As great an opportunity as eBay is, there are also some eBay scams to watch out for if you’re trying to make a business out of it:

Bid Rigging or Shielding - in this scam, either two bidders work together, or one bidder using two accounts, rigs the outcome of an auction. One bids low on your item then soon after the other bids unrealistically high say two or three times the value of the item. The high bid prevents anyone else from making a competitive bid but of course that bidder backs out before payment time. You’re now left with just the low bid to sell to! This is one of the reasons why using a reserve is a good idea.

Damaged Goods - In this one the scammer starts with a damaged item which you happen to sell, then when he gets the new one you’ve just sold him he contacts you to say he has had his arrived damaged so he demands a refund or replacement. Under threat of negative feedback on your eBay account you agree to refund or send a second item.

Fake Escrow - If you sell high value items beware of offers to pay via escrow sites. While there are several legitimate escrow sites others are set up by scammers to look legit. You’ll even be able to confirm that your payment has been ‘received’ before you dispatch the goods only to find out later that the escrow company has suddenly vanished.

Probably an obvious one but the old bouncing cheque is still out there. I’m sure you know the drill, cheque arrives as payment, you dispatch the goods, cheque then fails to clear at the bank. This costs you in bank fees as well as in lost goods. As a seller of goods never part with your goods until the payment is safely cleared into your account.

Phishing has become a widespread scam that affects eBay merchants frequently. In this scam you receive an email which looks like its a genuine message from eBay saying there is some problem or update of information needed and inviting you to click a link to login to your account. Don’t go there! Invariably these links are to fake sites whose only purpose is to get your login details so they can clean you out later.

These are just a few of the eBay scams you may come across as a seller, there are of course several more and others aimed at ripping off the buyer. As always be careful to watch out for these scams in your business efforts, please don’t be a victim.