Auction
Scams

Auctions, such as Ebay or Yahoo, can be an easy place to get ripped off from if you don't know what to watch out for. While the majority of people involved in the auctions are good, trustworthy people, there are those just waiting to rip people off. I am going to tell you the types of scams and ways to try to avoid them. I have been auctioning for several years now and I have been fortunate enough to have never been ripped off, but I believe that is in part because I know what to watch for, which lessens your risk.

Shilling

This is a deceptive method where sellers bid on their own items, or have friends bid on them, in order to drive up the price on the item.

Ghost Auctions

Here you win an item, send the money to the seller, and you never hear from the seller again. He/she doesn't answer your emails, send your item, and many times the information, such as seller's telephone number, listed with the auctions, is invalid.

Fake Feedback Ratings

Feedback is an important part of auctioning. This is where people put comments as to how the transaction went for both seller and buyer. Reading the feedback of a seller can tell you a lot about how their transactions have been with other people. In fake feedback ratings, the person many times will put an item up for sale, bid on it using an alias, and then give themselves false positive feedback.

Receiving An Item That Is Less Than What Is Described

You receive an item that is not the way it was described in the auction.

Buyers Bidding On A Item With No Intention Of Paying For IT

A buyer will win a bid and refuse to complete the transaction by paying the seller.

Over Charging Shipping & Handling Fee's

While this isn't necessarily fraud, it can be deceptive. A seller will list an item extremely cheap but charge an outrageous amount for shipping and handling.

How To Protect Yourself

1)Read all of the terms of the auction and make sure you know what the different types of the auctions are, such as reserve, dutch, proxy.

2) If Shipping and Handling fee's are not listed, ask the seller what they are BEFORE you bid

3) Check the feedback. Read what complaints were given, if any, as well as how many. Check the neutral ones as well. Some sellers/buyers are afraid to give someone a negative feedback for fear of the person giving them retaliatory feedback, so instead they give a neutral one. If a persons positive feedback is less then 98%, be cautious and check the feedback thoroughly. Also see how many of the feedback is from unique users. If a lot of the feedback is from the same users, be cautious. A red flag that something is not right is if the person's feedback is private so you are unable to check it out. I will not bid on anyone's item's who hides their feedback.
If someone has 0 feedback but has been a member of the auction for awhile, be cautious. With new members who have 0 feedback, do a search and see how many items they are selling and be cautious if they are selling expensive items like computers, cars, electronics, etc.. If anyone, even someone with a good feedback record, is listing several expensive items, for a cheap price or free shipping and handling, and states they want the payment sent to a P.O Box, RUN from that auction! Once fraudulent sellers have their payment, which they often request to be a money order to a P.O. Box, they usually disappear, and they are extremely difficult to catch. Many work from foreign countries where law enforcement is not use to dealing with online crimes.

4) If an auction is listed as "Private", and you are unable to see the bids, be VERY cautious.

5)If the picture of the item is a standard picture off of a manufacturer's web site , rather than a homemade picture taken by the person themselves, or if the description of the item is limited, be cautious. If a person don't have the item they are putting up for bid, they many times will use a picture off of the manufacturer's web site and either give very little detail about the item, or the information will be a copy of what is on the manufacturer's web site describing the item.

6) Ask the seller for a telephone number and then check it out to see if it is valid. This should ALWAYS be done if you are bidding on a expensive item.

Next...Other Ways To Check Someone Out
Where To Go For Help If Scammed