eBay Problems and eBay Scams

There are eBay problems and eBay scams.

Government regulation is one problem. Many countries prohibit certain items in the country. This is more of a problem for a buyer then a seller. The buyer could be buying something that is legal in the selling country, but illegal in the buying country.

Related to this problem are taxes, customs, and shipping rates. If the buyer and seller are in different countries, or perhaps even different continents, the shipping rates could be higher then what the item sold is worth. Customs and taxes could be added to the item as it enters the buyer’s country. To avoid these potential eBay problems many people will not buy an item if the seller lives in a different country.

eBay has a list of items that they do not allow to be auctioned. This list changes from time to time. As a seller you need to check this list to verify that what you plan to sell is not going against eBay rules.

Language can be an eBay problem. English is the language of the internet, but not everyone knows English. Thus your potential market is somewhat smaller.

Another of eBay problems involves the use of escrow services. Some buyers will request an escrow service be used for the transaction. eBay recommends that escrow.com be used for escrow services. If the buyer of your products insists that you use an escrow company that the buyer knows, say no. It is a good possibility that the buyers escrow company is a scam company and you will never receive your payment.

Sometimes a bidder will decide not to buy the item after being the winning bidder. Your best recourse against this buyer is to give them negative feedback. The seller can often get their listing fee and selling fees back from eBay by filing an unpaid item dispute with eBay

There are over 10 million eBay users. Most do not have problems with these eBay problems. However, there are several eBay scams to be aware of.

One scam is called the bidding scam. This eBay scam is done by someone controlling two eBay accounts. The scammer makes a low bid on your item from one account, and then uses the other account to make a high bid. Just before the auction closes the scammer cancels the high bid, leaving the seller stuck with accepting the low bid. You can avoid this scam by always using a reserve price when you set up your auction. With a reserve price the low bid will fail if it is below your reserve price.

Another eBay scam involves the payment method. eBay owns PayPal and recommends that you use PayPal to receive your payments. They will work with you to settle disputes when you use PayPal.

If you use some other payment method, such as a credit card, the buyer can tell the credit card company that he never received the item. It may be hard to work with your buyer’s credit card company to prove that you shipped it. Asking your delivery service to get a delivery conformation can help avoid this eBay scam.

If your buyer claims that the item was damaged or not the quality they expected and wants a refund you should consider giving the refund. However, do not issue the refund until you have received the item back.

Scammers may send you an email saying that your eBay account, or your PayPal account, needs to be updated. The email will have a link to a web page which asks you to verify your account information. These are scams. The web site is an eBay or PayPal look alike, but it is a scam site. They want your log in information so that they can rob your account.

PayPal and eBay will never send you an email that is not personally addressed to you by name, so the first thing to do when you receive such an email is to check if it is addressed to you. You can send any email you receive from eBay, PayPal, or scammers to eBay or PayPal and they will let you know whether or not the email is a scam.

Don’t let these potential problems and scams stop you from making a living from eBay or just having fun with it. Using your common sense and a reasonable amount of caution will avoid many of the eBay problems and eBay scams.

eBay Problems and eBay Scams is the third of four articles about making money with eBay. The other articles are eBay Live Auction, Using eBay To Make Money, and eBay Selling Tips

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