10 Ways to Avoid Being Ripped Off on Auction Sites
It is important to remember that auction sites such as auction sites such as eBay are a lot like a marketplace. There will always be a dodgy guy in the corner, selling things that most people wouldn’t touch. The trouble is that, on the Internet, these people can be a little harder to spot. Here are ten tips to help you keep an eye out for the rip-off merchants.
- If it seems too good to be true, it probably is: This holds for everything
in life, but especially for auction sites such as eBay. Things that seem too cheap are usually too
cheap for a reason – it might be a complete scam, or the items might just be
of extremely poor quality. Investigate before you go further.
- Know the value of what you want to buy: There are people on auction sites such as eBay who regularly
bid such high prices for used cameras that they might as well have gone out and
bought them brand new. Check around for prices first.
- Only bid on real things: auction sites such as eBay has plenty of people who are trying to sell
all sorts of schemes and scams. It is never worth bidding for these, no matter
how cheap they might be.
- Don’t do anything outside auction sites such as eBay: Occasionally people will ask you to send
them money outside auction sites such as eBay, to avoid the fees auction sites such as eBay charges sellers. Any money you
send this way is entirely insecure – don’t do it.
- Be careful where you send payment: People may hack into others’ accounts,
and ask you to send payment to addresses that auction sites such as eBay has
not confirmed as belonging to that account – you might send your money and receive
nothing in return.
- Look out for sellers who suddenly change what they sell: Sellers can look
like they’ve made lots of transactions, when really they’ve never sold anything
of worth. If they suddenly start selling $1,000 televisions, steer clear – the
chances are they’re planning to run off with the money.
- Beware the shill bidder: If someone who doesn’t seem to have bought anything
before is constantly outbidding you on a certain item, be suspicious. It might
be a seller ‘shill bidding’ to force up his item’s price.
- Don’t use the seller’s escrow service: If an escrow service is recommended
to you by a seller, it could well be owned and run by them – and they’re quite
likely to keep your money and send you nothing.
- Pay electronically: You are more likely to be able to recover any losses
if you pay using a credit card instead of sending out cheques and money orders
– these low-tech payment methods can’t be tracked as easily.
- Buy from reputable sellers: Each seller has a number next to their name,
which is their feedback rating. The higher this rating, the more you can trust
them.
- On that last point, feedback ratings are the most important way that buyers and sellers can protect themselves on auction sites such as eBay – and you, as a buyer, have a rating too! Now that you won’t get ripped off, the next email will be all about your rating, and what you can do to make sure people know that you’re not going to rip them off either.
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