eBay Scams: How to Recognize and Avoid the Most Common Ones

Scams on eBay come and go, as more security measures are implemented and payment options become available. Now that Christmas shopping season has arrived, here are some of the most prevalent scams, and how to avoid falling victim to them.

Email scams

There are a number of email scams designed to part you from your money, but there is now a fail-safe way to avoid those. One scam is the phony second-chance offer- there is a legitimate second-chance offer system on eBay that allows sellers to send an offer to a bidder for something the bidder did not win, due to either the top bidder backing out or the seller having more than one of the item. This is not utilized that often, but it has been seized upon by scammers. The phony second-chance offer contains a link that you click on, then a sign in page. Through this, the scammer gets your eBay password and can wreak havoc with your account. Usually this also involves the bidder sending money to the scammer to get the item, which of course never arrives, as the scammer was not the seller of the item. eBay is aware of this scam and warns it's bidders against it. The way to avoid this is to go to your My eBay page, and then to "My Messages" on the left side of the screen. If there is really a second-chance offer, there will be a copy of it there. If not, this was a scam.

Another email scam is the old "account suspension" "tko warning" or "your account needs verification" scam. These are all emailed for one reason- to get you to sign in on their phony sign-in page, where they get your ID and password. The information on the account is then changed, locking you out. The scammer then proceeds to scam buyers from your account. There are a couple of easy ways to combat this- if you get an email like this and are unsure of it, go to the My messages section and check it out. If there is really an account problem, a message will be there waiting for you. No matter what email you receive regarding eBay, never click on a link. Ebay will rarely send an email with a link in it anymore because of the prevalence of these scams, and they always address you by your ebay ID, not by "dear member."