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After this experience, I decided to share some things I learnt about what to do and what not to do when you try to purchase something from Ebay. I’m pretty sure it’s common sense, and I knew everything about protecting myself from scams, including the fact that if something’s too good to be true, then it probably is, and yet at that moment of bidding, adrenaline seemed to blank all these things out. So here you go:

• Do NOT buy anything using payment methods without chance of getting your money back should you fall into a scam (read: Western Union, wire transfers, personal cheque, money order etc). If you get scammed, even if you could trace the account to where the money went, that person might have emptied it out and ran away. Only buy using PayPal or credit card where there’s buyer protection clauses.
• If you have to pay using one of those unsecured methods in extreme cases (oh I don’t know… seller is a believer of some weird cult that bans the use of credit card ? ), then use an escrow service such as Escrow.com to protect yourself. Even here, be wary of unscrupulous escrow services that are in league with the sellers and can also steal your money. Only use reputable and well known escrow services.
• Research everything you can about the person your are doing transactions with. I checked the feeback of that seller, and even then couldn’t tell that he was a scammer.
• If a seller does random transactions here and there, but suddenly puts hundreds of items on sale within a short time period, be wary of this, might be signs he (or she)’s trying to do a cash grab and run.

I’m sure there are many more guides on how to protect yourself on Ebay out there. Just Google around, and you’re bound to find tons of information. The moral is to educate yourself before making any transaction on Ebay.

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