Scambusters – Seven of the commonest eBay scams and how to avoid them

eBay may be one of the most popular online marketplaces, but it’s not without problems. We are regularly contacted by people who have run into scams.

So, here is our Scambuster guide to the SEVEN commonest eBay cons we’ve come across and how you can avoid becoming a victim.  

If you’ve come across these or another kind of scam, get in touch and let our growing community know.

 

Nothing received

This is a common one. The buyer pays for the item and you can see the money is there in PayPal. You send of the item and … the buyer simply claims it didn’t turn up and claims the money back. 

How to avoid: Luckily, this is an easy one to get round. Make sure you always use postage that requires the recipient to sign on receipt.  If not, you have no proof that you sent it at all and PayPal and eBay will almost certainly side with the buyer who claims it never turned up. Result – you lose the item AND don’t get paid.

 

Damaged goods

This is another one we hear a lot, but is somewhat more elaborate. The buyer receives the goods but claims they are damaged. This happened to Leslie Thomson, who got in touch with us. 

In Leslie’s case, it doesn't appear so much to be a scam as the buyer damaging the item accidentally and then claiming it arrived like that so they could get their money back. 

If it’s a scam, the seller will just try for a refund. Your only real option here is to have kept photos of the item, including one of it carefully packed. If the claim is that it was damaged in the post then you can ask for a photo showing the damage. 

But you don’t have much choice but to ask for it to be returned and then to issue a refund. This is a pain, but it does negate any advantage to the scammer because they don’t actually gain anything.

 

Different returns

This is a more elaborate variation of the more common scam above. In this one, the seller gets hold of a damaged version of the item you are selling, or a fake, and damages it themselves. 

They claim your item arrived damaged and demand a refund. When you ask for a return, they send back the pre-damaged item and keep yours.

How to avoid: Again, keep a detailed photo record of your item, but also any serial numbers or uniquely identifying details. This scam is almost always carried out with high-value electronics items, such as phones, so keeping info should help you prove you have not received he same item back. Alternatively, you can insist when you sell that you don’t issue refunds.

 

Settle outside of eBay

The scammer here will offer to deal with you outside of eBay and probably offer immediate payment, perhaps even more than you are asking.  If you step outside of eBay to do business, you are asking for trouble. A whole word of things can go wrong. The buyer can claim they didn’t receive the item, they can blackmail you by saying they will give negative reviews, say the product wasn't the one you advertised. The list is endless.

How to avoid: No real need to spell this one out, is there?  Just don’t be tempted. Ever.

 

Buying a photo

We’ve heard of this and there have been mentions on social media, but we haven’t actually come across it ourselves.

The scam is brazen. The product is advertised and shown clearly in a photo. Usually it’s for something highly sought after, like a Macbook. You win the bidding and receive the item – a photograph of the item you thought you were buying!

How to avoid: This is such an obvious scam that in the cases we’ve seen reported, eBay has issued a refund.

The way to avoid it is to check the wording of the listing very carefully and if anything is suspicious or doubtful, get in touch with the seller. And, of course, check out their feedback.  If something smells fishy about the listing, it probably is. Avoid.

 

PayPal scam

You do the deal, sell the item and receive an email from PayPal telling you the buyer has transferred the money. You post off the item only to discover later that there’s no money in your account.  The PayPal email was a fake.

How to avoid: Always check your PayPal account and never rely solely on an email from PayPal, which is not difficult for a determined scammer to fake. Check too that the PayPal email doesn’t arrive before the eBay email letting you know of the sale. The eBay message should arrive first.

 

Collect not mail

You have to be brazen to carry out this scam, but people do it, believe it or not. 

You sell an item. But before it’s paid for and you can send it out, the buyer contacts you to say they will be in your area and so it would a good idea to drop by and pick up the item instead if you could deduct the postage. Seems OK. They pay the right amount and turn up to collect. They’ve paid, after all. 

They pick up the item and disappear – only to later claim that the item has not been received. 

And, as you had originally agreed through eBay to mail it, you have no proof that it has been received and no proof that you sent it – because you didn’t! So, they file for a refund, plus postage, and get to keep the item too.

How to avoid – If you do agree to collection, make sure there is written record of the arrangement and that the seller signs for it. A photo of the person with the item is a good precaution too. Much better still, don’t deviate from the original arrangement. Mail it.

So, be alert. 

And, of course, always check a buyer’s feedback – not only that left for them, but also what they have said about sellers. If they have a habit of leaving negative feedback, they may be a seller to avoid.  

Also, be wary of a lily-white account – a new one with no feedback good or bad. Anyone who has built up a bad reputation by scamming isn’t going to use the same account for long – they’ll set up another and start scamming over again.

If you’ve been the victim of eBay scams, or any other frauds you think other people should know about, get in touch with us here at A Spokesman Said.