10 Safety Tips For Buying On eBay eBay has become a household name for shoppers. A lot the buyerson eBay are not regular internet shoppers but they still shop oneBay. Such is the power of eBay giving simplicity of shoppingand top bargains. From time to time, there is some fraud on eBayabout fake fashion items, event tickets that do not exist, someexpensive electronic items that do not exist.
eBay does its best to intervene and resolve such disputes. As ashopper, you can follow these 10 safety tips to avoid beingconned.
1. Check the seller's feedback. Positive feedback rating of over95% is good. If there are many recent negative feedbacks, thenthis is not a good indication. Also, read all the negativefeedbacks. Are these negative feedbacks reasonable? What type ofresponse does the seller have for these feedbacks? Does theseller's defense sound reasonable? Sometimes new members who buyitems on eBay are paranoid and they leave a negative feedback ina haste so make sure if the seller has defended himself/ herselfin a reasonable manner. If there are too many complaints of thesame nature, then it is probably true.
2. The sellers must have some kind of identification orrecognition seal like Paypal verified, or Square trade or aPowerseller seal on the auctions. Such sellers are morereliable. This is especially a good check when you buying anexpensive item.
3. Ask seller a question before bidding on the item. Responsiblesellers reply promptly to questions. Also, if the selleractually has the item, he/ she maybe able to answer a validquestion otherwise not.
4. If you are buying something expensive, then get the contactinformation of the seller at
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQtZvbQQsofindtypeZ9. You have to login to youreBay account and send a request. You can get the seller'saddress and phone number. In doing this, your address and phonenumber will also be emailed to the seller.
5. The items must have pictures unless it is a service that issold on eBay. If there is no picture, then the items is probablynot there. Almost all sellers will put at least one picture ofthe item. Let's assume that the item is there but the seller hasbeen lazy in not putting the picture in the auction ad. Wouldyou like to deal with someone who is so careless? It just showsthat the item may not be in good condition, maybe defective orbroken.
6. Check description of the item. Research
other websites forthe same item. Some of the shopping websites to research wouldbe shopping.yahoo.com, overture.com and shopping.msn.com. Thesesites are adequate for researching items and get the descriptionthat you need. The eBay description should match itemdescription on other sites.
7. Research prices for the item on sale. If the item on sale isGucci handbags, then search for this model of handbag onshopping.yahoo.com. If it retails for $800 on Yahoo and selleron eBay is selling a brand new one for $90, then this item maynot be authentic! Large wholesaler are able to sell items foraround 50% of retail but something like an original Guccihandbag, it is unlikely that a seller would let go for $90because these items sell like crazy. Just a note on fraud items- a lot of fraud eBay occurs on fashion items. This is veryunfortunate and eBay has taken a lot of steps to eliminatefraud.
8. If the seller has not mentioned any shipping and handlingterms, then ask before bidding. There are many auction ads,where the seller mentions that shipping and handling willmentioned to the winning bidder. Surprisingly, there are bids onthat item! If you start bidding on the item, then it means thatyou agreed to the terms and condition of the sellers and thereis less room for you to dispute later so ask for the clearinstruction on shipping and handling.
9. Reliable sellers have clear description on their refundpolicy. If it is not there, then ask the seller for it. If theseller has no refund policy, then do not bid on the item. If thethere is no refund policy in the auction description, then makesure you get the refund policy in an email from the seller. Inthis way, you have a document of the refund policy.
10. Do a search for the sellers past items on eBay. Check to seeif the seller has sold similar items in the past. To search onthe past auctions, go to the Advanced Search page. Here click onthe items by seller link and type in the sellers ID and checkthe box for Include Completed listing. It is always good tocheck this especially if you are considering buying somethingexpensive.
About the author:
The author Guillermo Jalil owns several businesses includingeBay business and other internet businesses. For more Ebayshopping tips on how to find great bargains visithttp://www.startbuyingonebay.com. For tips on how to make on theinternet from multiple sources of income visithttp://www.internetandmoney.com.
