Money orders take a long time about 60 days before action is taken and the post office will not go after crooks unless a very large amount of $$$ is taken.
Not all Credit Cards have policies favorable to the buyer. Most debit cards do not have buyer favorable policies. Some Credit Cards and most debit cards look at payment to an ebay seller using paypal as a "cash transfer" which you asked for and therefore no fraud has taken place. Also, this card should be dedicated only to online purchases so that it's easier to track any suspicious scammer activity.
C.O.D. means you have to PAY FIRST before opening the package which means the scammer could send you a large phone directory before you open the package.
Escrow site suggested by seller means the scammer can send you to a false escrow website which is a common fraud nowadays.
Escrow.com is the escrow site recommended that is reliable but you must read every detail of their policies and NEVER RELY ON ANY EMAIL OR PHONE CALL FROM THEM OR EBAY TO JUST SEND OUT THE MONEY SINCE THE SENDER OR CALLER WILL BE THE SCAMMER.
2. What are the signs of a scam seller? The signs can also be very weak and/or supporting signs of scamming. (has more than one choice as answers)
a) high priced luxury items or high consumer demand items in a 1-day, 3-day or BIN auction
b) auctions that end on a weekend
c) seller asks for payment by Western Union, other money wire transfer, direct deposit into their account, escrow suggested by seller
d) seller says to send payment to Europe (because he's on a business trip) when his ad lists him located in the US
e) seller uses an anonymous email like yahoo or hotmail
f) seller uses a P.O. Box or a Suite# or Mailboxes etc. type of address
g) seller's address, phone number and business name do not exactly match in the white or yellow pages phone directory or with the phone operator
h) seller's neighbors are surprised when you tell them the seller you're doing business with HAS a business
i) the government where the seller is located has no records of that seller paying taxes for their business
j) the government where the seller is located has no records of that seller having a business license to operate as a business within their locale
k) the seller's phone number is an answering machine or a cell phone number
l) you ask the neighbors what the seller's business is like and they say the seller has usually 0 to 3 people coming into his "business" each day and whose "shop" has 0 to virtually few items for sale.
m) seller tells you not to email to his email listed on ebay and instead email him at his "other" email address
n) seller will give you free s/h for a car or other heavy item from Europe
o) auction is pre-approval
p) auction & seller feedback are private
q) any items that are 3-digit or more $$$
r) seller has 0 or low feedback numbers
s) seller has 94% positive feedback and the negative feedbacks are serious
t) seller has 94% positive feedback and the negative feedbacks are minor
u) seller who has negative type comments in their positive feedback
v) seller who hasn't done business in the past 3 months
w) seller who sold lingerie in the past but now sells Plasma TV's & laptops & XBoxes & cars
x) seller whose feedback profile is mainly a buyer of low priced items or cooking recipes
y) seller whose feedback profile has many 0 & low feedback bidders
z) seller who has been a member for less than 2 months with very few sales
za) seller is in another country
zb) seller who has bad english
zc) category has 75% or more fraud
zd) has 13 pages of auctions and yet in the past sold very few items
ze) seller willing to end auction early as long as you pay him fast
zf) auctions with stock photos or photos copied from other sellers on ebay or other auctions OR retailer website OR manufacturer website
zg) Seller Terms Of Service and description details are in the picture.
zh) Seller lists his location as "The Indigo Island USA".
zi) You call up the seller which matches the business name/address/phone number in the white/yellow pages of the phone directory or phone operator, BUT when you call, the person who answers knows nothing about listing any auction on ebay
zj) seller in a far away state
zk) retail value of $2,000 brand item NEW this year model laptop computer for only $200 on ebay
zl) NEW this year designer item purse worth $500 is on ebay for only $200
zm) seller in auction ad and/or the person you're sending payment to is named "Dave" and yet his old FB from over 5 months ago says "Robert."
zn) you call up seller for info about payment and he says he knows nothing about the company; they just send him a check every month so that they can use his eBay account and/or paypal account.
zo) you receive your BRAND NEW item from the seller and the item comes in a brand new Amazon or other brand new merchant box all excellently packaged, complete with airbags for cushioning inside
zp) you call up the seller's neighbors and they all say he's lived there for a long time but they don't know much about him or his business
zq) New sellers or sellers who have been members for a long time, but not as active sellers
zr) Seller is emailing me a second chance offer or other type of email deal
zs) most or all of the other bidders have 0 or low feedback and are bidding to UNREALISTICALLY HIGH BIDS & sometimes have funny user names like DO-NOT-BID-DUMMY
zt)Seller emails you before the auction ends to cut a deal
zu)Auction ad says "MINT", "as is", you don't get a FULL view of the item in the pic
zv)Feedback on seller says, "bad experience. Seller is a dropshipper."
zw)Seller says payment/shipping is thru "UPS Third Party Escrow" and for you to expect an email from UPS once they've sent the item to UPS
zx)Seller emails you to send payment to Nigeria, Africa, Singapore, Indonesia, Romania, Andorra, Estonia, Russia, other Eastern Europe country
All of the above are the answers except t) & zj) & sometimes zs). A seller having a few Negative feedback is usually a sign of a seller who is honest about giving and receiving feedback. Sellers in faraway states are not higher scammer risks than scammers in your state, but let's face it, if the item & seller are faraway, it's harder to see them IN THE FLESH and tell whether the seller is telling the truth OVER AN ANONYMOUS INTERNET. ---they are a concern because if you have trouble with a transaction, it takes more time, effort, hassle, expensive long distance phone calls, perhaps expensive trips to the state to file in small claims court or to talk to law enforcement and the seller.
The reasons for all the choices except t) & zj) being the answers can be found on my website.
For e, f, while many sellers use anonymous emails & P.O. Boxes, be aware that these are high risks. How will you track the seller later if he's a scammer?
While many mom and pop businesses operate out of their homes & garages, if i'm going to send SERIOUS money to someone over the internet, they better be a LEGITIMATE BUSINESS meaning i) pay taxes and j) have a business license.
For k, if i want to get in touch with the seller, the SELLER BETTER BE THERE AND NOT HIDING FROM HIS CUSTOMERS.
For o, p, many high digit item sellers use preapproval and private auctions, but nowadays, most auctions like these are run by scammers to rip off buyers quickly without other ebayers' knowledge.
For q, r, 3 digit or more $$$ item sellers and 0 to low FB sellers are not automatically scammers, but because fraud is high with 3 or more $$$ items and because most FB scammers won't have many good FB's, these are signs to look out for.
For za), it's not that someone in another country will automatically be a scammer, but that there's high misrepresentation like counterfeits and high scammer fraud since a lot of third world scammers have corrupt easily bribed governments.
For zb) bad english, while many immigrants as well as many Americans in the US don't speak english well, bad english is a bad sign on ebay & other auction sites if there are any of the other scam hints present (such as payment request by Western Union.)
For zg, once auction ends, seller can put up another picture with different or no details.
For zk), this is one of those TOO-GOOD-TO-BE-TRUE-DEALs. Now, MANY items that don't even exist except on the evolving scammer's auction ad have deals that are much more believable and you still have to watch out for deals which look reasonable. But rule of thumb on TOO-GOOD-TO-BE-TRUE-DEALs, that's all they are, especially high-priced HCD items for bargain prices. STAY AWAY FROM THESE SCAM DEALS!!
For zl), some designer items may be cheaper if they're last year's or another past year's items. But most, especially NEW this year designer items are FAKE as in FAKIA!! It could be also that the item was given as a gift as many high priced items are and the seller threw away the receipt so sells it on ebay. But BEWARE if the seller has anymore of these!! Nobody just "receives as gifts" a large number of this year's RETAIL EXPENSIVE new designer purses as gifts!!
For zm), this is account hijacking!!
For zn), this is a type of account hijacking even though the real owner of the ebay account allows it. It's easy for any seller to open up their own account. Why would the seller need to use another ebayer's account? because the scammer's own account has all neg FB or he's been NARU'd!! Why does the original account holder allow the "sharing" of his account? because he's ignorant about the laws and/or is greedy (scammer bribed him with free "goodies" or $$) and/or doesn't know that he's being USED and that any fraudulent transactions occuring from that account will mean HE and not the scammer goes to jail!!
For zn), and if he allows the scammer to use his paypal account, this is Paypal Intermediary Agent Scam!!
For zo), BE SUSPICIOUS!! This will be more than likely a TRIANGULATION scam. In a secure place in a manila envelope, keep all evidence of:
so that if law enforcement comes after you, you can prove your innocence. And hopefully, you didn't pay with cash or cash-like payments otherwise you will have lost all your $$$'s.
For zp), the seller has been living there for years yet the neighbors know nothing about him? Then he must be hiding for some reason or so, like hiding from his past criminal activities? Don't deal with this type of scammer.
For zq), nonactive sellers are more likely to be scammers.
For zr), almost always a scam. Check & Verify his "Contact Info" carefully first before emailing him back. Make sure the "Contact Info" is exactly matched to ebay's database of info and the phone directory/phone operator. Look out for signs that the seller's account is not hijacked by a SCAMMER who has changed all the info on ebay and changed the seller's email or is SHARING seller's email. Look at seller's ads and ME page to see if the seller even regularly emails about or AVOIDS Second Chance Offers or other email offers.
For zs), many times a sign of bid shilling, but many times a sign of VIGILANTE BIDDING, especially if the bids are UNREALISTICALLY HIGH BIDS. VIGILANTE BIDDING is done by ebayers who have been ripped off by this seller or this kind of seller and so they bid unrealistically high amounts to warn other bidders off. Username is DO-NOT-BID-DUMMY obviously, the bidder(s) are telling you something!!!! If you see this, THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS TO THE VIGILANTE BIDDERS.
For zt), why would a seller cut an auction early to sell to you? Most NORMAL sellers want to get the highest $$'s possible and want a bidding war all the way to the end. Looks like you have a scammer who again, wants to deal FAST because they know they may be caught soon. You'll know for sure especially when the scammer asks you to send payment in an UNSAFE method like wire transfer, false escrow site, money transfer deposit, etc. AND DOESN'T WANT TO ACCEPT PAYPAL VIA YOUR BUYER-FAVORABLE CREDIT CARD OR DEBIT CARD OR WON'T ACCEPT ESCROW.COM.
For zu), mint these days is not always mint which is supposed to mean NEVER TOUCHED, PRISTINE CONDITION, NEVER SMELLY OR SMOKY. "AS IS" these days means "it's yours, sucker." Not getting a full view of the item? Once you receive it, you see why--the side you couldn't see in the pic has a hole on that side of the item.
For zv), Drop shipping means trouble, esp. for the buyer since the seller doesn't have the item in inventory in real time.
For zw), it's a scam by the scammer. UPS does not serve as an escrow service!! Remember, if the payment/shipping is not something you usually run into or isn't stated on ebay, be SUSPICIOUS. You may have run into a SCAMMER!!
For zx), any of those countries are usually bases for corrupt law enforcement/government as well as a mass of outright fraudsters & scammers. Sometimes, because of the publicity heat, they'll use other names. Romanians will use "Andorra". Nigerians will use "Africa." If you ever see any of these countries listed or any in Africa or Eastern Europe, DO NOT SEND OFF YOUR MONEY!!!! THEY ARE FOR SURE SCAMS!!!
