eBay Bad Guys - Not All eBayers Wear White Hats!
You will have heard a lot about online fraud, it is the classic case of the difference between perceived risk and actual risk.
Fraud does take place on eBay but we have to get things in proportion.
It constitutes a tiny percentage of the total transactions carried out each day but, of course, if you are the victim you won't be caring about percentages! An analysis of deals that have gone wrong usually reveals that someone didn't follow the safe path but took a short cut or risk.
A common example of this is where the buyer sends a cheque and the seller delivers the goods before the cheque is cleared and guess what ! Remember if eBay or PayPal ( owned by eBay ) does not say something has happened - it hasn't happened.
Normally someone buys your item, you invoice them, they pay, PayPal tells you when they have the money, you send off the goods and you then, at some point, draw down the money into your bank account.
Occasionally the bad guys do their thing! Let me give you the details of something that actually happened to me recently.
I sold an item recently to a 'gentleman' and received an email, which appeared to be from PayPal, telling me that payment had been received and gave me an address to ship the goods to.
My item had been receiving bids in $2 increments and the winners last bid was $40! His final bid made me suspicious so I checked his feedback score - only two entries, both negative! I immediately checked my eBay account to find there was no record of payment having ever been received.
The phony PayPal email really looked the part - it even clicked through to the PayPal website! If you are just starting out on eBay you may be better off selling only to customers within your country.
There is nothing wrong with selling overseas, indeed you should think globally, it's just that sorting out problems when the sold item is thousands of miles away can be problematic.
Become familiar with eBay trading by concentrating on your home market then take on the world! You should dispatch the goods immediately your eBay/PayPal account tells you payment has been received - but only when they tell you.
If someone asks if they can pay by cheque tell them 'fine' but that they will have to wait until the cheque is cleared before you can get the stuff off to them.
If you trawl the web for long enough you will find someone somewhere that will have something bad to say about PayPal.
I and everyone in the business I know have found that PayPal offer a first class,simple to use and reliable service.
Sorry to repeat myself but if PayPal/eBay say you haven't been paid YOU HAVEN'T BEEN PAID! You must not let the threat of the actions of stupid or fraudulent people put you off making money by working online, obey the rules and you will find that it's quite safe out there! More than 50% of items listed on eBay do not sell - don't let yours be among them.
Fraud does take place on eBay but we have to get things in proportion.
It constitutes a tiny percentage of the total transactions carried out each day but, of course, if you are the victim you won't be caring about percentages! An analysis of deals that have gone wrong usually reveals that someone didn't follow the safe path but took a short cut or risk.
A common example of this is where the buyer sends a cheque and the seller delivers the goods before the cheque is cleared and guess what ! Remember if eBay or PayPal ( owned by eBay ) does not say something has happened - it hasn't happened.
Normally someone buys your item, you invoice them, they pay, PayPal tells you when they have the money, you send off the goods and you then, at some point, draw down the money into your bank account.
Occasionally the bad guys do their thing! Let me give you the details of something that actually happened to me recently.
I sold an item recently to a 'gentleman' and received an email, which appeared to be from PayPal, telling me that payment had been received and gave me an address to ship the goods to.
My item had been receiving bids in $2 increments and the winners last bid was $40! His final bid made me suspicious so I checked his feedback score - only two entries, both negative! I immediately checked my eBay account to find there was no record of payment having ever been received.
The phony PayPal email really looked the part - it even clicked through to the PayPal website! If you are just starting out on eBay you may be better off selling only to customers within your country.
There is nothing wrong with selling overseas, indeed you should think globally, it's just that sorting out problems when the sold item is thousands of miles away can be problematic.
Become familiar with eBay trading by concentrating on your home market then take on the world! You should dispatch the goods immediately your eBay/PayPal account tells you payment has been received - but only when they tell you.
If someone asks if they can pay by cheque tell them 'fine' but that they will have to wait until the cheque is cleared before you can get the stuff off to them.
If you trawl the web for long enough you will find someone somewhere that will have something bad to say about PayPal.
I and everyone in the business I know have found that PayPal offer a first class,simple to use and reliable service.
Sorry to repeat myself but if PayPal/eBay say you haven't been paid YOU HAVEN'T BEEN PAID! You must not let the threat of the actions of stupid or fraudulent people put you off making money by working online, obey the rules and you will find that it's quite safe out there! More than 50% of items listed on eBay do not sell - don't let yours be among them.
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