Have you ever head of the saying "If it's too good to be true, it probably is"?

Well that hold's up the same for eBay. 

When a popular item is selling (an example right now may be the iphone) you have to watch out for scammers if you wish to buy that popular item.  Here are some examples of what scammers may try and do:

• Write a normal title and description, possibly in in big letters.  Then put all the way at the bottom of the listing some kind of disclaimer, or information that the seller knows if buyer saw, he/she would change his mind about buying the item.  And seller puts the information there in the lowest font possible, and in light gray writing so you can barely see it.  and say something like ".......and buyer is responsible for reading FULL description of item".  Many people see this, but there are always a few who miss it.

Example:

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Title: SELLING APPLE IPHONE 16GB NO RESERVE

item description: EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS IN THE TITLE, APPLE IPHONE 16GB.  BID NOW.  NO RESERVE!!!

(in size 6 font, light gray writing): I will flip a coin and if it lands on heads, you will win the iphone, if it lands on tails, you will win a pair of iphone earbuds.  You are responsible for reading the full description of this item. 

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And of course he will lie and say it lands on tails, and you will receive the earbuds, most likely paying more than it's worth.

• Try to make the item description confusing and hard to read
• Bid on his own item with another "dummy" account (this is known as "shill bidding")
• Make the pictures blurry or hard to see
• Low bid price, but inflated shipping cost

Ways to identify and protect yourself:

• If you see a popular item selling and you scroll down (let's use the iphone as an example again) and you see one particular iphone that is $200 less than all the other phones selling.  That should raise suspicion right there.   
• If the item description is hard to read, ask the seller VERY clear questions, and ask as many as you feel you need.  If it still seems fishy, or you can't understand what the seller has told you, just don't bid on that item.
• If you see excessive bids from  the same seller, most likely that is their "dummy" account, or a friend's account of his/hers.  Don't bother with those because those people will just keep raising the bid to try and get you to pay top dollar for their item.
• If a picture is blurry, ask the seller if you could see more pictures of the item.  And tell him/her that his/her item is hard to see.  If the seller does not send you any clear pictures, or pictures at all, then I suggest you move on. 
• Now, this pointer doesnt really fit my guide title, however i thought it would be important to add because every once in a while, someone falls victim to this scam.  The seller will put his/her item up at a low price (will usually be "Buy It Now").  You may be tempted to immediately buy that item before someone else sees this great "deal", but don't proceed to any bid contract before reading the whole description. You will probably see that there is a really high inflated shipping price to go with it.  The shipping price most likely wont appear in the search results, which means you will have to click on the item and go serching through their item description to find it.  Most likely, it will be inflated and you would end up paying more than its worth.

Remember:

To always read the full title description before bidding.  Down to the last word.

Also, if you need to contact the seller, only contact him through eBay's message system ("Ask Seller A Question"), and no other way.  If the seller says he can only be contacted via his email address that he has listed, then do not go any further.   

And lastly, NEVER pay via MoneyGram, or Western Union.  These are not safe transactions when dealing with someone you dont know personally.   

So these are the top scams I see, pretty much daily.  Hopefully this has helped you be a little bit more careful when buying from sellers.  If this guide has been helpful, please vote yes!  If the you think i should add something, please email me.