When hot new products hit the market it is sure to attract new eBayers who do not know the signs that they will never see their purchase or their money ever again!

These days it is becoming more and more prevalent as more and more new people join eBay.  Soon eBay will cross the 250,000,000 user mark, that is a Quarter of a Billion registered users.  There are just over 1 Billion People on the internet and more and more logging on for the first time ever.  This is due to cheaper computers, cheaper internet, and older and younger buyers getting the courage after all these years to finally log on and check out the top sites on the net- and up in those rankings in curiosity is eBay.  Everyone can walk into Wal-Mart or Target, but eBay is something everyone talks about but you can only go visit it through a computer.  So for all you new people out there listen up.

Credibility of an online seller has NOTHING to do with feedback!  Credibility of a seller has NOTHING to do with how much they have for sale!   Credibility of a seller has NOTHING to do with how long they have been a registered user!  

Here is why those above do NOT Matter!

Feedback can be inflated by purchasing items first from buddies who are scammers, or from $.01 eBook auctions so an investment of say $5.00 gets you 500 feedback, looks good but does it mean anything.  Also, someone who had their account hijacked (they fell for an email from someone that said login here and they entered the username and password and WA LA I have an eBay account to list with history and feedback)
Hijackers are always using Turbo Lister – Why? Because you can make template off line with products and launch 1, 10 or 10,000 at one time.  They can steal an account and run the same listings over and over again.
See #1, because if someone never logs into their account, and they have been around since 1996, then they would be one of the orginal eBay users and they may look credible, but once again some who does not check their account EVERY day is a potential to hijacking.
 

Trust and safety can be boiled down to a few simple questions.

How many items has this person sold in the past?
How often does this person sell that many items?
How realistic is the price of the items listed?
How long are the listings running for?
Do they put their email or phone number in the auction and ask you NOT to write to them through eBay messages?
So they not want an auction to run a full duration of 7 days?
 

So lets answer these questions and what they mean to you!

How many items has this person sold in the past?
This is usually a dead giveaway, most of these new scammers have sold nothing and no history selling on eBay.  They bought eBooks for $.01 and they they are up and running scamming.
 

How often does this person sell that many items?
So lets say they sell items in the past, like 10 or 20 at a time and they are things from around the house.  Why is it now when you are looking for a new car, boat or other expensive item they have them all and they are all the cheapest on eBay?
 

How realistic is the price of the items listed?  See Above- no one is that angry at an ex to throw money away! No one is that philanthropic to want to see it go to a better home.  If the good is too good to pass up- pass it up unless they are willing to meet you in person
 

How long are the listings running for?

No seller in their right mind is going to list all of their items for 1 day when they can do it for 7 days for the same price.  The only exceptions to this are hot items when they are released like i-phone, x-box, Playstation, Elmo etc.  Why is this, simply because a maybe 10 million people check eBay every day, and if I remember right eBay says they get around 80 million unique visitors a week, and the reason you want to run auction for 10 days is because you can cover 2 weekends and eBay has estimated that occasional users check every 2 week bring unique visitors up to around 120 million.  Now would you want to run a classified ad in a news paper at full price for one day when you could have 1 week?  Would you advertise it at ½ price of everyone else? NO.  The reason this is done is simple, to avoid people like me who when I see it I immediately chat with a customer service rep at eBay and let them know. Trust and Safety does not mess around- they have suspended accounts right in front of my eyes in less than 5 minutes!  Having an auction run for 7 days with these tell tale signs is obvious and eBay on their end can tell if the email and personal information attached to it has been modified recently like the PayPal address in checkout.  Rarely does a hijacked account of eBay and PayPal done at the same time so the scammers have to change something then act quickly with 1 day auctions before they are caught.
 

Do they put their email or phone number in the auction and ask you NOT to write to them through eBay messages? 

This is a pretty simple way to make people feel secure- a phone number or email, the scam is however to get more people to buy it off eBay, or just send PayPal money or worse get a credit card all while scamming more people because the auction is still running!  Use eBay messages, but it from eBay and pay an invoice- never just send money randomly to a PayPal account.
 

Summary of what to do to protect yourself

Check the feedback history, not just the rating.  You can sort by from buyer, from seller, left for others- USE IT!
Check seller history. How long have they been registered?  How often do they buy? How often do they sell?  Does this seem out of ordinary?
Check prices on comparative items- which you already are or you would not see the cheapest price
Make sure the listings are running for 7 days- no one pays full price for an ad to run it at a fraction of the time.
If in doubt go out of your way to meet the seller- convince them that if you live in California, for such a good deal you are going to fly out to Boston, buy all of his product bring them back home and make a killing.  If they refuse to meet well you just lost out on the deal of the century!  Sending thousands of dollars to a complete stranger that you will never hear from again!
 

Finally Check to see if you are doing business with a business!  Are they licensed? Are they bonded? Are they insured? PayPal Confirmed? Square Trade Member?  If they are they should prove it with links to their About Me Page!