A lot of us buy or sell stuff on Ebay. Most of the time, it's a good source for bike parts, and other stuff.
There are still a lot of scams associated with Ebay. One problem is, if you get scammed, you may have little or no protection or help from Ebay!
You may think that an Ebay member with a proven track record may be 'safe', but scammers are recruiting these members to sell items for them, which will supposedly be dropped shipped.
You pay, the person that appears to be selling the stuff accepts your payment, takes his cut, and forwards the balance to the scammer.
What happens next, is NOTHING. You never get your stuff. You will have to go after the seller who innocently was the 'front' man in this mess, and you may or may not get the money back.
The scammers are very good at covering thier tracks.
Another common scam is the 'overseas' sale.
You may be selling a Bike, or other large item. Somebody contacts you and asks if you will ship it to Nigeria for your asking price, and accept a wire transfer, or money order for payment.
The Money order is mailed, you cash it, your bank credits your account, with the money order seemingly clearing, and you ship the item off.
WEEKS later, the money order turns out to be counterfeit, and you're screwed.
What they commonly do is also buy something they have no intention of actually ever taking posession of.
EXAMPLE.
I'm selling my '99 Bandit on Ebay. The reserve is $3000.
Mister 'X' contacts me, and will pay $5000 for the bike. Lovely, I say, I'll take the fools money!
A couple of things can happen, I could either deliver the bike to the shipping agent specified after I have the bogus check deposited, and seemingly cleared..(and never see the bike again)....or
the 'buyer' will ask if he can send me a check for above the sales amount, have me deposit the check, then mail or wire him the difference.
SO.....maybe he agreed to pay $5000 for my Bandit, he comes up with some BS story about why he needs to shuffle some money, and sends me a check/money order/wire transfer for $10000. I deposit it, the bank holds it for a couple of days, then credits it to my account.
I, in turn, then either mail a money order or do a wire transfer for the excess $5000. I may never get instructions for what to do with the bike.
Weeks later, the $10000 check/money order/wire transfer turns out to be fake, and I'm on the hook for the $5000 I sent to somebody that can't be traced.
It happens a lot, and you're screwed. They play on your greed, and usually aren't interested in whatever you're selling.
If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
If it sounds 'fishy', it is.
If anything doesn't add up....drop it!
PayPal, or a credit card are the only safe way to buy or sell with a remote party.
IF YOU SELL ON EBAY
Make sure you specify WHAT payments you will take, and WHICH countries you will ship to.
A lot of people will win the auction, then try to get you to accept a payment you didn't specify, or to a country you don't want to ship to.
BE SPECIFIC IN YOUR AD!
If you want to state, 'will not ship to Africa'...fine. You see a lot of people doing it.
Don't let the 'winner' talk you into a payment method you didn't specify in the ad.
If a potential buyer has '0' feedback, be suspicious, particularily if they have some 'creative' ideas about payment, and shipping.
IF YOU BUY ON EBAY
A high 'rating' is a start at thinning out sellers. Check the feedback, and see if anyone mentions problems with items that are like what you're bidding on. A '0' feedback rating is suspect.
Buying with PayPal or a Credit Card offers some protection.
Be careful. New 'Ebay' scams are popping up daily, but these are the ones you see most often.
Topic: EBay scams (Read 8935 times)