Be a Safer Seller on eBay

5 Tips to Avoid Online Auction Scams

Sellers, as well as buyers can fall victim to the eBay online auction scammers. As well as the better known phishing and Evil Twin scams, there are those who specifically target eBay sellers, and this is to highlight ways to help you avoid them.

1.    Items Not Received.  Some buyers will claim not to have received the item(s) sent to them, and demand a refund or replacement. Always use a carrier or service that uses a tracking system such as FedEx, UPS, DHL or similar. Pay a little extra at the Post Office for their tracking service. All these require a signature on delivery.

2.    Counterfeit Cheques and Money Orders. More of a problem when dealing with overseas customers. If you receive a Money Order you must cash it BEFORE you dispatch the goods, don't just pay it into your bank. Make sure you have the cash in your hand. This way the responsibility for the authenticity of the Money Order is the Post Office's or whoever cashed it - not yours.

With cheques you can take them to your bank and get them to contact the issuing bank to find out if it's good first. It may take 24 hours or so, but if they say it's OK and it later turns out not to be it's the banks' problem- not yours.

3.    Be Choosey Where You Sell.  If you sell internationally be careful into which countries you send your goods. Some countries are more prone to fraud than others, Russia, Thailand and Nigeria are three, but there are others. If in doubt don't sell there.

4.    Don't Use Your Home Address on eBay.  It's only a precaution but if you can, use a PO Box or similar for your Registered Address with eBay. Once you complete a transaction with someone they can find your address through the eBay system if they want. It has been known for a seller to find a previous buyer knocking at their front door to complain! It doesn't happen very often, and it's only a precaution but......

5.    Photographs and Insurance.  With high value items such as diamonds, watches, cameras, jewelry and the like, it is always advisable to take detailed photographs of the item(s) before taking out adequate insurance. It has been known for buyers to decide they don't really want the item when its been delivered, then deliberately break or scratch it in some way so they can demand a refund. If this happens, and a claim is made for insurance, then the insurance company will most likely investigate before paying out.

If the buyer did break or scratch the item, you will have photographic evidence that the item was fine when you shipped it.

These are just a few of the things to watch out for, and I hope they've been helpful. Thankfully these are not as common as you may think, but worth making note of anyway. The watchwords are common sense, so if you think someone is trying to pull a fast one don't deal with them.

There are many other little tips and tricks to be found in my blogs, so have a look round and see if there's anything else to help you. Good Selling!