The purpose of this guide is to show how to buy safely on Ebay and avoid fraudulant listings and fraudulant sellers.

Recently, I have noticed quite a few of phony auctions popping up on ebay.  This is really sad as the Ebay buying  experience is really fun! I love buying on ebay and so far I have had no bad experiences.

It is easy to buy safely on ebay. as long as you know how to identify a fraudulant listing.

IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS!!

Here are some examples of potentially fraudulant auctions:

*****An auction that, for example, offers a BRAND NEW 2500.00 laptop for a BUY IT NOW price of  500.00 or less or that are ONE DAY AUCTIONS.

These auctions offer anything from expensive cameras to plasma tv's to laptops.  The scam here is that after the auction ends, the seller demands payment by some kind of wire transfer. Sometimes the seller demands a cashier check. Almost always the seller is based OUTSIDE OF THE US. In some rare cases, the seller will accept Paypal.

If you suspect the auction is fishy, always look at the SELLERS OTHER ITEMS first. If you see that there are quite a few newly listed one day auctions that offer super expensive items for absurdly low prices, then you can almost be sure that the auction is phony.

Next, look at the SELLER'S FEEDBACK.  Look at the other items he has sold recently to get an idea of what the seller is like and what kind of items he or she usually lists. If you notice for example that the seller usually lists old odds and ends for low prices and all then of a sudden has all of these BRAND NEW really expensive items listed in one day auctions, you can be sure that the new auctions are phony and that the seller's account has probably been hijacked.

The fact that the seller has 100% feedback means nothing. Also the fact that the seller may have a high feedback rating or even power seller status means nothing either as it is common for scammers to "hijack" the account of a seller that has a good reputation.

How to identify a Hijacked Account:

An account is hijacked when a scammer obtains the account holder's password and  logs into the account for the purpose of listing FRAUDULANT ONE DAY AUCTIONS. The scammer will usually post 20 to 50 one day auctions at once. The idea behind this is that it is hard for the real account holder or Ebay to notice the phony auctions in just 24 hours.

First, aways make sure that the location of the seller and the location of the auction match. Look under the heading "Meet The Seller" to see where he is based. (United States, Mexico, Germany, United Kingdom...etc). Then look to see if the information in the auction itself matches. For example, if the seller is based in the US but the auction only accepts GPS (british money) or EURO (Europiean money), you can be almost sure that the auction is phony and the account is hijacked.

Next, a scammer who has hijacked an account will not want you to direct any questions you might have about the item to the real account holder for fear of being caught. So the scammer will put email links in many places throughout the auction IN BIG BOLD LETTERS directing you to not to use the normal Ask A Question Button, but to use the special links contained in the auction. When asking a question, NEVER USE LINKS CONTAINED IN THE AUCTION. Only use the regular Ebay Ask A Question link to be sure that your question goes to the right person.

 So, if a seller says that the only way they will answer questions is to use the "special" link contained in the auction OR if the seller says that you must contact them at this special email address before bidding, you can almost be sure that the auction is phony and that the account has been hijacked.

SUMMARY:

1.) IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT IS!

2.) Avoid one day auctions where the seller is based in the US and the auction reqiures payment in other currancies.

3.) Avoid auctions where the seller has 10 to100 newly listed one day auctions.

4.) Avoid auctions that have BRAND NEW items that retail for thousands of dollars that have BUY IT NOW prices that are absurdly low.

5.) ALWAYS pay with PAYPAL.  NEVER PAY WITH WESTERN UNION OR ANY OTHER KIND OF WIRE TRANSFER. NEVER PAY BY RECHARGING SOMEONES PREPAID CREDIT CARD. Pay with Cashiers Check ONLY IF YOU KNOW YOUR SELLER.