Buying Overseas Common Scams BUYER BEWARE

Beware - just because the Seller has an impressive feedback number and high percentage - BEFORE you take that nibble... look deeper.

I have just been scammed. The sad thing is that I should've known better. I have been on Ebay long enough and I really should've known better.

I can honestly say most overseas DVD auctions are frauds, as well as any "too-good-to-be-true" electronics auction. Luckily my purchase totaled under $20. But just scan around on Ebay and you will find COUNTLESS people that have been suckered with much pricier purchases. If you are considering a great or even a semi-great buy from a seller listed overseas, beware. Do some investigating first.

This really was written with mainly overseas transactions in mind, but can be said for US sales too.


Red Flag #1:

In my case, just a look beneath the seller's impressive 400 positive feedback score (99% positives) would've revealed an overwhelming number of feedbacks posted by NEW EBAYERS (accounts under 60days old). Plausable but not likely. These are probably 99% of the time dummy accounts set up to fatten up their rating.


Red Flag #2:

When you get beyone the first feedback page of praises, you will notice that there is an overwhelming number of "no longer registered" users. These are accounts that Ebay caught wind of and found proof that they were dummy accounts and have closed them down.

(The sad thing, if Ebay was on the trail of this fraud account they should've done SOMETHING - ANYTHING to warn potential buyers.)

I bidded on a Strawberry Shortcake DVD collection and shortly before the auction ended I was outbidded. I had only placed the low starting bid so I wasn't surprised that I was outbidded....but that lead to...


Red Flag #3:

An almost-imediate "second chance offer". Sure it was possible that they had more than one copy to sell, so I took the bait. My 3 year old's love of one of my child-hood favorites re-born really sucked me into this purchase! She adores these videos and they are really hard to find in the stores around here.

I didn't look beyond the feedback number and percentage first.... their score was over 400 and had two negatives in its whole history... innocent enough.

I even had an automatic email from this Seller saying my payment has been recieved and my item is on its' way....

Within a few short days I logged on, only to discover that this Seller is no longer a registered user.

I imediately filed a complaint with Ebay and with Paypal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

WARNING TO ALL USA EBAYERS BIDDING ON SOMETHING OVERSEAS....

Common Scams and Tricks........

ONLY PAY WITH PAYPAL.
(read my other guide on Paypal Loopholes and the guide for "package lost or missing" for more Paypal information and great tips)

Why??
Atleast with Paypal you have piece of mind that your bank account information is safe and you MIGHT have a fighting chance at a refund. There is a big trail of fraud from people getting Identity Fraud from sending personal checks... and a far bigger trail of people using Western Union to defraud people out of tons of money.



NO MATTER WHAT... No Matter What The Seller Says...... DO NOT USE WESTERN UNION or anyother (Bidpay included) online payment service -OTHER than Paypal to complete the sell.

Why??
This is not said in any way to advertise for Paypal... On Ebay, this is pretty much the safest bet for paying.... if you pay with Money Order or a Wire-Transfer service such as Western Union... your money is as good as gone - it's as if you sent cash - NO WAY TO TRACE IT.
If the seller is insisting on not allowing Paypal - you really should weigh the pros and cons before following through. Just today I was told about my dad's shop helper that went to purchase a car through Ebay and the Seller told him to pay with Western Union - and sure enough - he lost a couple thousand dollars by being scammed. THIS is for USA AND OVERSEAS transactions.



Do Not Take Offers or Make "deals" outside of Ebay...
Also, this is a big reason why you should decline the offer to buy OUTSIDE of Ebay... even if you initially found the item IN Ebay... say the auction ends - you either didn't meet the reserve price, or were outbidded or whatever... the Seller contacts you telling you that they will sell this (or another one) to you... next thing you know you are completing the sell OUTSIDE Of Ebay... and now you have lost any protection Ebay provides..


Beware of...
FAKE Payment Sites (similar to Paypal)...

There are some rather crafty people that are creating VERY realistic looking Online Payment sites similar to Paypal and will request that you pay with this particular service that you haven't heard of before.... DO NOT SIGN UP. Chances are - this is a fake site.

The goal is simple - get you to enter your Credit or even BANK account information and TAH-DAH ... Stolen Information! Now several months down the line you will have much more to worry about than just "unrecieved" merchandise.


Beware of...
"Fishing" emails - Fake Emails That Contain False Links
(Goal is to steal your password and personal information...)

Do not EVER link to Ebay or Paypal through an E-Mail ... no matter what the email says - DO NOT click on the link.... this is another common scam... these theves set up identical looking sites, send very realistic looking offical emails - a lot of the time they are what the internet world calls a "fisher site or fishing email" - as you you are the fish and they are looking for you to take the bait....

Common fishing emails - these look like they are from Ebay or Paypal... often they are to "alert" your to possible account fraud... such as "costly items you didn't bid on or purchase"... "threats to close or suspend your account because you need to verify or update information"... or contain links to object to a purchase made without your permission.. usually the biggest sign of it being a fake - is they refer to you as "Ebay Member... Paypal Member" or some other generic term...

A Few Big Things To Remember About E-mails.....

#1 - Ebay AND Paypal will NEVER ask you to verify or to enter any account information through an Email.... including links to do this.

#2 - When in doubt, ALWAYS open a new window and THEN enter the website yourself. If there should be a problem - you will be notified when you log-in through your OWN seperate window.

#3 - Ebay AND Paypal will NEVER question a "purchase that was made" or alert you to one through Email contact.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are approaching the holiday season and sure enough there will be those must have and SO hard to find items and toys that are sold out everywhere.... go with your gut. Do a little investigation - look for feedback from acconts that are older and established ... and no longers displays the "newby" yellow person icon next to their name.

(Newbie Ebay accounts have an icon that looks like this - little yellow person next to their name)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, hopping on my soap box for a minute, I think Ebay should do more to protect it's buyers. Fraud with overseas transactions is on the rise. Not to say that ALL UK or Tokyo or Singapore (..etc) sellers are bad, but sad to say, a lot are. If Ebay is looking into possible fraud they should provide some sort of warning before completing the sale. Obviously Ebay was onto their trail BEFORE my purchase because of how quickly the account was suspended after my purchase. But sadly enough, they don't provide any hints to any possible fraud concerns.

They say hindsight is 20/20... so a few hints to assure your purchase is safe when dealing with overseas purchases:

Bottom Line........

BEWARE if they keep IDs private or their feedback private.
There is probably something to hide. Even if the "shown" score is high, beware. It could be dummy accounts....

• Email the Seller BEFORE purchasing or bidding (if you cannot get an actual reply - avoid them like the plauge!) - ask a simple question such as "where is this shipping from" - "do you have this in house or is this being shipped from somewhere else", for DVDs - VERIFY that these are NOT bootleg copies (quality is usually quite poor - even if they have a real looking DVD photo cover) - not only could you end up with a crummy quality copy but you could just find yourself in trouble with the FBI for buying bootleg copies and VERIFY that these are compatible with USA machines - not all world-wide DVDs will work with USA DVD players.
• Safest advice, (I know I said it before, but really...) Pay ONLY with Paypal - they are a legit service and most likely to provide help should any problems arise down the line.
  
• Pay the extra for Insurance or Tracking and request that it be emailed to you ASAP.
  
• If you do NOT get a quick reply that shows your insurance or tracking information - I wouldn't hesitate to email them one more time stating that you will be filing a claim if they do not respond AND start a complaint with Ebay AND Paypal. It is important to file a claim with both Ebay and Paypal... Ebay so that they can be aware of this Seller and Paypal so that you can try to recoop your losses.
• More importantly - READ some of the feedback - if there are numerous pages or negatives - scroll through and read them! Feedback is there to provide insight to their selling practices.
• One more tip that was brought to my attention... read through their other auctions listed. Is there nothing but PS2's going for an unhead of cheap amount of $$ when they are SO hard to find? Chances are that is a scam. If they pretty much have nothing but expensive goods selling SUPER cheap and ALL of their listings are short durations (3days or less) then BEWARE - they want to make this short and quick. Their goal is to get in and out with your money before Ebay and Paypal catches wind of it.

Look-a-likes and Fake Items
I have also read numerous posts about overseas sellers that make fake namebrand look-a-likes and pass them off as the real deal. Some brands that often fall prey to this - Seven Jeans, Juicy Couture brand, Tommy Hilfiger, Prada, Gucci, Coach brand, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, agmonst tons of others.

Other commonly faked items found on Ebay: autographs (look for proof of it being the REAL deal... do your homework).

IF IT Sounds Too Good To Be True - It Probably Is.

If you are looking for authentic pricey items - expect to pay a fair price for them. Sure there is a wife that bought her husband a brand name top just to find out that it didn't fit, or he didn't like it - but she isn't going to just THROW her money away just to practically give it away.

Other flags - if the s/h charges don't make sense. If they are selling it extremely low - chances are they aren't also going to toss in free SHIPPING too!

Beware if it is listed as a "private" auction. Often this a common way to "hide" the sale. Read the auction CAREFULLY. Some use word play to dance around the truth. Some lie flat out by OMISSION. If in doubt - ask point blank very clearly.

Going back to addressing the knock-off scams... some people (myself included) don't care if a handbag or keychain is legit or not - something that looks good and sports a brand names logo is all I care about....it's all about the "APPEARANCE" to others and getting a great buy... but that is me....if you are looking for something like clothing - something that you buy a brand because of that brand's particular fit (or the particular value $$ of that brand)- you will want to be much more thourough.

I don't want to keep rambling on and on, but here is a very good tip - if you are looking for a specific brand - click on the Reviews and Guides page and do a search for just that brand name (such as: COACH) - chances are you will come across MANY rewiews geared to verify the authenticity of that certain brand.... great tips from people that know what to look for and from people that have themselves had to learn the hard way.

I hate throwing away money and that seems to be what I have done here. I figure atleast if I get the word out perhaps others will think twice and do their research before becoming another duped Ebayer!

To be clear and fair, I am NOT saying that ALL overseas Sellers are "out to get you" or there soley to scam you - but the bad-guys are out there and you would be foolish to not take some precautions before you bid.

(*Also see my other Guides "Paypal Loophole" and "Package Lost?" for more great tips on this subject*)

(** IF you found this guide helpful, please click to vote for it - also if you think of anything that should be addressed or included in this guide - please email me! Thanks!!**)

---

Orignal From: Buying Overseas Common Scams BUYER BEWARE