Despite making extensive use of the internet on a daily basis for years I've never actually bothered to get into the whole 'ebay' thing until someone suggested I put the scooby up on it (which I've now done). I decided to search around and see what its all about it and it seems to me to just be scam after scam?? Is this just 'ebay' then - is this what I've been missing I looked for plasma tv's and there was post after post of people selling 'ebooks' that would 'tell' you how you could get a Plasma TV for £175. Sure Is there any truth in this sort of cr@p or are these sorts of things all scams?

Bring me up to speeds peeps, what are the ebay do's and dont's, whats the lingo

 

in my experience, ebay is about 90% honest traders and 10% scammers. i have not yet been ripped off or had any bad experiences. some of the people i have bought from have been extraordinarily helpful, even when the value of the trade was only a few £. Generally, the scams stand out a mile. of course you can't get a plasma tv for £175. i usually ask a few innocuous questions about the item by email, prior to bidding. if they can't answer them, it may be an ID hijack.

 

yeah there's one major scam where this scottish guy is selling a dodgy subaru, and...

heaps of scams such as these: http://scams.flipshark.com/ebayindex.html and loads more. just avoid anything "too good to be true"... as it probably is.

but a good place to sell your stuff. just make sure you're only letting people with plenty of good feedback bid on your product.. especially if it's expensive. with a car, make buyers aware that they're bidding to buy it for that price... NOT bidding to come and look at it to see if they want it at that price.

 

oh yeah... and with the strong price of the £ vs. the $ and getting stronger... you could have a REALLY good deal if you're buying goods from the states on ebay (not relevant to your scoob i know)

 

just seen some guy trying to sell his "infallible" roulette system for £20 a time . surely this must be a scam?

location: edinburgh

 

Sounds like SaxoBoy worked ut his probabilities at last

 

LOL @ PC

Cheers for the link Milo - very good information to bring me up to speed. Interestingly I saw a very authentic looking plasma TV ad that had the title 42" Pioneer Plasma TV Picture" and I thought to myself, 'thats odd' - sure enough this is a known scam!

 

yep - you'll get a picture of a plasma tv

 

I got ripped off on a plasma TV way back when I first started using E Bay, it wasnt one of the schemes you mention above, but needless to say it was a cloned ID and I got jack back, and the police have been hopeless,
Gary

 

Ebay's a bit like life. The majority are honest folk just trying to sell a few things. But there's the usual underclass of cheats, fraudsters and wasters who see it as a way to rip some poor sap off. Don't let 'em put you off.

Just keep a weather eye out for the feedback ratings Ebayers have and you should be ok.

UB

 

I did all the checks I could and everything came back as spot on, the problem being that the account had been cloned, but I agree that there is a minority of scum on there, I have bought quite a few other things and have had no problems at all.