Avoiding eBay scammers
Published May 21st, 2006
Never use money transfer systems such as Western Union or MoneyGram, which are intended only to be used by people who know each other well. If there are problems, it may be difficult to trace money sent through these companies.
• A good alternative is eBay’s own PayPal system which insures many purchases for up to £500 and enables payments to be tracked. For pricier items, consider the Escrow payment system, which holds the cash until the goods have been received.
• Always check out feedback to examine what goods were actually sold. If it involves huge numbers of low value items then be suspicious if they are now selling a very pricey product.
• Use the feedback system too. Reward good traders with good feedback and flag up shoddy service. Never take bad treatment lying down and follow up any complaints.
• If something is too good to be true it probably is. If a brand-new car normally costing £90,000 is on the net for £4,000 then something is definitely wrong.
• Be wary of schemes which involve you buying goods but then accepting and depositing “overpayment” cheques as part of complex transactions. These are scams. Their cheque to you will bounce, yours will not and you are most likely to lose your money.
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