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.

I came across surveypolice.com which attempts to list the genuine sites and weed out the
survey scams and looks to be doing it very well. The site is full of helpful info and articles. There is a list of ranked survey sites and a complaints board where you can see which companies have been troublesome to deal with. There are tips on finding good surveys and how to spot the scams. Some of the usual alarm triggers are evident; lack of contact and address info, lack of a privacy policy and the promise of easy money.

The site seems genuine, certainly someone’s gone to a lot of trouble to pack it full of info and in the articles section you’ll see a FAQ section which gives you a more realistic view on what to expect from surveys, in short you get to give your opinion in return for rewards which may range from cash to prize draw entries or merchandise. They say quite clearly you are unlikely to get rich but you can have some fun and gain reasonable reward for a few minutes effort!

If you’d like to gain a few dollars here and there by all means try the surveys listed and let me know of any problems by leaving a comment below.

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Data Entry
While no doubt there are some legitimate data entry type jobs, you’ll find there are way too many scams in this area. Typically you’ll see an advert talking about how you can make loads of money entering small ads online. What you’re likely to get is a guide telling you the basics of how google adwords works so you can start entering ads if you can find something profitable to advertise.

Payment Forwarding
One scam to be particularly aware of is the payment forwarding scam. In this one, the scam artist will promise high wages or commissions for handling payments from your bank account or other accounts such as Western Union to other parties. Get tempted by this one and you can find yourself handling hundreds of thousands of dollars of suspect money. Well done, you are now an accessory to a crime, usually a financial fraud!

Identity Fraud
The ‘Identity Check’ fraud is now fairly common, this is where someone you have been in touch with over a great looking opportunity now requires lots of personal information to verify your identity. Run away! That sort of info is gold to an identity scammer. You can find yourself with bad credit records and unable to get bank loans in the future if your identity is used fraudulently. As anyone who has found themselves in this position can tell you, it is a nightmare to try to set the records straight.

Multi Level Marketing
These can get dangerously close to pyramid schemes. There are lots of well known and totally respectable MLM type opportunities out there with happy agents and happy customers in everything from cosmetics to underwear, however there are also lots of scams. If you find all you’re really doing is recruiting more people to do as you do you’re probably sailing dangerously!

There are more… so many more, please remember “if it seems too good to be true, it is”

Firstly, your gut instinct can be a pretty reliable indicator, you know that feeling you get “it sounds too good to be true”? – Well yes that instinct is usually correct! Classic home business scams also show signs such as:

• Claims of Insider or ‘Secret’ Information
• Promises of Huge Profit for Little Effort or Investment
• Unrealistic Claims of Simplicity “so easy a child could do it”)
• No Previous Experience or Knowledge Required
• Testimonials from people you can’t possibly identify or contact (J.Smith, London)
• They can only tell you more about the great opportunity after you sign up

A look at the small business magazines shows some real old chestnuts are still going strong. Some of these scams have been around since the printing press. Be especially wary of scams like these ones:

Envelope Stuffing at Home – Come on, how on earth could anybody afford to pay you heaps for a couple of hours stuffing and mailing envelopes when the job can be done on simple office equipment? You’ll more than likely be offered other work at home plans all needing just a small investment! You’ll also be told to buy envelopes and supplies from the promoter and then be told to place ads offering money for stuffing envelopes so you can do the same to someone else!

Assembly Work at Home – You could end up spending your hard earned cash for materials to assemble into whatever item it is promoted only to find that the company then refuses to pay for your work because your workmanship is apparently not up to their standards. Now you’re left with a bunch of useless items that nobody wants.

Claims Processing for Insurance Companies – Apparently the world’s medical practices all need you to help process their claims work and for just a small investment (yes there it is again) you can have the software and be connected to a centralized computer system which will allow you to make a fortune selling your services to medical practices. Happy? – Now try and find a medical practice to have you do their work!

Share Trading Scams – You’ll be asked to pay for expensive software which will analyse info input by you and/or by a connection to the promoters system and then generate share trading recommendations. Not only is the software completely overpriced (it’s usually just a spreadsheet or fancy calculator) but you’ll often find the system recommends many many trades so the ‘recommended broker’ (the same group who sold the software or a business partner) is the one making all the cash from all those commissions!

There are many more home business scams all waiting to trap you, so please use some common sense and only ever hand your money over when you know exactly what you’re getting! When I buy any form of work at home material I do so with a good knowledge of what I’m getting. I expect a website to inform me enough as to the product or service, e.g. I know it is some home business software or perhaps an eBook explaining how to use Google advertising effectively and I look for money back guarantees such as those offered by Clickbank. I know for certain I am not buying into some pyramid scheme where the only money comes from bringing other victims in!

Unfortunately for some genuine marketers, they too have fallen into the habit of making exaggerated claims as to how wonderful their product is, though I guess we kind of expect a little exaggeration in most advertising. The key difference is that the genuine sellers leave you in no doubt as to what you’re actually paying for. By the way I have only ever looked for a refund on one item purchased through Clickbank, a piece of software which just didn’t work for me. The other purchases have all been good ones!

There are also several scams looking to pick on established small businesses often involving the overpriced proviosn of services to help your business.  These can include:

Domain Name Scams – You might receive a letter advising you that some company is looking to register domain names like yours in other coutries or in the .net version if you have .com! Of course the domain company can help by giving you priority registration of those other domains to protect your brand! You’ll find this is at a cost far above the normal domain name registration cost.

False Supply Scams – You might receive an invoice for office stationery you never actually purchased, a surprisingly common scam where two or more individuals are involved in the business.

Advertising and Directory Listing Scams – You may find you are invoiced for ‘business directory’ listings or ads which you have not actually authorised.

Avoid the scams. Keep your wits about you whether you are starting or already established and remember if it looks too good to be true it probably is.