Selling items online on a marketplace platform is a great way to start a business, sell old items or add another income stream. However, some challenges arise due to the large number of scammers that have flooded the platforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
eBay is one of the more well-established marketplace platforms that has been around for decades. Although eBay is well-renowned, scamming on the platform is nothing new. Transactions on marketplaces like eBay require a lot of trust on both the buyer and the seller sides. Scammers usually take advantage of the high amount of trust that people have in others and come up with elaborate schemes to scam people out of their products and money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company has invested in making the platform as safe as possible. However, there is always an off-chance that you may be faced with one of these scammers. This guide below will inform you about the most common ebay scams and how to avoid falling into the scammer’s traps.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The empty package scam is quite prevalent on the eBay platform, with the seller usually ending up as the victim. Typically in this scam, the transaction runs smoothly and in a status quo fashion. So, as the seller, you have no red flags about sending your items to the buyer. However, it goes downhills once the buyer submits a claim that you send an empty package. Unfortunately, just like most other marketplaces eBay will quickly side with the buyer allegedly being “scammed” and issue a refund. This scam will leave you without payment or the item.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is especially bad if you sell high value items on eBay. You can try your best to mitigate this by keeping all evidence of shipment and possibly recording the shipping process as well. In the case of selling high value items you need to be really careful and potentially look into marketplaces where you can have a trusted middleman, for example: if you sell sneakers you can consider using stockX<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A scam that affects the buyer is when a seller misrepresents the item in the photos. Usually, eBay has buyer protection that will allow returns in this case. However, it may be challenging to prove that you have been deceived. Even so, If you win your claim, you may still be out of costs to send the item back.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This scam piggybacks off of misrepresented items. However, in this case, this scam involves the sender selling an item with an apparent “luxury status” but sending a counterfeit. This is the issue with buying expensive, brand-name items online because there is no way to guarantee authenticity.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you think of a counterfeit you are probably thinking of some cheap looking designer knock offs. However, replicating luxury items has gotten very advanced these days. Many replica’s (or “Reps”) are almost indistinguishable from the real thing! and typical untrained buyers find it very hard to tell a fake from a real item! <\/p>\n\n\n\n These problems have brought rise to specialized marketplaces that take on the authentication role for luxury good such a stockX for sneakers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You can usually spot these scams when the item is listed for considerably cheaper than the retail price. Even authentic pre-owned luxury items rarely ever go for a crazy discount. So, don’t think you automatically found a fantastic deal online for that designer bag you’ve been eyeing up; it is most likely a fake.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSending misrepresented item<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Counterfeit Goods<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Off-Platform Payment Request<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n