10 eBay SCAMS You Should Know About! 

Regarding the scam where the buyer claims s/he received an empty box, your post office receipt will have the weight of the parcel on it. When the dispute is open, carefully inquire what was in the box - if they say "nothing" then you can point to your receipt with the weight at the time the parcel crossed the post office counter. This happened to me and I had a delightful time sending the sheriff after the scammer.

As a seller, I have had #7 happen to me twice in the past 5 months, regarding vintage collectible phonographs I sold. They were packed very well, I took pix of the packing job, and shipped them insured. Both sellers sent me pix of the item now broken, which I knew was impossible, so I simply told them to make a damage claim with USPS, which would require them to bring the item and all packing into their local Post Office for careful examination. That was the last I heard from those scammers!

I started using Ebay back in 2001 and it was fun buying and selling. I still buy but stopped selling due to the lack of Ebay support

Never pay by check or money order as a buyer. If the seller asks you to its a scam. Never accept check or money order as a seller, you increase your odds of getting scammed. Never accept an offer for more money, you are getting scammed. Never complete a sale outside of eBay or directly through PayPal. If the buyer asks you to you are getting scammed. If you are the seller this is outside of eBay's regulations and you again risk getting scammed.

For the "empty box" scam as a seller: When I send an item out, I always get a receipt from the post office, or UPS. When I drop the item off, they weigh the package and the actual weight gets printed on the receipt. If the buyer claims that you sent them an empty box, you'll have the receipt proving that the box weighed much more than an empty box when it was dropped off. I've never actually had this happen to me as a seller but it's a good practice to follow.

1 way to make sure you a buying the right item is- Make sure a lot of people have bought the item and left alot of positive reviews. And make sure the seller has a lot of positives.

how to avoid eBay scams: 1. Dont use eBay 2. continuiosly repeat steps 1&2

As a seller, the best way to have irrefutable evidence against the empty box or broken item scam is to video yourself at the post office counter putting the item(s) in the box in front of the post office worker just before it gets sealed and processed by that worker. Yes it takes a little bit more time and yes it's a pain and sad that we would have to resort to that extreme, but the proof is there... unfortunately, what can't be controlled is whether or not eBay or Paypal actually care.

Sellers have very few rights on eBay, they’re all for the buyers. I sold on the platform for years and the buyers have all the rights. Not to mention being able to give you poor feedback when you’ve done absolutely everything above board. However, when you get a terrible buyer you can’t give negative feedback that affects their account. Very unfair.

We always write details such as name, weight, and package dimensions and sometimes other details under where the postage label goes. When there is a problem we ask the buyer to provide the information to us so that we can handle any return problems right away. The label already has the weight on it, so it should always match. We have found out with this method that at least once a year, we do make a mistake on our end when someone might say they ordered two of something, but only got one item. First thing we do is check that weight against what it should have weighed, plus we do a quick inventory count on that particular item. Yes, I personally have made some mistakes. We only sell on eBay and have for more than 20 years.

Another scam similar to the empty box that I have seen is shipping a box containing something of little or no value to another address near you (often to someone with the same last name). That way the tracking shows delivered, the receiver wonders what it is but doesn't do anything about it and then you are in argument with eBay that you didn't get it when the tracking says you did.

Another scam sellers will do is to sell a fairly expensive item, claim to ship it, then close their Ebay account before dispute is settled. Strangely, Ebay allows this.

My problem anymore a seller stating ships from USA and then after you pay ends up coming from China and takes longer nothing you can do.

I just got scammed by the eBay support team. I bought a computer from an account that I learned later has been hacked. I left a negative review for the seller and went to eBay support. This is what they did: cleaned the seller's bad review (he's back at 100%), removed the object from my list of objects (so I can't complain), didn't give a dime back and they don't reply anymore.

Here's a different type of scam...Not having money in seller's account for a refund. I bought an item, paid immediately, never received the item. Filed a 'Did not receive' case... eBay DID side with me, but I never received a refund because the seller's PayPal account was completely empty. eBay never even offered to cover it, just 'Yes, we see you never got it, but the seller has no money for the refund. Too Bad So Sad.'

I was victim to scam #1, but for a small ticket item. The seller was selling a new blood pressure cuff at a price slightly better than other sellers. Their account was fairly new, but they did have some positive ratings (I'm sure they were bogus). The selling was happy to write me back and explain that the item was coming soon... it was not. I did launch a complaint and was able to eventually get my money back. Weeks into the process the seller's ratings changed to mostly negative ones, then the account went dark. Apparently, the scammer took photos from other sellers for random items that you would think would normally not be scammed (not phones or game consoles). They then posted them at a slightly better price making it an "easy" decision to buy. By the time the buyer was aware of what was going on they were long gone.

Thanks so much. I’ve been a fantastic buyer for many years - only had one bad seller - lost only $20.0 but it just got me so mad. I love eBay buying goodies and having fun. Now at my age it’s time to sell some fantastic toys and gear and make both parties happy. I’m 76 and if I don’t sell it my goodies they might land in the garbage or thrift shop. I would just like to give every thing to the Grandchildren - but they all don’t have the time. Thanks for taking your time to share.

Always good to be up on this stuff. Thanks.

Good advice thank you for sharing. As a seller - if able - and product allows - offering the buyers 30 day free returns can protect a seller in many instances. I send pictures of all my sold items. I send each and every buyer a courtesy message verifying their items purchased along with shipping address verification and pics of the unwrapped and wrapped item and its packaging. It does take more time - but it is worth it and many buyers are truly appreciative.

thanks u so much for all the tips.. very helpful.

Here's another one that should be added to the list. Don't accept offers from buyers with private feedback. If they got something to hide they can't ever be trusted period. I was recently scammed by one and have learned my lesson.

Also keep in mind that a check hasn’t cleared once your balance changes, only after the bank approves it, usually weeks later.

I had a buyer claim that he never received an item. According to Google maps the buyer lived in a gated community. I mentioned that in the response and asked if he spoke to his neighbors. Never heard from him again. Yesterday and today two different buyers said that they had just moved, but they didn't have time to change their address on Ebay. I fell for it once and it cost me $50. For these two scammers, the sales were canceled.

As a seller you are pretty much screwed. If they want your money they're gonna get it. All you can really do is block the buyers you don't want buying from you by entering their user ID or email address in your blocked buyer list. You can block 5000 people. Go to help and type in block buyers go to the box below and enter their user ID or email and a comma at the end separating each one. They will no longer be able to buy it now, make offers or bid on your items.

Full of interesting tips to avoid getting ripped off, thank you

I once paid for an item and was sent an empty box but the listing made no mention of it being box only. eBay refunded me and the seller was baleeted. Scammers are so lame

Awesome video, thanks for all the advices!

Thank you for this useful video I really needed a video so I can shop safer than before

Never purchase anything on E-Bay. The return routine for damaged goods is almost impossible, unless you want to waste hours upon hours with repeats.

As a seller you have no rights even if you video the package. The buyer always wins!. This is why I do not sell on eBay anymore, I videoed all my packages, with time stamps and security seals.. still lost the money. The biggest scam you missed out is the damn stupid e-cheque. It takes sooooo long to clear and can pend for a month, most get annoyed and send package and they cancel it. Thankfully you have there home address and well.. be inventive 😅

Very informative,Thank you

@4:50 - Although I have never had to deal with this one yet my question is would the shipping receipt be good for proof? It has the weight listed on it and well a empty box is not going to register that much weight so if it shows the correct product weight than its more proof in your favor

first time seller on ebay and in just hours Ive dealt with 4 scammers. I believed one because of the decent amount he offered only $20 more. But then proceeded to send me a fake email and asking me to basically ship it already when ebay was telling me to still send an invoice and wait for payment. this is really frustrating. I keep being asked to contact phone numbers and emails. a real buyer would just pay via ebay correct?

I bought something once, it said they were from Chicago. My package took a month to get to me and when it did it was came from China and the box was completely destroyed not only that the price of the item was printed on the box at half the price. It turned out to be a knockoff! I sent pics and asked the seller for a refund, they said they would get to it and never did. I gave them a bad review after all that and noticed I wasn't the only one later giving them bad reviews. I reported it to ebay and no response. I later went to check their reviews again and somehow they got rid of all the negative reviews back at 100% wtf?, then a couple weeks more i checked and their account was deleted. Luckily it wasn't something expensive but still I got scammed

Some time SOMETIMES it also depends on what you are selling, The items I sell gear toward to older peoples and collectors, I haven't had any problems SO FAR all these yearsss, Peoples read the negatives comments and think Ebay is terrible, I'm sure most successful sellers will tell you the good out weight the bad, Very good information!!

What if the buyer never wants to pick the item up at a PO Box and gets returned to you? Buyer never responds to communication. Does the buyer pay for all shipping before refund?

You didn't list this one that has happened to me: Buyer has two accounts, and bids ridiculously high thereby keeping other buyers away. Then, last minute the high bid buyer withdraws his bid and he gets it very cheap using second account.

I bought a vinyl and I never received it. I have the proof that I have bought it and even showed the seller the screenshots from my email and bank. They’re claiming that I wasn’t in their system and that I never bought anything from them. I find that weird cause a few days after I was supposed to receive it, I saw it was relisted. It was 10$ but still bums me out.

Thanks for the educational info.

Good to know. Thank you for making this video.

Good advice mate, thanks

Watching this video makes me want to neither buy or sell on eBay ever again

Great video 💪

Another defense against buyers who received empty package. Make sure you get and save the USPS receipt. It has the weight record there. Another scam use by thieving buyers is using the biggest ebay loophole. Even if you don't allow returns, all the buyer has to do is to request a return saying that the item doesn't match photos and descriptions. Then they sit back and wait. Then they open a case and eBay immediately gives them the money back. EBay takes it from you, keeps the selling fee, and the buyer keeps the item. It takes weeks to get the money back but the buyer has the money and the item. Nice scam!

Tracking scammers piss me off. They "send" you something with a tracking number then when it's about to leave the last shipping distribution center they change the address then they'll claim to resend it but then they send a tracking number that shows it delivered to your address but eBay can catch that especially if the time tables of shipping is odd, like if it's in one state one day and then suddenly "delivered" to your front door at 3 am in the morning which is something UPS or FedEx never do.

This does one thing for me, it reinforces the idea of never using that crap website to sell things from!

What's the file case for that scam l'm the buyer but the car Hiluz strada is carnap l don't know so whats the our file case?

Thank you for teaching me about these scams

Here’s another scam as it happened to us. I ordered an induction cooktop. Showed delivered by UPS but was not at our mailbox providers. I contacted eBay and stated our box never arrived. We could not get a refund as it showed delivered. I contacted UPS and found our box was delivered to our city but to a completely different name and address. I went back to eBay with the new information and luckily we got refunded.

It seems like its scams all the way down!

One I (living in Europe) have come across a couple of times is people who claim to ship from within the EU but actually ship from somewhere else, usually China or non-EU eastern Europe countries. This means the buyer will have to pay about 25% taxes and duties so naturally you want to buy a product that ships from within the EU or at least expect it to be cheaper accordingly if shipping from somewhere else.

THANKS FOR ALL THE TIPS

How about Shill bidding? The only way I can figure to fight against it is if the listing is public. That way you can check the bidders history. But if it's private you're just SOL?

Don't forget the classic Bait N Switch. You buy something off eBay, but instead of getting what you ordered, you just get either a broken version of your item, or a completely random Item.

I recently got caught when purchasing a set of brand name Lithium AA batteries. I used 6 of them in things like my camera, weather gauge and indoor light. All relatively low drain items which from previous experience last up to a year. These batteries all began failing after just a month. I complained to the seller and asked for a refund but he decided to go on holiday. I tried to use the eBay Buyer Protection Scheme but the 30 day return rule stopped that happening. There were a good number of similar duff battery comments on the seller's profile. Getting eBay to take notice and act on my behalf was very difficult. Direct contact being almost impossible. The batteries were probably fake and against eBay selling rules.

What happens if the scammer sent it to their own address?

The scary part is that scammers can look incredibly real. I bought from a scammer and the person looked 100% legit. Normal name, normal product prize, conversation before buying was completely normal, profile looked like a normal person etc. But I never received anything and they immediatly broke contact after I payed. No idea how to spot scammers if they are this good.

Damn Dude, You're making me rethink about selling my stuff on eBay. So disappointed but I will take your advice. Thanks.

you can go into your settings and only allow bids or purchases from buyers who have a certain amount of feedback. I highly highly recommend you do this

good advice, thank you.

Also, no point in taking pictures prior to sending as that’s no proof you actually put the item in the box at the point of sending. You could easily take the picture of the item in the box then remove it.

Scammers are tricky, sneaky, they like to confuse and are everywhere, one as an individual can take many precautions but at the end of the day when you make a payment or a deposit to a complete stranger there is always the fear that something will go wrong, even if you do it on some platform that offers a buyer protection program, it is not a guarantee that you will not be scammed nor does it guarantee that you can get a refund. What you need is an intermediary, someone who takes care of the money and is in charge of giving flow to the transaction and will not release it until you are satisfied, it would be the same as a seller, as long as you do your part correctly you can be sure that the intermediary will give you your money, no matter the buyer says. I dont mean to promote or advertise anything, I just wanted to tell that I am currently working on a proyect that is conceived with the sole purpose of ending scams once and for all. I won't share any link here because as I say this is just a mere comment, not advertise, but you can find our project on facebook by searching ''We agree App'', from there you can see more information. Thanks for your attention, have a nice day.

About the phishing scam, now they are trying to gain access to the email you have connected to your paypal and are saying they have to send a confirmation code to confirm payment, but its a recovery code so they can access your email, change the recovery options, and recover your paypal/banking to access your money. You do not have to give out your personal info such as emails or phone numbers, ever. Do everything through Ebay including tracking, invoices, etc.

i bought an item and received it but it was defective. i contacted the seller who then call me a scammer almost right away when he is the one who sent me a defective item. he told me when i asked for a return that maybe i wont ship back the same item and i could be a scammer and that he took note of serial number (when its not even stated in the auction). i asked him what number he has and he never wanted to respond to it. i was thinking maybe the item got broken in shipping but after the way of the seller of dealing with it , i dont think so. there are not only buyer scammers. sellers too. even some people with 100 percent feedback can deal in a bad way. taking pictures means nothing. you could take a pic of the item in the box and then ship the box empty or show an empty box you received after taking the item out and put rocks or something in it instead. you could take a pic of the serial number but then send another or show another when you receive it or ship it. ebay is very unsafe to me both as a buyer or seller. it happened to me that i shipped a monitor and the buyer sent me pics of it when he received it showing its broken. i had insurance so i contacted postal service to make a claim but the buyer sent pics of the monitor to the postal service showing the packaging which looked bad on his pics. then postal service refused to refund me saying it was not in the original packaging and this was a 1980 monitor. then i was forced to refund the buyer. i lost both the monitor and the money. it can be a real pain and a nightmare to deal on ebay whatever if buying or selling. its sad because it can be very good also. the good thing is that its a minority who act in a bad way. i believe over 99 percent will be good transactions but theres always some bad people having a bad day or doing something wrong at some point like real life too.

There is literally no way to prove you sent the item in the box, even if you video puting it in and wraping it up you could eailsy take it out off camera and wrap it up emepty and send.

I'm dealing with a customer who said they never received the item, but I have the post office receipt and item was recorded delivered, showing on the tracking number. Now they are asking me to refund, I hope eBay will see what's happening.

Hi, I just started selling on Ebay. When you accept a customer's offer and they send you a message saying they have questions about item and wants you to privately text them at a phone number they provide; should you text them or ignore them?

u can get scammed on paypal also, paypal almost always will side with the buyer

I also sell on eBay and a buyer claimed to not to have received a package I shipped but the postal tracking showed delivery time and date-- I think their package was stolen but I sold out of that product so fast even if they wanted to repurchase it wouldn’t have come from me.

The first item I ever listed and would have sold… an eBay buyer tried to scam me by making me buy a $200 ebay gift card for his “brother”

I’ve mostly had success as an eBay seller, but lately a lot of buyers have been trying to scam me, usually with the offer system. If you’re smart, these scammers (at worst) will just waste your time rather than steal your cash.

At the very least there should be a time limit for an appeal! Ebay never seems to stand with their sellers. 😔

How can you fight back when eBay isn’t making it easy to reach them anymore?

Good to know thank you 🙏

You can do everything right and still eBay will side with the buyer. I'm proof of it. The appeals process is little more than appeasement, but do it anyhow. Ebay has amped up its "protection" for buyers lately. NOW there's a bigger fish to fry at ebay: the reps are informing people to get refunds, they are telling them they can open a case with Ebay AND PayPal if the seller won't refund them. See Lindey Glenn's video yesterday, we've got screenshots and proof this is happening. Thank you, I have to learn all I can about these scams, it's hard to try and think like a criminal and know all their tricks. New sub!

What about the offer one where the buyer says text me, and wants you to buy gift card as well

as a seller you are basically @ the mercy of any & all buyers. just hope they are honest

What if they ask for your email and phone number so they can make a shipping label? Only asking because I have never had any ask for that

I have a question,i bought a phone from ebay auction i won from france,i live in eu,the seller sent me his passport photo with all his information,the tracking number, but i cant really see the item saying its in transit,should i be concerned? Or is it ok?

4:28 what's crazy is someone just tried to do this to me yesterday. Turns out the original owner of the account was hacked and the hacker tried to convince me to buy $400 worth of ebay cards for them.

eff the fees. sell local ppl. win win for everyone

Hi I really need your help I bought an item from Ebay and o made the payment from PayPal and tow days and two days later I checked the item on Ebay and it showed me the item is unavailable any more and the seller also unavailable, I tried to cancel the order Ebay said (this item has not been paid yet) and I can't contact the seller because he's account unavailable. What can I do?

Is it a scam when they give you their number and also say “kindly” ??

I'm new to eBay - THANK_YOU - really great info.

someone please answer. the person trying to buy from me is from Germany, and they only have positive reviews from Bulgaria, Hong Kong, France, and Germany. They offered more money than i offered. are they a scammer?

Can u plz tell me how to use vouchers on eBay sometimes saying $10 off. By using vouchers code.

The photographing as you package it is one I haven't been doing and definitely need to start doing, People are assholes, sucks videos like this even need to exist.

Common scam: Seller's price is way too high. Eg: LED Globe worth $6 is offered for $37. They are preying on naive purchaser who BELIEVES every thing on E-bay is a bargain.

Even if $750 is the minimum, I recommend anything over $300 or so.. during the election week a sold poster at $350 stopped in tracking through Priority and just sat in limbo for over a week and the customer filed a claim and that money was yanked out of my account, never to be replaced and I was ruined. I got the poster back after a couple weeks, but have not yet recovered of this nightmare. My uploaded tracking numbers no longer do me any good like they used to.

This video is misleading with so much info. Looks like you didn't actually go through any of those examples yourself. As a seller you will be screwed by eBay even if you photograph or video anything. From empty boxes scams to claiming item was broken, the seller will loose every case. eBay will argue that they weren't there when you took the pictures? How do they know you didn't take the pictures of the item in the box and then removed it and resealed the box? They will always and I mean always side with the buyer

#6 keep the receipt from the shipper showing the weight of the item shipped.

Thank you for the information , the reason I looked up for that information because every time I am trying to sell a product over 100$ I get two offers either with the same price or much higher from two different accounts. I looked them up and both of them bran new made a weak ago or one day ago. They dont have any feedbacks or photo, looks very suspicious. Don't know what to do.

wow, glad i found and watched this video. one of these scams r tryn on me now. ty ty 4 this video, i busted thier bs

In my experience ebay actually helps and sides with the scammer in most cases, Ive had people send their broken stuff back not much you can do about it even if it is totally different with serial numbers etc. All ebay care is that you had something sent back now you need to refund then ebay start threatening to put bad marks against your account and how it will effect you in the future. Its easier to just take the hit and accept ebay helps the scammers. My tip is only sell stuff on ebay that you was going to throw away

So has anyone encountered where a buyer questions you as to why they recieved 1 instead of 5x? They send you a pic of your listing which clearly states one item but somewhere on that picture is another listing that says 5X. This is the third time I am dealing with this. I dont know if its a photoshopped item or Ebay is adding other listings and my customers are getting confused and I have to do the clean up.

Very informative video. You have a new subscriber maybe someday I can do a content about this if and when I expand my channel.

what do i do if ebay doesnt have buyer protections i bought a camera that should be covered but why isnt it

Also; if a buyer purchased an item and then messaged you I need you to post it to this different address you ask them to update there delivery address via settings or cancel the sale and register it abd get then to buy it again with tbr actual address.. the scam is they can claim of you didn't send it to there ebay default address that was supplied despite the messages.... so always make sure you got there main address and not there messages as there address 😉

It’s so sad this things are happening. There are scam sellers and buyers. I’ve been scammed a few times as a buyer, I don’t know as a seller.

Very helpful thank you!