Avoiding Scams

Whist the majority of eBay sellers are legitimate businesses or honest individuals there are unfortunately some people who will try and rip you off. You can avoid these scammers if you are careful and follow some simple guidelines.

Price to good to be true? If an item is priced at a stupidly low price compared to its value then it may well be a scam - typical examples include high price camcorders worth over £2000 being sold for £300 buy it now. Often the sign of such a scam is text in the description telling you to email them for cheap buy it now deal. Never use email addresses listed in the description to contact sellers - legitimate sellers can always be contacted through the "ask seller a question" link at the top of the page.

Dodgy payment methods are another good indication that an auction may be a scam - the safest method of payment to use is Paypal. Never pay for good via western union transfer it is very easy for your money to be stolen with western union.

Unable to collect in person most legitimate sellers will allow you collect goods in person - this is a good idea for high value items as you not only avoid the chance of being ripped off but also avoid your item being damaged in the post.

Low feedback ratings often scammers will of opened a new ebay account or hacked the account of an inexperienced ebay user. These accounts will have low feedback scores and you should be more wary of buy from these sellers than sellers with higher scores. You should also checkout what kind of stuff the seller has been buying and selling before - for instance it is unlikely that a seller who has mainly been selling badges will suddenly switch to selling high price electronic goods. These sudden changes of behavior are normally the result of a hacked account.