Someone is using another person as a middleman.
Just imagine: you want to buy a fast and modern laptop but you
see that in retail stores and internet superstores it costs tons
of money. Where will you go? Right! You will connect to
Internet; start your favorite browser and type "
www.ebay.com".
You find a laptop there and you like a price, you think: "Okay.
It's very good deal! I will win this auction!" And you win.
You write to a seller and ask him how to pay. The seller is
reply that you should send a money order to him/her. Then you
send the money order and... nothing. You try to contact with the
seller, but nobody replies on your messages.
You use eBay to get seller's information. What a hell!? I sent
the money to another person!!! You call to the seller and find
that he doesn't know what eBay is. Someone used his credit card
to signup.
You find a phone number of a person who had received your money
order. You call to her and learn that she is just receiving
money orders on behalf of an overseas company.
She doesn't know what eBay is also. Heck! You want your money
back! But it's very problematic...
As I know it's impossible!
What do you learn from it?
Before bidding on an auction: - Look at the payments part of a
page. If a seller accepts money orders and cashiers' checks only
when it's a 95% scam. Feedback means almost nothing. I will
explain it later.
- Ask a seller for his/her phone number and make a call to be
sure that the seller is real person who is selling an item.
- If a seller is refused or avoiding to contact you via the
phone ask for the eBay escrow service. Use eBay escrow only! Do
not trust other companies.
- If you are paying a seller by
http://www.PayPal.com always
check that a seller name the same as on eBay. If different it's
95% scam.
- If you reached a seller by a phone and negotiated with him
about a payment method you can bid on the auction safely.
Some advanced knowledge:
I said early that feedback means nothing. Why?
Because some scam artists are buying eBay accounts with a high
feedback rating.
They are buying it from hackers who overtake legal users'
accounts and inactive for a long time period accounts. It's also
true for PayPal accounts.
And why you should trust eBay escrow services only? Because
rippers are running bogus escrow sites and try to rip you off.
Theirs site looks very fine. You will see a professional design
and great domain name. But... it's only fake, intended to take
your money and run.
Very often such services tell you to transfer money to an
overseas bank account or e-gold account.
Remember that a big part of scam artists simply don't do the
next step if you will ask for the eBay escrow or phone call. I
know it, because I'm the retired ripper.
About the author:
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