What are the Common Pitfalls of Shopping on EBay?

by Jason Benton • March 2013 • Blog • Comments (0) • 151

Always educate yourself while shopping.

Like anything that’s free to use, EBay has undergone a lot of abuse throughout its nearly 18 years of existence. Users need to be aware of what these abuses are and how to navigate EBay without falling victim to the various scams that litter the website.

Being able to avoid these pitfalls has a lot to do with your experience level on EBay, but one might also say that luck favors the prepared.

Even if you just have a passing familiarity with EBay, yet you know the lingo and tactics of fraudulent sellers, you can spot a scam from a mile away. If you’re willing to do some research ahead of time and take a few notes you might just save yourself a lot of time and energy by avoiding buying a product that doesn’t exist, or transferring money to a “seller” that doesn’t sell much of anything.

If that happens, EBay will help reimburse you and cover your loss, and most banks also cover online transaction fraud. Though it does involve some work on your end, so you’d be better served to go into your shopping experience equipped to avoid these kinds of disasters.

Here are a few signs to look for that will help you avoid falling into a fraudulent or unforeseen transaction.

Payment Methods that Can’t Be Verified

– If a seller is asking for payment using anything other than PayPal or a Debit/Credit card, you’re almost certainly being swindled. Wire transfers, offshore bank accounts, money orders or e-checks are all payment methods to be completely avoided.

If a seller contacts you and you even see one of these words, you’re safe to write them off immediately. All that can come of a transaction like this is that you’ll lose money.

Likewise, if you’re selling a product and a buyer contacts you requesting this kind of payment method, feel free to ignore them.

Poor Seller Feedback

– Checking a seller’s feedback is something you should get in the habit of doing on a constant basis. Don’t just look at their overall positive percentage. Even if it’s high, do a little bit of digging and read the few negative reviews they might have.

Often times the negative reviews will be no fault of the seller, but it’s still a good idea to read these reviews, especially if the positive reviews are all short without a lot descriptiveness.

EBay Sniping

– There’s nothing you can do to identify this on your end, but it’s something you should be aware of when you bid on an item. EBay “snipers” are programs that bid on a product at the last possible second, therefore guaranteeing that you get the last crack at a product.

It might sound like cheating, but there’s no policy against it and EBay even identifies “sniping” as a strategy that can have nothing to do with an app. It just means that you wait until the last possible moment before you bid, which is all part of the game.

There’s even an entry for sniping in EBay’s glossary page: http://pages.ebay.com/help/account/glossary.html#S

It’s not something you should worry about, but it is a strategy and an aspect of EBay bidding that should at least be understood, if not utilized.

As-Is or Broken Items

– Again, this isn’t against policy on EBay, it’s just an unfortunate fact. A lot of people, particularly those who sell electronics, will sell as-is or broken items.
Usually the price will reflect that, but often times you’ll notice the price and not the “as-is” or “broken” description. Sometimes this description can be hard to spot, thus it’s always a good idea to read through the entire products description and look for the buzzwords.

If you buy a product that was described as broken and you just didn’t realize it, you’ll have a much more difficult time getting your money back and returning the product. There’s plenty of incentive to always read the descriptions thoroughly.

Conclusion

Arming yourself with a bit of information makes buying on EBay considerably safer for you. Yet with the amount of fraud and abuse that occurs on a private selling website, you’ll always have to deal with a certain level of risk and the potential that you might either lose money or end up with an unsatisfactory item.

Before you delve into the world of buying or selling on EBay, make sure you learn how to spot fraudulent users, products and payment methods, and overall how to “play” the site.

The shrewder you are, the more likely you are to get good deals and have a better return for the amount of time you spend on the site.

Jason Benton is a personal shopping assistant who loves hunting down a good bargain. Jason enjoys sharing his tips on shopping websites. Learn more about Cheap Sally coupons for saving on essential items.