Monday, August 1, 2005
PDA Fraud on eBay: How Do You Protect Yourself?
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 11:00 AM
Review team member Stephen Beesley recently went through an ugly experience on eBay. Here's a quote:
"Chasing the best value for my money I bought a Dell X50v from a wholesaler in the US. The seller was (still is I guess…) an ebay power seller with plenty of positive feedback and, going off the comments, lots of happy customers all around the globe. The price was good so in I went. Now to start with everything went just fine with lots of communication from the seller, but then my first hurdle: he used Bidpay as his payment method and unfortunately Bidpay does not take Mastercard (I had never thought to check before bidding – bad me). So that only left me a direct bank transfer – I know I know, and yes all my instincts told me that bank transfer might not be a good idea. But, there was all that positive feedback and he did seem to have a good track record etc., etc… Well as you have probably already guessed that is where everything came unstuck on the deal..."
I've been using eBay for buying and selling since 1999, so I'm an "old timer", and in general I've had good experiences. One thing I have to keep remembering to do is to look at the feedback details of the seller before buying, rather than just the percentage value, because many of these guys build up positive feedback over time then defraud a dozen people simultaneously while they still have loads of positive feedback. What kinds of strategies do you employ on eBay? And have you had any horror stories like Stephen's?
And in case you're curious, the unscrupulous crook that ripped off Stephen is Gurinder P. Singh of Frisco, Texas, also known as Clearcost. Stay clear if you see that name and location on any future eBay auction!
"Chasing the best value for my money I bought a Dell X50v from a wholesaler in the US. The seller was (still is I guess…) an ebay power seller with plenty of positive feedback and, going off the comments, lots of happy customers all around the globe. The price was good so in I went. Now to start with everything went just fine with lots of communication from the seller, but then my first hurdle: he used Bidpay as his payment method and unfortunately Bidpay does not take Mastercard (I had never thought to check before bidding – bad me). So that only left me a direct bank transfer – I know I know, and yes all my instincts told me that bank transfer might not be a good idea. But, there was all that positive feedback and he did seem to have a good track record etc., etc… Well as you have probably already guessed that is where everything came unstuck on the deal..."
I've been using eBay for buying and selling since 1999, so I'm an "old timer", and in general I've had good experiences. One thing I have to keep remembering to do is to look at the feedback details of the seller before buying, rather than just the percentage value, because many of these guys build up positive feedback over time then defraud a dozen people simultaneously while they still have loads of positive feedback. What kinds of strategies do you employ on eBay? And have you had any horror stories like Stephen's?
And in case you're curious, the unscrupulous crook that ripped off Stephen is Gurinder P. Singh of Frisco, Texas, also known as Clearcost. Stay clear if you see that name and location on any future eBay auction!
