eBay Business Being Jeopardized By Scammers?
I got an email today from a close friend who has an online eBay business. She has had an eBay store for almost 5 years now and does very well. Within the last 3 days she has had12 emails from scammers about her auctions (wanting to pay her off eBay) and had three fraudulent purchases.
It looks like there are some new Nigerian scams except they have moved to eBay now. The scammers are purchasing high ticket items from stolen eBay accounts and paying from stolen Paypal accounts.
All of them had a “story” as to why the items need to be shipped to Nigeria or to addresses not on the paypal account. This is SCARY for eBay business owners.
I am wondering if any of you eBay business owners are experiencing the same issues?
I can see this being a huge problem for eBay sellers. Not only due to the amount of products that will be mailed and payments taken back from Paypal, but also it is going to create allot more work for eBay sellers if they have to keep relisting items because they are being bought from scammers.
With the Ebay seller fee’s continuing to increase, I am afraid that the eBay store owners are going to be loosing even more money due to these scammers. I am sure eBay is aware of these issues, however I also know it is impossible to catch them all before it is to late.
If you have an Ebay store or sell on eBay, please make sure you only ship to confirmed addresses and try to avoid any out of country transactions if possible. Most of the eBay scams involve out of country deals. Also, remember if someone emails you asking to purchase your items off eBay, it should raise a red flag!
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April 7th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Just a few weeks ago, my husband bought (or thought he bought) me a professional dslr camera on eBay. We really didn’t need to be spending that kind of money right now, but it was an excellent deal, and he wants me to be able to pursue my professional photography goals.
We paid for it through PayPal. The next morning, I received an e-mail from eBay informing me that it was a fraudulent seller and I needed to start the steps to ATTEMPT to get my money back! I was in tears; I was shaking; and I was scared to death that we had lost our money.
Thankfully, it worked out, our money was refunded. No, I still don’t have a professional camera, but thank goodness we didn’t lose that money!
My husband and I used to LOVE eBay. Now, we hardly ever buy anything there, because it is getting ruined by scammers, hackers, and people who try to make you think you are getting a good deal but then jack the shipping price way up. It’s just not what it used to be, and that’s sad.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
You may or may not be aware of this but if anyone is receiving suspicious Ebay emails, you may forward them to spoof@ebay.com
Just be very careful and be alert if a potential buyer is trying to complete a transaction outside the terms of service per Ebay. Potential fraudulent sales can be stopped if Sellers do not act on them.
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April 7th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
I sell sometimes on Ebay, so I found this post very interesting.
I will definitely watch out for it. You are right about the Ebay fees, and it’s already hard to make a profit because of all the fees. And now this.
Thanks for sharing.
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April 10th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Another tip, keep track of who is bidding on your items - look closely at their feedback. I have had a lot of problems with people buying things from me and then relisting for a higher price using my own words and pictures (which is against eBay TOS) Going back to their feedback, you can often times see that they buy items and resell them for their own profit and basically use your words and pictures (meaning they don’t have to do any of the work).
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