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eBay Defenders

Sarah writes:
I have noticed that numerous complaints against fraudulent companies are being logged as being the fault of e-bay. Though there is more of a chance for fraud in the on-line world, I do not think that e-bay can take the blame for human nature.

eBay • Merchandise Not Received • Misrepresentation • eBay Motors • Shilling • Miscellaneous Complaints • Sellers Complaints • Defenders --- News • eBay: Where Recalled Items Live Forever • eBay Ignores Scam Victim • Class Action Against eBay • Sunday Times Reports Widespread Shill Bidding on eBay • Boston Man Charged with Hacking eBay • Consumers Question eBay's Security • Recalled Products Routinely Listed on eBay • eBay Faces Shilling Suit

I have now been "shopping" on e-bay for about six months, and I have not had any problems. Every item that I have paid for has arrived, and been in the condition described by the seller. I can offer two tips for others to avoid fraud.

1. Check out the feedback on the vendor. No, this is not a guaranteed way to find the crooks, but it does help identify the honest sellers. If a seller has over 1000 positive remarks, and no negatives, this is a good sign. If the item you want is being offered by a seller with low or no ratings, perhaps you should wait and buy from another seller, or pass on buying this time.

2. E-bay does offer escrow. Use it.

Ebbie, though defrauded, still finds the experience mostly positive:
I was also the victim of one of the largest frauds on ebay to date. There was a seller going by the name of r-auctions who was selling mass quantities of a Playstation game in very high demand at the time.

What was so ingenious about this scam was that they had a positive feedback rating of 30 (meaning they had engaged in legitimate buisness on purpose in order to provide a positive impression), they claimed to run a store in new york city named Mystic Treasures or something to that effect AND even had pictures of a storefront! The auction webdetails were very professionally done and looked completely legit.

They offered around 500 copies of these games at 30 dollars a pop, and also were selling some limited edition Barbies going for around 100-150. In total, they made off with over 10k and then simply vanished.

Nevertheless, for the large part my experiences with ebay have been positive. These well executed scams are also the miniscule minority, as usually when scams do occur they are transparant and have all the earmarks.

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