Buying products from online auction sites like Ebay and Bid or Buy may seem a little daunting at first but with some basic practices and habits you can improve your safety as a buyer and hopefully avoid be scammed by ebayers and bobers or other online auction sites. In fact most of the points can be considered for general ecommerce safety and not just online auction safety.
Know the seller
The most important thing is to know more about the seller, check their rating and read the feedback. If there is even a hint that they may be a dodgy character you should avoid them to ensure a safe buying experience, if they have no rating or have a product you are really keen on you can of course ask them some questions to see if they are a safe seller
About asking questions
A good seller will respond quickly and honestly, if the reply takes too long or is vague then there is a good chance that the seller is either not interested or is hiding something, perhaps you should look elsewhere.
Payment
Try and use paypal or bid or buys eft services to increase your safety while at the same time making sure that the seller receives your payment quickly without confusion, avoid deposits and efts if possible they can ruin your buying experience and since most online auction sites support paypal or some other modern payment method you should not have any trouble making payments.
Detailed information
Don’t be afraid to ask for more details about a product you are interested and ask for pictures if you have concerns about the condition of second hand products, avoiding ebay scams is not the only thing you have ot worry about, you should also make sure you buying the product you actually want.
Compare pricing
Don’t buy the first auction listing you find, compare prices and compare the shipping rates as well, many sellers will hide costs in shipping rates
Follow the rules
Avoiding a bid or buy scammer can be easy if you follow the rules, don’t agree to trading outside the auction systems and stick to the system since sellers can be blacklisted if their are problems. Trading outside the system can increase your risk.
Beware of software
Be careful when buying software or games since they may be pirated or may already be activated or tied to gaming accounts like world of warcraft or xbox games
Have fun
Enjoy the experience and buy products you want, if you are careful you can avoid being scammed while using online auctions sites. Safe Internet buying is completely possible once you realise that it is not just about credit card safety