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Online Auction Sites Review Learning Center
Online Auction Scam Awareness
These tips will keep you safe from online auction scams. Keep safe by doing your research and being wary of payment issues.
Online auctions are sites where you can either buy or sell products over the internet. Usually online auctions provide a great way to find different items but sometimes buyers get taken advantage of. So here are some simple steps to make sure you don’t get scammed. 10. Research the auction site. Make sure the site is legitimate. You can start researching by looking at our side-by-side comparison chart for the best in online auction sites. 9. Take a look at the seller’s address. It’s a red flag if the seller claims the item is located in one place and then asks for the money to be sent somewhere else. This is dangerous because the item may not exist, the person may live in another country or it may not be theirs to sell. For these same reasons, you should also be wary of sellers using P.O. Box numbers for addresses. 8. Read the fine print. Sometimes sellers will slip the fine print into detail or item pages. Sellers do this to save their hides about the quality or condition of the product. The seller might try to sneak something into the contract but it won’t matter because you will now have read the fine print. 7. Be wary of second chances. These happen when a seller contacts the losing bidders and offers them the same product on a different website. Usually they’ll lure you away from the legitimate auction site to another less secure and potentially dangerous website. When this happens, the seller will take your credit card number and never give you the product in return. 6. Make sure the escrow company is legitimate. Escrow is usually used in high-ticked purchases and acts like a middleman between the exchange of money and product. If the seller or buyer wants to use an unknown escrow, beware. This can be a plot of an elaborate scam where the seller establishes a bogus escrow establishment then the money is sent but the product isn’t. 5. Don’t use wire transfers or be very cautious if you do. They are dangerous because they can be sent anywhere in the world. The seller has access to the buyer’s personal account with a wire transfer and there is no receipt. If the seller insists on using wire transfers as the only means of payment, reconsider the purchase. 4. Use a third party payment company to pay for an item bought or sold at the auction. A third party company like Pay Pal for example will provide the buyer and seller with additional security because the seller has no access to the buyer’s personal credit or bank accounts. Plus the seller can ship the product right away instead of waiting for the check to clear. 3. Make sure the seller has some kind of return policy. This is especially important if you’re buying expensive items like TVs, computers, and collectables. If the seller refuses to return or give a refund, reconsider the purchase. 2. Research the product. Be cautious of any product labeled as genuine, authentic, or autographed. Also find out how much the item usually costs. If the product is being sold for a price too good to be true-it probably is. 1. Research the seller. To keep yourself and your personal information safe always research the seller. If they have an extraordinary number of negative feedback, reconsider buying from them. However, don’t disregard a seller for not having any feedback. This person may be new to the auction circuit and everyone has to start somewhere. That’s our list to keep you safe from online auction scams.
TopTen Product List
1
eBay
2
WebStore
3
eBid
4
OnlineAuction
5
OZtion
6
Overstock
7
WeBidz
8
CQout
9
uBid
10
ePier
See All Online Auction Sites (13) »
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