Are There Really Scams On eBay?
eBay, which was originally founded by Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb in 1995 before being renamed eBay in 1997, survived the dot com bubble when many other companies failed. eBay has gone on to become one of the largest and most successful ecommerce companies in the world.
However with all the success, eBay has attracted a lot of scammers, mostly because it hasn’t been very difficult for people to find ways to scam others on the eBay marketplace. So in case you are planning on making a little extra money selling online, here are just some of the scams you could run into as an eBay seller.
1. Receiving An Offer For More Than You Listed The Item For Originally
Sometimes when selling on eBay, a seller might set it up so that buyers can give an offer for the item and bid for it. If someone offers you a price that is more than what you had originally set as the price you were seeking, don’t go with that offer.
Usually they are offering more than what you originally asked for to try to get you to choose their offer over any other offers you received so they can tell you that they sent in their payment already even though they didn’t. Other times it might just be a mistake. This is a fairly common eBay scam that some sellers have been known to fall for, and as you can imagine it never ends well for them.
2. e-Check Scams
When people pay for the items they want to purchase through PayPal, one of the options they have is to pay with an e-check. The problem with this form of payment is that you don’t receive the money right away since you have to wait for the check to clear. It’s important to wait until the check clears before shipping the item to the listed address. You should get an email letting you know that the e-check has cleared.
Just like with printed checks, e-checks can be faked and this is a possible form of fraud that ends up with the seller not really selling anything because the check doesn’t clear, and if the items have already been shipped, the seller will be missing inventory but will not get the reward.
3. Scams Where The Buyer Asks The Seller If The Transaction Can Be Completed Outside eBay
On eBay it’s possible to encounter an eBay scam where the buyer asks the seller if the transaction can be completed outside eBay. The main problem with this is that it violates eBay’s terms and conditions for using their service so you can get in trouble for it.
The other reason is that the buyer knows that if they complete the transaction outside of eBay and without a third party player overseeing the transaction, they can get away with fraud easier and there is less likely to be any record of their fraudulent actions.
4.Scams Where The Buyer Asks The Seller To Ship The Items To A Different Address Than The One They Have Listed
On eBay, sometimes buyers will ask a seller to ship an item to a different address than the one they have listed. It is easy to get scammed this way, because eBay only protects the seller if they send an item to the location that is officially listed. Otherwise, the seller is completely on their own if a scam is attempted.
If a seller agrees and sends the items to a different address, the buyer can claim they were sent to the wrong place and get a refund for what they bought, which ultimately means the buyer got everything for free because they can also keep the item! In addition, that’s eBay’s policy so they are understanding of sellers being firm about the rules, even if buyers are upset that they can only have items sent to the address that is officially attached to their account.
5.Scams Where The Buyer Claims They Never Received The Items Even Though They Did
One of the most common eBay scams is when the buyer claims that they never received the item even when they did. In this case they can secretly keep the item that they lied about receiving AND they get a refund since they claimed they never received it.
Scams Happen Often On eBay
The unfortunate reality is that scams happen quite frequently on eBay. So much so, in fact, that common scams are listed on eBay’s own online community for buyers and sellers (and some of the scams I pointed out made it on their list!). eBay warns users about scams they may encounter because the system that eBay uses does not provide solutions to these problems.
In other words, the company can’t prevent these scams, so the best option left available is to warn sellers about them.
So How Can These Scams Be Prevented?
The simple answer is, they can be prevented if a system exists where every transaction must be verified by a network of thousands of distributed operators and a consensus must be reached. Thankfully, that system does exist already. Using blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies provides the extra security needed to prevent scams like these from occurring.
AllForCrypto is developing an ecommerce marketplace on a blockchain where shoppers can purchase items using cryptocurrencies. Anyone will be able to go to one place to find everything they need, and use their crypto assets to purchase the items they want. This next-generation ecommerce marketplace provides greater security to both buyers and sellers so nobody gets that terrible feeling that comes with the knowledge that a trick has been played online and that you are one of the victims.
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