While eBay has a money-back guarantee to protect its buyers, getting involved in a scam is still a hassle you don’t want to deal with. Ebay is attracting new buyers everyday. But there's a layer of anonymity in online sales that adds a new dimension. Ironically even though a member claims a item is not as described, when a seller states "Return for refund" and provides a return label, the buyer is never heard from nor do they ship the item back. They may be trying to get you to complete a purchase off eBay, for example by paying cash or transferring money to an overseas account. One of the most easy scams to spot on eBay involves buyers trying to continue the sales transaction away from eBay. Then you get an email from the seller telling you that you've "won" or that a "bug" or "unknown problem" with eBay resulted in the listing being removed. Share best practices, tips, and insights. Thank you very much for your reply, I feel a lot better now. They may even contain phone numbers, but the numbers are fake. New ids can be generated bots if the buyer favored id has already been chosen by someone else. But new members do not have feedback since they are just starting out. Real offers will always lead back to an auction listing on the real eBay.com website and will also appear in the messages area of your My eBay account. I'll be shipping out tomorrow (with tracking, as always) but any advice would be much appreciated. Individuals tend to select a name that can be remembered. However, you learn that you can still complete the sale by following their directions. Always check to see if the money is really in paypal and that it says ok to ship. In one common scam, the scam artist/buyer … Scammers will never return nor will leave feedback. The scammer may even say they found you through eBay's Trading Assistant program. The reason sellers want you to wire money by Western Union or a bank check is that money sent this way is virtually unrecoverable and untraceable once you realize you've received nothing in return. Ask yourself if a buyer can hit buy it now for $320.00 and own the sneakers why would they offer more. Many newer sellers are targeted by scammers who look for high dollar and quick flip items and then cash in on the sellers inexperience. Employment scam. Again, this is a very simple scam. For example, the addresses for eBay France contain .fr ... we don't allow buyers and sellers to complete sales outside of eBay. Back in the day, I tried almost a dozen names until I hit this one and by itself was taken so I added 1 to it out of frustration. For this eBay scam, the seller will list a normal item, generally with a "buy now" option, and once you purchase it and send them the money, the scammer will intentionally botch your name. Buyer Fraud on eBay Buyer fraud isn't unique to eBay. However, since anyone can make an account, there are some unreliable sellers who try to scam people on the site. Always get tracking and check the tracking to see if it says delivered. I am 99.99% sure a scammer found you. If eBay has sent you any communication, you'll see it in your account on its site. Good luck with your eBay sales. Even if you had delivery confirmation and the message where the buyer asked - ebay will let the buyer win an Item Not Recieved dispute - because it was not shipped to the address on the payment. The two instances where some protection would be where a seller can view a buyer's feedback before entering into a transaction - a bid in a auction or best offer. Selling Items: Accept only the exact purchase price. Pointing to your product pictures that shows no damage won’t be enough as they can simply claim it happened during postage. Scammers trick innocent and trustworthy people into sending them money and merchandise. I am trying to prevent myself from responding to the "smelly sock" return. If the listing disappears, move on and find another one. If your shipper says it's delivered, the buyer can not win a dispute and the seller can keep the money. Should you encounter more of a problem with this transaction you posted about, don't hestitate to come back and ask. These are hard cases if they happen. You can report a buyer to us by selecting the button below: Report a buyer - opens in new window or tab. Whatever those directions are, don't do follow them. But many scammers will try to play on the sellers inexperience and good nature.to get a refund. Image by Theresa Chiechi © The Balance 2019. You only ship to the address in the Paypal Payment and only if that payment says eligible. A $500 total alone doesn't mean the seller is a scammer, but it is one sign to look out for. This video will discuss some of the worst and funniest eBay buyer scams and how you can avoid them as a seller. Am I over reacting, or has anyone else had issues with buyers like this? Scammers are usually after bigger fish than stuffed animals. Thanks! Hard to tell if they are telling the truth, but if they use the word feedback or talk about a partial refund, they are probably scammers. In all instances, come here first and ask if something about a buyer gets your spidey senses off. The online auction site launched in 1995, and scammers have used it ever since. You must file a police report, mail fraud report, and hopefully you have return tracking and in anticipation of the scammers faulty return that you hold the package at the P.O. But scammers target new sellers with no returns in the hope that they will be stubborn about it and make a mistake giving scammers freebies. Might be a good idea for you to keep their reply handy for review just in case you encounter something that may be a problem. Before you even contact a seller, look for negative reviews, a lack of a refund policy, missing or vague information, or requests for money orders, checks, or other third-party payment methods. Never provide confidential information, like banking details, inside an email message or click a link inside an email message if you don't know its origin. Hope that helps! You look at that Paypal Payment, if it is there. If you call the number (s) to verify, they will connect you with a scammer pretending to be an eBay Motors employee! For example, a seller might offer 10 computer monitors for $50 each, and advertise it as a one-day sale or blow out. But it’s also a target for scammers, who know how to spot their quarry. Real offers always have a few things in common: they'll be offers on items that you actually bid on, didn't win, and for which the listing is now complete and bidding closed. Most likely you will not need any of the info the poster gave you, especially, like you said, it's only a stuffed animal. Those buyers actualy have less protection via the eBay Buyer Protection policy. Apart from these two options, you're generally out of luck. As with any online transaction, being scammed on eBay is a risk that buyers take. Being asked to contact the seller before making a bid or purchasing steeply discounted items that are actually counterfeits are some ways scammers target buyers. We’ll give you the lowdown on their latest techniques and tactics in this week’s issue. ebay sends invoices and they can pay right through any winning notification of the transaction so it is not needed - the buyer will send an official looking email from paypal saying you've got cash ship the item. If it sounds too good to be true, it almost always is. Faulty/Damaged Item. Never work with any kind of "eBay agent" (or Escrow.com "agent" or PayPal "agent") to complete a transaction, no matter how professional and above-board it all sounds. My best advice is to not list high dollar ($50 or more) items until you have as much selling feedback as the dollar value of the item. These emails might request payment through eBay gift cards, iTunes, etc. First the userID and being a zero feedback member: 1.) You see the car and go to a mechanic they choose. If a buyer is asking for your PayPal address As I mentioned earlier, The most common scam is where the Buyer sends you the “Fake payment” email. This one is tricky because legitimate second-chance offers can come your way on eBay. For buyers. And now, on to the next most common eBay buyer scam: 2. MT, via email At eBay they claim to have “a dedicated seller protection team working around the clock to enforce policies and track problems before they start”. No returns gives the seller a false sense of security that the transaction is over - but ebay's policies trump yours. Electronics are a big one to watch out for, like auto and computer parts. Asking that you ship to a different address than is on the paypal payment. Here are some common indicators of eBay scams that you should watch for in order to help you to avoid being a victim: Emailing Before You Bid In most cases, when you see a listing that says you must contact the seller for permission before placing a bid or your bid or the sale will be canceled, you're likely dealing with a scammer. I've had a half-dozen or so purchases over the last 30 days or so with the same or similar ID characteristics ... also with no feedback and many had joined THAT DAY. Need to resolve an issue with a buyer or seller? The seller asks to be paid outside the app. The boards are all about solving problems, but it is just a small slice of ebay. Tell them to return for a refund. Claiming that they didn't get the item. What you're actually being led to do is talking to someone totally unrelated to eBay who will claim in a very professional and official-sounding way to be working for the company. Tell them to return for a refund. Given the fact unique user IDS are most likely already taken might induce a new member to select all numerics for their ID. Here are some common indicators of eBay scams that you should watch for in order to help you to avoid being a victim: In most cases, when you see a listing that says you must contact the seller for permission before placing a bid or your bid or the sale will be canceled, you're likely dealing with a scammer. Saving money by buying direct from China or other global manufacturing centers is tempting, and in most cases, this is a fine thing to do. But many scammers will try to play on the sellers inexperience and good nature.to get a refund. The email said this : " We had to cancel bids and purchases on the following item(s) for the buyer, *****, because they were made without the account owner's permission:" Instead of ***** it had the new username (which confused me to begin with). These peer exchanges are an amazing resource, especially since the the average U.S. home as more than 50 unused items worth $3,000 just lying around. Scams on transactions external to eBay. and have it witnessed by the postal worker as to what came back. This often involves the buyer asking whether they can send payment via check, money order (Western Union, Money Gram), wire transfer or third party escrow. If you've already fallen prey to one of these scams, your best bets are to work through buyer protection and, if necessary, a credit card dispute, assuming that the transaction went through eBay and you were wise enough to pay with a major credit card. Because most people return the package, the scammer can resell it. Could also be the new member just wants to make a purchase while at the same time continuing thinking about a more better fit ID for themselves. You should also generally be on the lookout for … Probably not. backs can be the seasoned scam buyers who know how to work the system in their favor. Under no circumstances do you ship to a different address. Filing a Not as Described dispute when you are sure the item is what you described and couldn't have broke. Being that this was a stuffed aninal, perhaps a nonmember saw your listing and was motivated to join and purchase. More to the point, the information that you get is rarely actually worth anything at all—which is why it's often being sold for peanuts. Scammers take advantage of this and send a package with the correct address, but the wrong name on the label. The buyers with the higher feed. eBay involves a lot of trust on behalf of the buyer and the seller, but it’s relatively easy for that trust to be exploited. Guest account's money is as good as regular user account's money. They need an employee or partner to sell cameras (or some other expensive product) for them. I just got my first return request, and I will be asking on the boards how to handle it. ... International eBay websites include letters that tell what country the site is associated with. One more. Do not choose the no returns option. A quick sale. Many just say to not list anything you can not afford to lose. Reading these boards will make you paranoid so try to relax as most transaction go smoothly. When you make an eBay purchase, pay by PayPal or by credit card. Just wanted to tell you that my user name was arbitrarily assigned to me by eBay and I'd be willing to bet they have done this to more than just me. You've been bidding on an auction item and suddenly it's no longer there. If it’s not a genuine sale, it’s highly likely the pictures of the product will also not be genuine. Either the listing is gone because eBay has suspended the seller, or the seller has canceled it in order to get you to trade with them offline, where they are not subject to eBay rules and oversight and no record exists of whatever you and the seller do in the transaction. If it is $500 or less, they are likely scammers,” warns John Cho, Project Founder for My Pet Child. Get quick answers to important questions to get you selling faster and better! {"modules":["unloadOptimization","bandwidthDetection"],"unloadOptimization":{"browsers":{"Firefox":true,"Chrome":true}},"bandwidthDetection":{"url":"https://ir.ebaystatic.com/cr/v/c1/thirtysevens.jpg","maxViews":4,"imgSize":37,"expiry":300000,"timeout":250}}. Pay attention to what the seller is selling, and check their other items for sale. If someone did really have the secret to astral projection with scientific research to prove it, would they be selling it on eBay? Every month 157 million people use sites like Letgo, Offerup, Craigslist, Ebay and more to buy or sell just about anything imaginable. There is no real protection for encountering a scammer on e$Bay. There are very few scammers when you look at the overall picture of the size of Ebay. Who it targets: Buyers and sellers. Asking for your paypal address so they can pay. Every e$Bay member started at zero feedback. Sellers that seem to be advertising large quantities of highly priced "untested" items are generally selling junk for the price of nonjunk—and getting away with it. Copyright © 1995-2021 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved. Look for red flags. in general. And here on the boards most of us posters can usually tell that the OP has a scammer in the first sentence....it starts with I sold a cell phone or laptop. They might ask for a certified check, electronic gift card, or a wire payment through … The good news is that the scams that tend to occur are generally easy to recognize. The best way to avoid the fake buyers is to build up your selling feedback by selling some inexpensive items before you list something expensive. You don't need to fear them any more than any other buyer. Meet other eBay community members who share your passions. Watch for red flags that might tell you to look for someone else to do business with. Have questions about a vehicle purchase or sale? Your desire for the impossible shouldn't trump your common sense. All the items purchased were small dollar amounts, less than $20, and were collectable-type items, coffee mugs, tshirts ... those type items. 1: The pictures. Buyer overpays for an item. In most cases, sellers either have a very poor feedback percentage for eBay or they have a feedback profile that is continually padded with numerous smaller sales or purchases; in many cases, the profile comes from transaction in which the buyer buys from and/or sells to themselves in another account in order to keep up their feedback percentage. I mean who couldn’t use a little extra money and it’s also good for the environment. Don't believe this one. Claiming a problem with the item. So far I've not had any problems at all. Actually you can do a lot to slow scammers down. How to report a buyer. Often ID's like you described are "guest" IDs and the buyer has not joined eBay, but is allowed to make a few purchases without joining. Scammers count on new sellers like you to scam them. You got good advice from the posters above. Known as phish emails or spoof emails, these messages look like they've come from eBay and ask you to do specific things. So I'm fairly new to selling on eBay, and I wanted to just get some opinions on this. Read these boards, to learn what problems others are having, but don't be parinoid. eBay scams update — latest tricks and security tactics: Internet Scambusters #772. eBay has revolutionized the way we buy and sell stuff, whether used or new. A popular scam involving cashier’s checks has been known to crop up in … Someone contacts you about a great new business opportunity. I'm ̶p̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶e̶ certain the lunatics have taken over the asylum. Scammers will use any available platform to trick innocent people out of their money or goods, and eBay is no exception. But when you see listings that offer "genuine" brand-name goods at 70, 80, or 90 percent off their retail cost, you're likely either getting low-priced counterfeits or you're simply getting nothing at all after you pay. The information, if it's worth anything, is generally already free. When you make contact, this "seller" will respond with an offer of some kind, and people who accept this offer will quickly be separated from their money, personal information, or worse. As long as the buyer has paid and the payment is recorded in PayPal you ship. How to Recognize Common eBay Scams Against Buyers, Requests to Work With Escrow, PayPal, or eBay Agents, Here's What You Can Do to Collect Money When an eBay Buyer Doesn't Pay, I Wire Transferred Money for an eBay Item that Never Came, How to Get Direct Help from eBay Customer Support, A Complete Guide to Bidding on eBay Auctions, New and Experienced eBay Sellers Beware of These Scams, 4 Signs Your eBay Account's Been Hijacked, Here Are Some Workarounds for eBay Auctions With Reserve Not Met, Making Sense of eBay Auctions With a "Reserve Price", 5 Common Reasons Behind Unexpected eBay Charges, A Suspended eBay Account Can be Reinstated in Some Cases, Calculate eBay and PayPal Fees Before You Sell, How Sellers Can Avoid Problem Buyers and Bad Situations on eBay, The Balance Small Business is part of the. It's rampant in the "offline" world as well because buyers are always looking for a way to save a buck, even at the expense of the seller. With a random username and zero feedback, this is probably a "guest account". The name is something similar to ble.eym.o6tyeipa (all letters have been substituted, but that's the general feel). Yes there are scammers, but it is not as bad as some make it out to be. How it works: A buyer or … If they open a SNAD dispute be prepared to pay the return shipping. Don't email before you bid, because if a transaction happens outside of eBay, you lose any protections to which you'd otherwise be entitled. How the transaction plays out remains to be seen. Claiming a problem with the item. If an eBay package is returned or refused, the seller is able to keep the money and the product–only to turn … Many scammers hope that you will make a mistake - so in all instances come here first. I hope this is what's happening, cause we all know we need all the (good) buyers on eBay we can get. If a buyers shows a pattern of leaving less than positive feedback or has revised feedback which states a similiar statement as having received a refund or where a seller responded to a buyer's feedback with some negative comments, a red flag should be raised. Hard to tell if they are telling the truth, but if they use the word feedback or talk about a partial refund, they are probably scammers. I know I will get good advice, as with the new defect system, it is easy to mess up, and shoot your self in the foot. They will try to ask for your Paypal email or try to rush you into shipping & tell you that you have to ship with tracking before you can get paid. eBay will never send you a phone number or initiate a phone call with you. Live and learn—and never make the same mistake again. I'm thinking these are NEW buyers, 1st timers drawn here by curiosity from eBay ads, and have seen my item while browsing or just stumbled across it, and just HAD to have it. A scammer's goal is to obtain items free or at a greatly reduced cost while at the same time hiding or masking their ploy. Instead, they mark it as wrongly delivered. If a buyer is asking you for your PayPal address or your email address, then there is a possibility that this Buyer is … You log in to your Paypal Account. The scammer has sent none. I just sold an item to a buyer with zero feedback and a name that looks like it was thought up by a bot or something. So much money can be made selling it on ebay... Low feedabck buyers or "0" Feedback buyers are not the one's to be worried about. This scam comes in a variety of forms, but it always involves super-secret and super-valuable information that will do something truly amazing: allow you to levitate and control the weather, get you all the free consumer electronics that you want without paying a dime, help you to earn six figures every month, give you the secret to losing 100 pounds in 100 days, and even more outlandish claims. If you've already attempted to contact the member but were unable to resolve the problem, you can open a case at the resolution center. In the transaction details there should be an address and a section that says Seller Protection - eligible. Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type. Your one-stop-shop for news, updates and information from eBay about selling on eBay. And if so, is there any way I can possisbly protect myself? Always be careful if a seller asks for your personal contact details, such as an email address or phone number. You'll typically see an as-is disclaimer somewhere in the listing. Every e $ Bay get started… Off-eBay contact or payment: eBay Messages is safest! Buyers and sellers to complete sales outside of eBay - `` return for a refund... And ask is sold exceptionally quickly ( say, less than … for! Highly likely the pictures of the worst and funniest eBay buyer scam: 2 out! 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