We saw an unbeatable offer on the eBay platform but we don't know if it is a scam or a good deal "> Sites to buy online 1) Check the type of sale
On eBay we can find any object for sale in two types of sale: online auction and Buy it now .
With the auction all interested users can make a price at will on the value of the object and at the end of the auction the user who made the highest bid (and who exceeded the reserve price, if applied by the seller ) can take the object home.
With the item sold in Buy it now, the purchase will be immediate, as if we were in any store.
To avoid scams we advise you to always turn to products sold with the Buy it now, often offered by serious and reliable sellers who have already sold a lot of stuff on the platform. The auction is used more frequently by occasional sellers of used items and therefore more prone to present problems or deficiencies not indicated in the description.
This does not mean that the auctions are worse, on the contrary: if we have a sense of smell we can close real deals, but tendentially the objects at the auction can easily disappoint our expectations.
2) Check the seller's feedback
Whatever the type of sale made by the seller, we check his sales feedback directly in the advertisement interface (on the right side, where the seller's name is present), as shown in the image below.
Serious and reliable sellers have a high number of positive feedbacks ( at least 5, 000 and with a percentage higher than 95% ), they have descriptions with green ticks, they have a considerable turnover and in addition eBay rewards them with the "Seller" symbol reliable ", a small gold medal next to their name.
Buying from these sellers is very safe because they ship quickly, support the customer in the after-sales and quickly answer any questions.
We distrust sellers with less than 1, 000 feedbacks and / or with positive feedback rates of less than 90%, they usually hide some flaw in order management or worse, some scams may hide.
3) Payment systems accepted by the seller
Another effective way to avoid scams on eBay is to check the payment methods accepted by the seller of the object we are interested in.
A scammer would hardly rely on PayPal (which reimburses customers with great speed when there is a problem in orders) but offers the unfortunate user poorly traceable payment systems such as PostePay top-ups (or other cards) or sending money through circuits such as Western Digital (prohibited on eBay).
When we find an interesting object, we immediately check if PayPal is available in the Payments item, available immediately below the sale price.
If PayPal is present among the payment methods, we will also obtain the eBay Customer Guarantee, which greatly facilitates the request for a refund in case of problems.
Alternatively, you can also use bank transfer as a secure payment method, but in this case the time for shipping and for any returns become extremely longer (we recommend using bank transfers only for expenses over € 1, 500).
4) Price comparison with the competition
The price of the object you are looking for seems too low "> FindPrices .
We insert the full name of the object found on eBay and compare it with the sale prices in other stores: if the lowest price offered by the site exceeds 30% of the price offered by the object on eBay, it could be a scam.
Obviously the comparison must be made between new sold items: if the item on eBay is sold as used, the price will obviously be lower precisely because it is second-hand (it may even be missing something compared to the original packaging, better always check the description).
5) Type of shipment offered
The type of shipment offered by the seller should also make you suspect a scam: if foreign express couriers or a simple shipment (i.e. via ordinary mail) are offered it is easy to fall victim to a scam or a problem in the shipment, since you can hardly trace it through the shipping code.
In the description of the object we will also find the Shipping and payments section; let's open it and find out if the seller uses an express courier to ship the order.
6) How to report any problem on eBay
We fear that we are the victim of a scam or the package still does not arrive "> eBay Customer Service .
We report the problem and await the response from the Assistance; in many cases you will be directed to PayPal to start the refund procedures, obtainable only after the seller has been contacted but has not provided an answer (or the answer has been inconclusive).
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