How To Scam People On Ebay

This hub is designed ONLY to explain ways that people scam people on eBay so that sellers may protect themselves. I in no way advise or condone the acts described in this hub, I am fully against them. I am writing this hub in hopes that eBay will finally realize how easy they have made it for buyers to scam sellers on eBay.

Real quick I would like to tell you a little about my self. I sell on eBay for a living. I buy and sell used items. I have sold thousands of items on eBay for over 3 years now. I have seen the changes that eBay has made, and I have experienced the effects of these changes, good and bad.

When eBay first started many people were afraid to buy things, they heard things like; "it's a scam," and "you will lose your money." In the beginning there were a lot of scams on eBay, I won't go in to detail, but lately eBay has taken many precautions to make eBay a safe environment, but there is one problem. eBay made it safe for buyers, and buyers ONLY!

They made it so that it is impossible to be scammed by a seller, but they made it possible to be scammed by a buyer. Sellers are now the ones that are being scammed and there is nothing we can do.

Here are some changes that eBay has recently made in order to make it a "safe" trading environment, although they do not benefit both sides...

1. Sellers can NOT leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers. Buyers can still leave any feedback for sellers. Also, if a seller receives too many bad feedbacks they will be suspended from eBay.
2. Sellers MUST accept payment VIA Paypal or an eBay approved program. Sellers are no longer allowed to accept cash, check, or money order.
3. Buyers can now file disputes against sellers if they feel that an item was not as described, which would be fine except that a buyer do not have to provide any proof that the item was not as described.
4. Sellers HAVE to accept returns. Yes, you can state "no returns" in your auctions but it means nothing. If someone wants to return something you have to do it.

As I mentioned above eBay has made some changes to become "safe." One of these changes included adding a way for buyers to dispute transactions. It's really a good idea, but you have to be fair. The problem with this is that eBay and Paypal almost always side with the buyer.

A buyer can dispute a transaction for many reasons, including; not as described, item never arrived, wrong item, etc. The most common dispute for a scammer is the "not as described" dispute. Here are the details of an actual dispute that I had on an item I sold; I sold a used GPS unit for parts or repair. I clearly stated in the title and description that this item had a broken screen and was to be sold AS-IS and that no returns would be accepted. The person bought the item and said something to the effect of "it doesn't work" and wanted to return it. I told them that it was sold that way and I wouldn't allow a return. He filed a dispute with eBay and won. I told eBay that you can clearly see in the auction that it was sold that way and they still sided with the buyer. I had to give the buyer his money back and I received poor feedback for it.

Here is another item that I had a problem with; I sold a rather large item on eBay. The buyer received it and put in a dispute with eBay stating that it did not work. It was a lie, as I had fully tested it and knew it worked, but there was nothing I could do. I accepted that he was lying and offered a full refund if he returned the item, he agreed. The buyer then sent me an empty box VIA UPS. He provided the tracking number to eBay and they automatically gave him his money back. I told eBay that he sent me an empty box and they asked me to take a picture of the label to show that they box only weighed as much as an empty box would weigh, "okay" I said. Guess what... he sent the package with a label he printed online and he paid for a 12lb. package! There was nothing I could do!

Here is one more dispute that I have had on eBay; I sold an air purifier for a pretty high price, around $200.00. It was in perfect working order. The buyer put in a dispute saying it did not work. Shortly afterwards I received an email from someone that I had never done business with, he stated that my buyer had bought an air purifier from him and he told me this guy was a scam, unfortunately it was too late. I went to my buyer's "items for sale" and was astonished with what I found... The buyer had listed MY air purifier for sale for about double the price he paid me using my pictures! There were two things wrong with this; 1. You are not allowed to use someone else's pictures on eBay, 2. This was only a day or two after I shipped the item; he had not even received it yet. I told eBay all of this, so in an effort to keep eBay "safe" they suspended the user from eBay, BUT they still gave him a full refund from my Paypal account. Knowing that this guy was a liar and a scammer they still took the money from me and gave it to him, I never got my item or my money back. Thanks eBay!

As a seller you can NOT leave a negative or neutral feedback for a buyer. Buyers can leave you any feedback, but a seller can only leave positive or nothing!

Also, another add on to make eBay "safe" is the Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs). DSRs consist of four categories; 1. How accurate was the item description, 2. How satisfied were you with seller's communication, 3. How quickly did the seller ship the item, 4. How reasonable were the shipping and handling charges. These DSRs are rated by buyers on a scale of 1 to 5. It's really a great way to help buyers know if the seller is a good seller or not, but of course... there's a problem. The problem is this; eBay feels that an appropriate average rating is somewhere around 4.8(I could be slightly off). This means that if you receive 1000 positive feedbacks with 4 star DSRs you are below eBay's standards and you will be thrown off of eBay.

I don't know how you feel about DSRs, but I feel that if you are being rated between 1 and 5 an acceptable average would be somewhere around a 3. That leaves some room for error, and some room for jerks and scammers that leave bad ratings.

There are many ways that you can pull off a successful scam on eBay, heres just a few...

So let's say you have a broken toaster. It's a great toaster but it just bit the dust and you don't have money for a new one. So you search on eBay and you find the exact same toaster for sale, brand new or used but in good working condition. Guess what, eBay then says; "you are entitled to a new toaster for FREE!" Just follow these steps; 1. Buy the new toaster on eBay, 2. Wait until you receive the toaster and then wait another day or two(don't wait longer than this because there is a time limit.), 3. Write the seller and tell them that you are unhappy because the toaster does not work.

Now there are a couple things that could happen; 1. The seller may just refund you, 2. The seller may offer a refund with return, 3. The seller may not respond.

If they refund you, great! Congrats! If they offer a refund with return then send back your broken toaster, make sure you put tracking on the package! If they don't respond open a case with eBay, stating the item doesn't work and go through the process. The case process is very easy to follow and you almost can not lose, the worst case scenario with a case is that you have to return the item and you get a full refund. Either way you get a new toaster for free(excluding return shipping if required).

The next way to scam someone on eBay is to simply purchase and item and say that you never got it. This can go many ways... If the seller did not put tracking you win! If the seller did put tracking then check it and see what the tracking says. Sometimes tracking states that an item was "left at front door" again, you win! If the tracking says that the item was delivered it is a little more difficult. In this case you have to be very creative. You could say that the tracking is wrong and that you never received a package and that no one signed anything for a package so there is no proof you got it. If the tracking says the item was delivered you may want to go another route for scamming this seller. Either way you will win 9 times out of 10, if not more.

This type of scamming on eBay happens less than the others but it still happens. The only flaw is that you do lose the money that it costs to return the item to the seller. You simply purchase an item, wait til a day or two after receiving it and open a dispute saying that the item was not as described, you can make up anything really. Then when the seller asks you to return the item for a full refund, you send them and empty box, BUT you have to do it right... First make sure that you have tracking on the package, then you have to print a return label online so that you can put in the weight of the item. You have to put the weight as if the item was in the box. If you put 2lbs. they will know that that is only the weight of an empty box. Once again, you win! Congrats!

The last and final way to scam someone on eBay is to purchase an item and pay with a credit card. You have to pay through a Paypal or merchant checkout but you can still use a credit card to pay. After you receive the item contact your credit card company and tell them that you did not receive the item, or you did not approve the transaction, or the item was broken/didn't work, or a similar story, your choice. Your credit card company will almost always dispute the transaction and I have never heard of a credit card company losing a dispute.

Here's where it comes down to being mean or nice. I have had a ton of people that scammed me leave me bad feedback, and then I have had some that left good feedback. I have always figured that if you are going to scam someone and steal their stuff you should at least give them good, positive feedback and DSRs. But it's your choice. Just remember that if a seller receives too many bad feedbacks they will be thrown off eBay for good, no if's and's or but's.

There are plenty of ways to scam sellers on eBay, and you will almost always win no matter what. I have had solid cases(as a seller against a buyer) and lost. Nothing would surprise me with eBay. If you are going to scam people you could at least be nice enough to leave them good feedback so they can continue to get scammed on eBay.

Please comment and vote on the poll. Thanks for reading.