The eBay Feed-Back Scam - Guide 2 of 6

eBay Traders need a good Feed-back reputation to be successful.

Feed-back is the comments both buyers and sellers leave on the transaction.  The better your feed-back reputation - which is divided into "Positive", "Neutral" and "Negative" - the more people will trust you as a buyer and seller. On the surface it's staightforward enough; but unscrupulous dealers manipulate their feed-back to gain trust before ripping off trusting buyers and sellers on high-end goods.

How They Do It

• Feed-back fraud.  A person will set up multiple eBay accounts, buying and selling items between his identities and leaving positive feed-back to make himself look trustworthy.
• Purchasing feed-back. eBay has cracked down on this but a simple search shows that it is still going on.  A buyer purchases a cheap item (approximately £1.00) in return for Positive feed-back to build up their rating. They do this for multiple purchases, building up their ratings quickly. Some sellers even market this as a way to gain feed-back. Additionally, sellers are also auctioning "How to" eBooks and CD's on how to gain a 100+ positive feed-back rating in just 7 days.
• Stealing feed-back.  It's not simply the feed-back that is stolen, though.  An unscrupulous dealer will hijack an account and use its good reputation to scam others.  This usually happens after someone has been tricked into entering their password at a counterfeit "eBay" site following a "*Phishing" email.

*Phishing is where you are lured to fake "eBay" sites inviting you to use your password to "enter" the fake site. The scammers then use your information to act fraudulently.

How To Avoid Being Scammed

One of the most important things you can do in any eBay transaction is to check the other party's feed-back rating.  Obviously, you should avoid doing business with anyone who has a large Negative or even Neutral feed-back rating.  These days however, you even need to delve beyond the positive feed-back rating, especially if it involves an expensive item.  These are the things you should look for:

• Check the feed-back ID's.  Where many from the same person?  If excessively so (more than 3 or 4 times in a row, for example) that should raise a "red flag warning" that the person could be purchasing feed-back.
• What items are the feed-back for?  If it's all been for very low-priced items and suddenly the person is selling Laptops, for example, that should be viewed as suspicious.  You can check by clicking on the item link which will show you the auction and winning bid price within the last couple of months.  Pay attention to both.
• Is the feed-back for Buying or Selling?  It is clearly listed as a "seller" or "buyer" item. If everything has been for buying items and suddenly the person is "Selling", then remember, they're a novice seller and should be treated as though they have zero feed-back i.e. Cautiously.
• Beware of "Private" feed-back.  An eBay trader should be proud of his feed-back, if it's good, and not trying to hide it.  Think twice before proceeding.  The same applies if the history includes a lot of Private Auctions.
• Look for the "eBay Safe Seal".  That means the seller has been vetted and approved by an independant company called "Buy Safe" or the "Square Trader" seal.  But, many safe and genuine traders do not use the seals.  Just check carefully and trade safely.

What To Do If You Are Scammed

The first thing is to report it to eBay Safety and also PayPal if you paid through the PayPal service.  That will offer you some recourse and means you can file an insurance claim through them.  Ultimately however, online auctions are like car boot sales - it's a case of "caveat emptor", "let the buyer beware!" eBay will suspend accounts where feedback manipulation is obvious but, eBay has admitted it's a "grey area".  You can use the Square Trade mediation service to try and resolve buyer/seller problems, but in the case of a scam, that's obviously not going to work.

The Good News!

According to eBay figures, only 0.01% of the transactions on the site are scams; and they do their best to police those.  Certainly, the vast majority of people do not experience problems. But always do your homework before bidding on an item, especially a high-end one.

Don't become one of the 0.01% statstics - trade safely and enjoy the experience!

If you have enjoyed the Guide please let me know by adding a comment or a vote.  You are welcome to contact me if you require trading advice - I'm always happy to help budding eBayers.