Common eBay Scams to avoid
The Internet is a place where not everyone can be trusted, despite being in business for decades eBay is still not prone to scams. Sellers on eBay are not shielded entirely from fraudsters and the only way to know someone is not cheating on you is to keep yourself aware and updated. When you a new seller on eBay you have to save yourself from fraudulent buyers, being vulnerable the new sellers often fall prey to scams and end up losing money.
Protecting yourself when you are a new seller isn’t that hard as long as you are functioning in accordance with eBay’s guidelines. Most of the problems are faced by the sellers who strayed away from the rules and policies of eBay.
Let’s look at the most common traps on eBay:
Finishing the deal outside of eBay:
A buyer will approach you and offer to make the payment outside of eBay, the transaction will be very smooth and then suddenly they will get in touch with you afterward and complain. It can be a wrong eBay listing, defective product etc and then they will blackmail you into reimbursement of payment otherwise they will report your case and get you banned.
The reason these scammers like to pay outside of eBay is that because eBay will never help you if you do that and also the buyer can also threaten to have your account suspended for not following eBay’s rules.
Receiving damaged items:
This scam has been reported often, what the fraud buyers do is that they order an item and when it arrives they replace it with the one they already have but an old and broken version and ask for the refund. These fraudsters get the item as well as the money, for a broken item, it is a seller who is responsible until it reaches the buyer, in this scenario to save themselves from cheats the sellers should click photos and keep the model number of the item they are sending in order to save themselves from such traps.
The PayPal scam:
Very much similar to an item not received scam, in this case, the scammer will use his PayPal account to pay for the product and wait till it is delivered. When the product arrives the scammer will see if he is required to sign or not if the signature is required the scammer can’t do anything and if not the scammer will start a dispute with PayPal and make a claim that he did not receive the item. Without proof of delivery (which is a signature) for items worth $250 and above, it becomes impossible for the seller to prove that the item has been delivered. In this case, PayPal will take the funds out of seller’s account and return it to the buyer, it’s a big loss and will leave the seller in splits.
Misusing “Money back guarantee” policy:
There are loopholes in every policy, made initially to help save buyers from unscrupulous sellers. By claiming that the item is not as described on the listing and returning a completely different item from the one that was originally sent.
There are ways such as, clicking photos of the items you are sending which can save you from the wrath of such fraudster buyers.
Buyers requesting to Ship to a different address:
This scam occurs when the victim’s PayPal account is hacked and the hacker will of course not change the address. The reason being if he changes the address the real user will be notified, instead, the hacker will try to convince the seller to ship the item to a different address. The scammer might claim that the order is a gift for his friend or he is moving to a new address. It is not a good practice to deliver the item to an address which has not been changed on the PayPal account because if the fraud occurs the seller will be responsible. It is advised to stay away from such scammers and not fall into their trap.
Sometimes the fraud can be avoided with common sense and you even need to trust your instincts but the most effective way to avoid a fraud would be to follow the rules and guidance of eBay. Because in case you do get yourself in trouble, it will get easy to save yourself if you have moved according to the rulebook!
