Close

May 7, 2014

IT Purchasing Tips through eBay

While we have found eBay to be a very good source for computer and other IT hardware, we have run into several situations that we’d like to avoid in the future.

There apparently is a new type of scam involving newly created ebay accounts. The accounts are created in the same month of a listed item and claim to be from the US. The product they list is from Hong Kong and claims to have a month long shipping process.

The scam is that the poster is obviously fake, but if you purchase an item, you will never hear from them again. Per Ebay and PayPal policy, you cannot have any meaningful action performed against the fraudster, until the first estimated delivery date expires. As mentioned, this first delivery date is often a MONTH out after your purchase, so the fraudster can hold onto your money for that long.

We fell into that trap with a recent auction and it has taken weeks to get any type of serious attention paid to it from either eBay or Paypal. This appears to be a very large hole  in their fraud prevention system that they should really tighten up or face turning off newer users. (Tip to Ebay: If you haven’t heard back from the lister in a week, chances are they are a fraud!).

Our tips for successfully using eBay to avoid fraud:

  1. Check the lister’s credentials.  AVOID buying from any NEW  account or anyone that has had significant negative feedback.
  2. Avoid listings outside of your country.  Once again, this depends on the lister’s feedback rating.
  3. Do NOT bid on any listings that have extended ship dates.  Try for expedited or quick shipments.
  4. Avoid items that are shipped from other countries, other than where the lister is from.  (IE:  Warning sign would be the lister is from the US, but the item is from Hong Kong)
  5. Always check the fine print of a listing.  Make sure the product is actually in working order.  If it does not say, contact the lister and verify that it works.
  6. Be suspicious of listing items that are priced extremely lower than other items.  While this may be a seller looking to get rid of it, it also may be a scammer.  (Check the feedback rating).

In the age of advanced learning systems, Bayesian anti-spam systems and massive data mining, it is a shame that there are still major holes withing the eBay framework when there really should not be considering how long eBay has been in service.

If you have any additional tips, please let us know.

Recent Posts