriented, so there are many ways to protect yourself.  On the other hand, sellers have to fend for themselves.  Sometimes, to catch a crook/thief/scammer, you have to think like a crook/thief/scammer.  

Tips to protect yourself as a buyer:

• Always pay through Paypal, preferably with a points earning credit card.

• Always look at the seller’s feedback score and percentage.  If it is less than 10, I would be worried.  I would avoid sellers with 0 feedback.

• Avoid buying expensive items from sellers with no or low feedback.

• Refrain from buying items from overseas unless the seller has a good reputation and feedback score.

• Be careful when buying gift cards online as it is easy to move funds from one gift card to another. 

• Make sure to read the item description and determine the shipping price before bidding.  Some items will say free shipping, but that is only for local pick-up items.

• Ask any/all questions before bidding.

• Avoid sending money to the seller outside of Ebay.

• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  Find another seller/item.

 

Tips to protect yourself as a seller:

• Ship and sell your own items.  Don’t use a drop shipper or sell items for other people you don’t know.

• Never ship an item before payment is received.  Accept Paypal payment on all items.  Never take a personal check as payment.

• Always ship items to the buyer’s confirmed address, not another address.

• Starting out, ship only domestically and avoid shipping internationally.

• Always insure anything you wouldn’t want to lose.  I insure everything over $50.  UPS provides $100 of insurance for free on every package.

• Always get USPS Delivery Confirmation on every item shipped through USPS.  For items over $250, get USPS Signature Confirmation.  If there is no proof that the package was delivered, the buyer can file a claim with Paypal and get all their money back.

• If you sell electronics, make sure to take pictures of the serial numbers.  Some buyers will buy a working item, switch it with a broken item, and return it to you, expecting a full refund.  You can verify serial numbers on the items you receive back.

• Do not conduct business with buyers outside of Ebay.  Never accept deals to end items early.

• Always use common sense.  If something is fishy, don’t fall for the bait!

 

Here is an email I received that is a potential scam. The bold words are red flags :

My name is Sandra from Canada and I am a team leader for a small Ebay selling team. I work with a supplier from Hong Kong. All products are authentic and ship worldwide accept for a few different countries that you will see listed in the product description sheets and in other documentation. How my process works is simple:

I send you out a tip sheet that was written by the supplier to follow in all listings to protect your account. We do our best to help you follow ebay policies but your account is your responsibility. I also attach an order sheet sample (you will need this in the near future)

Once I receive an email back from you saying you would like to start and have read the tip sheet and this email carefully, I will email you your first item description and watermarked pictures.

After you list your items, you will let me know so I can check them.

You will need to send me your filled in confirmed orders sheet and payment via paypal at the end of everyday by 10pm EST. Paypal payment are sent (sold price minus your commission) to my paypal account. These payments are marked as goods to protect you and me.

When a listing ends you will need to contact me to see if you can re-list that item.

I will email you tracking numbers for all orders within 2-3 business days after the order is made unless otherwise stated. We don’t ship orders on weekends although you are free to list over the weekend.

The reason this email looks like a scam is that the items might never be shipped to the buyer or the tracking number might be fake.  For example, you get $10,000 in sales, keep 10% for yourself, and send $9,000 to Sandra.  If your buyers say they never got the items, you are responsible for the $10,000 in sales you made from your Ebay account.  Good luck getting Sandra to refund your Paypal payment.  People from Canada and Hong Kong can have their own Ebay selling accounts, so it looks really suspicious that they want to use your account.  Use your best judgement.

If you have any other tips, let me know in the comments and I will add them to the list.  If you live in Orange County, CA and want me to sell your stuff on Ebay, please send me an email.