Welcome to this edition of Adam Ginsberg's "Insiders" Newsletter. Each issue is designed to provide you with insights, tips, secrets and overall strategies on how you can build your online auctions business. I'm sure you love this issue! This week will show you, as a seller, how to avoid common eBay Scams.

How to Protect Yourself From Scams When SELLING on eBay!  

Did You Know...724,000 people use eBay to earn Part-Time and Full-Time Income? Will you be next?

In a recent Newsletter edition, I discussed how you can protect yourself from falling victim to some of the latest online scams. That issue receive an overwhelmingly positive response. As a matter of fact, it was the most popular newsletter for May. As such, I wanted to give you even more ammunition to protect yourself from online scammers.

Note: If you haven't had a chance to read May's Newsletters, you can find links to each issue at the top of this page. There's a wealth of information available for you to use to grow your online business!

Most scammers target unsuspecting buyers – where a buyer will pay for an item and never receive it…and then the buyer is out their hard earned money. With fraud being extremely low on eBay, the reality is that most people are never exposed to online fraud. Of course, the best way to protect yourself is by learning to detect a scam when it’s happening…as opposed to after it happens.

As a seller on ebay, it’s important to know what “scam buyers” are up to. Let's examine this more closely by answering some commonly asked questions:

1. "How can I prevent fake checks and money orders"?

Should you really accept a personal check from a stranger on the Internet? The answer is...YES! The reason is simple: there are some people who don’t have a credit card, or who feel uncomfortable buying online with a credit card. If you don’t accept payment by check, money order and cashier’s check you will lose out on these potential customers.

Also, t o protect yourself from someone who issues a bad check, include the following information in your written auction description:

“If paying by check, money order or cashiers check, orders will ship after the check clears. In some cases, this can take up to 2 weeks from receipt of payment”

TIP: If you are going to take a money order or cashier’s check from an international buyer, make sure the funds are processed with a ‘US Postal Money Order’.

You should only accept a personal check from a US resident (or the residency of the country in which you live). Most personal US checks will take just a few days to clear. However, personal checks from foreign countries can take up to 60 days to clear.

TIP: Never ship until the check clears!

Buyers asking for a discount AFTER they receive the item

From time to time, a buyer will make an effort to receive a partial refund AFTER they have paid for and received their item. Be aware that, in most cases, this is simply an attempt to scam (you) the seller.

As a general rule, if someone is completely dissatisfied with an item you should offer them a full refund. However, occasionally you’ll encounter someone who says “I want a discount AND I want to keep the item”. Consider this an attempt to scam.

Include your refund policy in your item description to cover all the bases:

“All sales final unless the item is not as described in the listing. If you believe the item is not as described, please me the details. Refunds are issued after the item has been returned. No partial refunds will be considered”.

2. What happens when the buyer claims: “I did not get the merchandise”

A great question...this is one of the one of the most common ways a buyer will try to scam you as a seller. Thankfully, this one is easily prevented.

TIP: You should NEVER ship an item to anyone if you don’t have tracking information regarding the shipment. In most cases this means you need to ship via UPS, Fedex, DHL, or USPS. If the merchandise is valued at $100+, make sure that a “signature is required” for all deliveries.

Another way to protect yourself is to only ship to “confirmed” PayPal accounts. A confirmed PayPal account means that the address for shipping is the same as the address on the credit card.

Once again, it’s very important that this information be included in your auction terms.

“We only ship to confirmed PayPal addresses” is all you really need to say in your listing.

3. “Can I buy your product directly from you and eliminate eBay?

This can be tempting. A prospect offers to buy your item directly, without seeing the eBay listing through to completion. Here’s the issues with this idea:

First, accepting an offer to sell an item listed on eBay outside of eBay is against eBay policy.

Second, these transactions are not protected by eBay.

As compelling as it may be to take the prospect up on his/her offer, I would encourage to not to do so.

4. Have you heard this before: “Refund My Money or I Will Leave NEGATIVE Feedback!”

I love eBay’s feedback system…most of the time. What I don’t like is when a buyer threatens to leave a negative feedback if they don’t get what they want. Some call this “feedback extortion.” To me, it seems like something a 3rd grade bully might try to do if you don’t give them what they want.

If this situation occurs, handle it with professionalism and do your best not to let your emotions get in the way. These situations can be quite frustrating. If the problem persists and you can’t resolve it from your own efforts engage Square Trade to help with dispute resolution.

http://www.squaretrade.com

If you’re having an issue with specific buyers, you can block them from bidding on your auctions. Here’s the link:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/block_bidders.html

A few more Internet Scams

The following scams can happen to eBay sellers, eBay buyers. And, they are not “eBay specific” issue – they can happen in all areas of e-commerce.

1. Phishing emails: In a recent newsletter I discussed the prevalence of “phishing emails”, whereby people can take control of your account if fall for the scam. As a reminder, neither eBay nor PayPal will ever ask for any personal identifying information in an email.

2. Nigerian Scam: Have you heard about this? Dateline (on NBC) recently dedicated an entire 60 minute show documenting this type of online fraud. In this situation you’ll receive an email from someone claiming to be “captured” or a “prisoner” or some other sob story. You’ll be asked to send a pre-determined amount of money to help out the victim…You’ll typically be promised a huge sum of money for helping out. Delete emails like this immediately.

3. Western Union Scam: Very often a Nigerian scam will involved Western Union. Sellers who fall for this and send off the item often times never receive the money. The good news is that eBay has made it “against eBay policy” to accept Western Union as a form of payment for successful auctions.

You can find an up-to-day list of scams that are doing the rounds on eBay by checking visiting:

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/forum.jspa?forumID=107

Until the next issue...

Knowing No Boundaries

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