Keep These eBay Scams at Bay

Founded in 1995, eBay is one of the oldest and largest online marketplaces. It operates in several countries and offers consumer-to-consumer (C2C) as well as business-to-consumer (B2C) sales through its platform.

As of 2020, eBay was reported to have 185 million users in the US alone. Any platform with so many users is bound to become a target of scammers. 

6 Common eBay Scams

As the platform supports peer-to-peer selling, you can get scammed on eBay as a buyer as well as a seller. These are some frequent scams to beware of:

Counterfeits

One of the oldest and most common scams is when the seller lists an item as original but ships a counterfeit. In other cases, they may deliberately make it unclear that the item is a replica.

Depending on the quality of the fake, the buyer might not even realize that they have been sent an inferior copy. The most obvious giveaway for this kind of scam is the price being considerably lower than what is offered by other sellers.

Box Scams & Photo Scams

These scams are usually carried out by listing items that are hot at the moment and difficult to get anywhere. Due to the item being out of stock, many buyers purchase in a hurry without properly reading the details.

You might think you are buying the actual item as the price will be that of the original product. However, what you receive will be just the item’s box or a photo of it.

Source: Eurogamer.net

Returns Scam

This kind of scam is also known as the ‘empty box’ scam and affects sellers on eBay. After the item has been delivered, the seller will file a claim to return the item, citing that the item is ‘not as described’. As per eBay’s policies, a seller must accept a return in such a case.

Instead of sending the item back, they ship an empty box. Thus, they receive a refund and pocket the item too.

Payment Scams

Buyers fall for this scam when a seller contacts them directly and asks for the payment to be made outside of eBay, in exchange for a discount or freebie. Further, they will ask for the payment to be made using unsafe methods and disappear once the payment has been made. Any transaction that is made outside eBay’s platform is not eligible for their buyer protection, leaving victims with nowhere to turn. 

Overpayment Scam

Also known as the Fake Cheque scam, this is a fake offer that no seller can refuse. Scammers will contact sellers pretending to be interested in the item and offer to pay more than the asking price. They will give reasons such as the purchase being a last-minute surprise gift and might even request a gift card to be included in the package. 

The catch is that they will insist on paying using a cheque. More recently, they have also been utilizing PayPal for this scam. Once the item is shipped, either the cheque will bounce or the buyer will apply for a chargeback on PayPal. The end result is that the seller ends up losing their item along with the money they paid for the gift card.

Phishing & Vishing

Phishing refers to attempts made by scammers to steal account and payment details using pages designed to look exactly like eBay. These pages are hosted on sites that have no relation to the company and are intended to mislead users into entering their sensitive details. This scam is carried out by including malicious links in email and text messages.

Below is an example of a phishing mail that even contains a link that appears to originate from eBay’s genuine website. However, the entire email is formatted as an image and clicking anywhere leads to a fake site created to steal details.

Source: social-engineer.org

Vishing refers to ‘voice phishing’ and has the same goal as phishing. However, this kind of scam can be even more convincing as it is carried out by scammers who personally call eBay users. The scammer will pretend to be a representative of eBay and say that they are calling regarding issues regarding a recent order. They will ask the victim to share payment information over the phone ‘for confirmation’ and then steal money from the account or make unauthorized transactions.

How to Avoid eBay Scams

The first step is being aware of the different scams that take place on the platform. Once you know the ways in which you could get scammed, keeping a few simple tips in mind will suffice to avoid most scams.

• Steer clear of sellers with ‘too good to be true’ prices. Competition between sellers is fierce on eBay and the prices are usually set to be as low as they can reasonably be. If one seller has prices that are much lower than the prices anywhere else, including other platforms, there is a fair chance they may be trying to pull a scam.
  
  
• Read the description carefully. Not carefully reading the description and product specifications can be a costly mistake. If you buy something in a hurry based on the images alone, you may end up receiving something that is vastly different from your expectations. You may not even be able to get a refund as eBay will side with the seller.
  
  
• Document the packaging and shipping. If you are a seller on eBay, it will do you well to document the packaging and shipping of the product. Later, if a scammer tries to file a false return claim, you can provide evidence that you did indeed ship the promised product. 
  
  
• Don’t pay outside eBay. Avoid buying from sellers who insist that you pay them outside eBay. The small discount or free item you might be promised is not worth the risk of losing all the money you paid for the product.
  
  
• Don’t log in through external links. Phishing emails and text messages only work if you follow a link to a fake login page. Avoid getting phished easily by never clicking on links in emails and messages. Go to eBay’s website or app and log in directly to see if there really is a problem.
  
  
• Don’t share information over the phone. There is no way to verify whether the person on the other end of the line is actually an eBay representative. Phone numbers can be spoofed to look like eBay’s official helplines. Refuse to share sensitive details over the phone.

Reporting Scams to eBay

• eBay Security Center
• Get help for a hacked account
• Report fake emails to spoof@ebay.com