Fraud Tip of the Day - October 9

7 Questions to ask yourself before bidding on eBay

Before you decide to participate in an eBay auction and make a bid on an item, you need to be on the lookout for online auction scam warning signs. You need to do this research before bidding because if you win, you're obligated to pay. If you notice something fishy about the auction or seller after winning it's too late because you have to uphold you end of the deal. Now if things go awry and your item fails to arrive or doesn't meet your expectations, you'll have to visit eBay's Resolution Center and follow their instructions and procedures.

eBay does everything it can to make everyone happy on both sides of a deal, but wouldn't it be nice to just avoid sketchy auctions altogether? Sadly, there's no sure fire way to identify scam auctions but you can certainly reduce the risks by asking yourself how the online auction holds up when you ask yourself these 7 questions:

1. Does the seller have feedback of any kind for selling? Negative feedback for deadbeat bidding could give you a solid clue as to how to treat this seller.
   
   
2. Did the auction only last a few days?
   
   
3. Were pictures included in the item's listing?
   
   
4. Was there a detailed description of the item?
   
   
5. Was the price far below fair value?
   
   
6. Is the seller offering unusual incentives such as free shipping or an inspection period?
   
   
7. Has this seller answered questions about the item in a helpful and timely manner?

Make sure and get a valid phone number for the seller. If a seller gives you a fake number contact the auction site's administrators immediately so that they can investigate. Valid phone numbers are usually required to place an item up for bid on eBay or other online auction websites so if the phone number is invalid you should be wary.

Verify the seller's name and address. If you get a bad feeling about an auction contact the online auction website administrators and that they can compare the name the seller wishes to have the check written out to, against the name on his Auction account.

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