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This guide shows you how to avoid falling for the traps by scammers and dishonest sellers! eBay is the popular explosion for the first online auctioning company to really break through to the average person! It allowed everyone to buy AND sell anything online without having a store. Since its opening Ebay has already created a new form a new genre of online businesses known as Ebay Stores. Ebay has grown so popular lately that it unfortunately spawn a new form of dishonest con-artists that take advantage of Ebay buyers AND sellers!
Paypal was originally created and used as the most popular form of payment for transactions made on Ebay. Ever since Ebay bought out Paypal, Paypal's customer service and public reputation has gone down the drain. You can see the proof at www.paypalsucks.com Although most people have quit using Ebay and Paypal altogether because of bad experiences. I do believe that nobody should rule out the great and wonderful flexibilities of Ebay and Paypal. As long as you follow my simple instructions below, you will be able to enjoy being able to buy one-of-a-kind items on Ebay and use Paypal to send very fast payments anywhere in the world at very low rates, all from the comfort of your home! Ebay and Paypal do have many policies and rules to protect sellers and buyers but they certainly don't have the time to monitor every sale and transaction. It is your duty to arm yourself with knowledge and do business safely! The tips below will be separated into guides for buying and selling on Ebay as well as buying and selling with Paypal as the form of payment. Buying on Ebay - Follow these rules to buy anything safely on Ebay and protect yourself from paying for something other than what you expected. - Feedback - Look at the feedback rating. If it is low, don't trust it. Also, you should always look at a big seller's negative ratings. Just because they only have a 3% negative doesn't mean they won't cheat you. It's one thing for a company to have negative ratings from buyers that had impossible demands; it's totally different if you see hundreds of negative buyer feedback claiming never to have received the item. Beware that there are many Ebay sellers that create more than 1 account and buy from themselves to boost their own feedback record! - IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE - IT PROBABLY IS! - Make sure it's the item and not the accessory - so many buyers will end up buying an accessory because they were falsely led by the auction into thinking it was for the actual item. An example would be buying a car part instead of a car. - Pay attention to the shipping price! - Many buyers are tricked into buying $1 DVD's only to see the shipping price at checkout at $24.99! - Be wary of new sellers - these sellers don't have a proven feedback record and you should treat them as a fly-by-night seller hoping to cheat a couple buyers before getting kicked off Ebay. - CHECK OTHER SITES! - Don't buy anything on Ebay before you've looked up the item at Pricegrabber, Dealtime or Amazon! Buying from a reputable online store will many times cost you less and you will receive the item much sooner than buying from Ebay. - Read the fine print! Many dishonest sellers include TONS of fine print like "refurbished" or "not working" or "sold as is" (which usually means they are saying that they are not responsible if the item is broken) There are also many JERK sellers that put in fine print "a picture of" and then display a big picture of an expensive home speaker system and so the buyer pays for the item hoping to get a speaker system but instead receiving only a picture of it. - Do remember that you are not obligated BY LAW to buy anything. If you have found yourself cheated into winning an auction that you thought was for something else. SIMPLY DON'T PAY FOR IT! Paying with Paypal - These rules will apply to ALL transactions made with Paypal. These practices should be used always when making a payment with Paypal. - Always use a CREDIT CARD! CREDIT CARDS are REALISTICALLY the only form of protection a buyer can have. Ignore Paypal's claims of covering your purchases for up to $500 or whatever amount. Depending on Paypal to refund your money from a bad deal can take forever and in some cases, impossible. If you paid with a credit card, you can ask your credit card to give you back the money. - Always pick the type of payment as for Ebay goods or GOODS (non-ebay). NEVER pick "service" even if it is, because you can never ask for a refund for a service. Picking GOODS (non-ebay) gives you Paypal protection to a certain degree. - If you find yourself being cheated into buying a part that never came or something arrived and wasn't what you wanted, you have 30 days to call your credit card company and ask for your money back. A good tip to remember is that it's hard to dispute over the quality of the item. A good tip would be to tell the credit card company that your part never arrived or that you did not order it and someone stole your credit card number from somewhere. Credit card companies have great protection services. Selling on Ebay & Accepting Paypal payments - Buyers aren't the only ones vulnerable on Ebay. Sellers are often taken advantage of by buyers doing credit card chargebacks and more.
- AVOID SELLING to countries other than the US & Canada. Many stolen credit card purchases or hacked accounts are made from outside of the United States. You can make it a policy to sell to other countries ONLY if they have 100% feedback and a score of over 50. It is harsh to count out foreign buyers because they are often willing to pay more than US buyers for an item that isn't sold in their country.
- Do not sell to buyers with negative feedback or have a previous history of as a NPD (non-paying bidder). There is an option on Ebay to prevent NPB's from bidding on your auctions.
- Always wait for the check to clear! Do not send out the item until you have the money!
- Do not send to address other than the one listed! This is against Paypal policy and Paypal will not protect you should the buyer come to a dispute with you.
- Always use a tracking number. This is how Paypal verifies that you sent an item. If you DON'T use a tracking number, many dishonest buyers will file a claim with Paypal that they did not receive the item and demand a refund. And because you do not have a tracking number, you do not have proof of shipment and you will have to refund the buyer. - Always encourage use of Paypal payments via bank transfer or account transfer than a credit card. Many buyers often call their credit card companies after receiving the item and ask for their money back. Many many credit card companies are quick to protect their buyer, and Paypal will pull the money back out out of your account without your permission! Sometimes, they are just looking to steal the item without paying, other times they are disputing with you over the item. In any case, you can protect yourself by encourage discounts to those that pay with Paypal via Bank Transfer.
- ALWAYS ask for the buyer to list feedback before you put feedback for them. Automatically giving the buyer a positive rating can put you in in hole. Many sellers automatically give the buyer a positive rating for $10 transaction only to find the buyer blackmailing them afterwards and demanding free merchandise. Protect your feedback rating as best as you can by making the buyer leave feedback first. I hope this guide helped. Good luck Ebaying, have fun, and protect yourself! Learn about other online scams from the links below:
What is "phishing" and how to PROTECT YOURSELF - Arm yourself against phishing attacks with knowledge from this guide!
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