Okay, we've all read countless reviews about feedback scams, mobile phone scams, shill bidding scams, "buy it now" scams asking for a "deposit via paypal" to secure the deal, postage scams where sellers charge £10 for a recycled box and a 1st class stamp and so on... come on, we're not stupid!

Most of these guides are not informative, they're just disgruntled moaners venting off steam, having stupidly believed something that is too good to be true really can be real! Well... learn to spot the scammers & avoid them - don't do what others do, fall for it and write a "guide" afterwards!

Postage Costs - I have written a simple, easy to follow guide on postage costs here: Selling fees & postage Costs, info for buyer & seller Frankly, anyone who buys an item and pays over the odds for postage is stupid, and by buying the item in the first place, they have AGREED to the postage costs!! So don't bloody moan about it afterwards!! If you are unsure about postage costs and what is reasonable, take a look at my guide.

Postage Insurance - Again, I have a simple & easy to follow guide here: Are you paying extra for nothing? UK postage using Royal Mail comes with STANDARD compensation up to £32. Recorded delivery is NOT insurance. If you require full compensation on higher value items, the seller should use Special Delivery, or Standard Parcels with the appropriate compensation value. Also, be aware of sellers asking you to add extra for insurance, when they're sending via Special Delivery - it's already insured!

Selling FREE information - Is basically a scam, where someone finds freely available information on the internet and and makes money from selling it! One example of this is the commonly "sold" information is: Reset your service / inspection light The example I have used in my guide is actually copied from my Owner's Handbook!! You will find all the same information on Car Forums... there's a forum online for almost every make & model of car in the UK... so don't pay for FREE information! Ebay did attempt to stop the sale of free information by not allowing the sale of e-mail links... so all the sellers do now is print off a copy and post it to you! (and by doing this, they can make even more money from the postage!!)

Over Priced Goods - Shop around!! That's basically all I can say!! I've purchased DVD box sets in Tesco along with my weekly shop for £29.99, then I've seen them on Play.com for £24.99... gutted, should have followed my own advice!! But then you see people who bid upwards of £35 for the same box set PLUS £5 postage on ebay!! WHY??? I thought I was lazy - but some people on here, bloody hell - shocks even me!! Another example is here: Seat Leon Cupra R Spoiler I have written this guide as I am fed up of seeing people getting ripped off by sellers! They advertise it as "rare & hard to find" blah blah blah... "Performance accessory" from ebay scammer: £55 including postage. Standard OEM part available from any Seat dealer: £20... don't just take it for granted that if it's on ebay, it's gotta be cheap!

Anyway, what about the scams that look genuine, from sellers with good feedback???

Well, in most cases, this will involve a "hijacked" account. One example of this has been ongoing for months...

This Seat Leon Cupra R has been for sale by scammers with zero feedback at least 5 times (that I know of!) and as you can see, it's for sale once again - same photo's, same description. Last week, it was for sale by a seemingly geniune seller, with a feedback score of 96% over 200+ transactions... As ebay sometimes remove auctions to protect us from scammers (they were VERY slow to remove the listings of this car - See my other guide about our safety on ebay!) once they are removed, they do not show up in the "completed listings" in a search. So, how do you know if it's a hijacked account?

It can be quite easy - things to look for include (but are not limited to):

Price - Shop around, search the classified ads, have a look at Parker's or Glass's Guide, or look at similar used car prices on manufacturers websites. This particular model has had "buy it now" figures between £3500 - £6000. The actual value of this car is around £10,000

Description - the biggest giveaway is the fact NONE of the vital information is given, nothing about previous owners, manufacturers waranty, V5 & service documents, MOT & Tax expiry and so on. Also, look at the wording... "Im an old fogey who likes his cars so it has never been messed with or hammered, just used for fun". Now then, what sort of "old fogey" would write that crap?

Photographs - Take a good look at the photo's. This example is parked half in, half out of a garage. The seller says " Sorry about the poor pics, but couldnt pull it out of the garage any further" Why not? If the seller really wants to make a sale, they'd take good, clear photographs from several angles... as they say, a picture speaks a thousand words! Look at the main photo. You'll see a pile of bricks to the right. Now look at the blured engine bay photo. If the car can't be moved, how come the pile of bricks has gone? My guess is, someone has walked past a garage, saw the car and took some quick photo's with a camera phone. As the car was obviously locked, there are no interior photo's & the engine bay photo is probably one found on "Google" somewhere.

Contact Details - DO NOT contact the seller in any way except through ebay, either through the "ask seller a question" or "contact seller". Do not, by any means contact the seller via a link or e-mail address in the description. Anyone who says you have to use their personal e-mail address as their ebay inbox is full is lying! I'm not the most organised person around, I'll be the first to admit that! I currently have over 200 messages in my ebay inbox and I've heard nothing from ebay to say my inbox is over limit - infact, I'm still sending & receiving messages without any problems at all!

Deposit - If the seller has an item which is "collection only" and they ask for a "small deposit via paypal to secure the deal", it's a scam! If you bid on an item and win, or buy an item using "buy it now", the deal is done! The seller has sold the item. The buyer has bought the item. That's it. Do NOT send any "non refundable deposit" via paypal. The deal is done through ebay. There is nothing to secure!  

One last thing to add, please take care when attending shows, boot sales, village fete's and so on... be very wary of people taking photo's of what you have on display - IT WILL PROBABLY END UP ON EBAY!!