4 Ways eBay Sellers Get Scammed

The unfortunate truth is that getting scammed on eBay is just as easy as actually selling something. As selling on eBay is easy, you can learn some of the most common scams that sellers encounter specifically to avoid losing money when selling.

1 Accepting payments outside of eBay

Scammers like to ask you to make a payment outside of eBay in the DM about the item, or otherwise try to move the transaction off of eBay. They do this to avoid all of eBay’s built-in seller protection. With Venmo or Zelle, you have no choice; once the money is gone, it’s gone. If a scammer does any of these things, block and report them immediately.

2 Refund Shakedown

You sell an item and the buyer receives it, but claims they are not satisfied and requests a direct refund outside of eBay’s official refund process. They’ll ask you to use Venmo, Paypal, Zelle, or maybe send a check, and if you don’t, they’ll give you a bad review or otherwise make life difficult for you on eBay, not unlike the small shop owner extortion mafia. for “protection”.

It works by scaring you, the seller, into giving them money. It’s a classic shakedown, but the simple answer is, “No, go through eBay’s refund process.” A bad review is not a big deal and you can appeal it. You’ll have the scammer’s communications with you as proof, and then they’re on the hook for trying to shake you down. Chances are they’ll take the loss and move on to pestering someone else.

3 Switching

This scam is similar to the previous one, but a bit more complicated. After making a legitimate purchase, the scammer will go through eBay’s proper refund process—they may even provide you and eBay with photos of the damaged item to prove their point—and send you back the item that is actually damaged.

The trick is that what they return is not the item you sent them. Smarter thieves will send back a damaged identical model they bought cheap; however, smaller thieves will simply send back the box with the brick. Either way, they get their money’s worth, at least initially.

However, the seller is not without compensation in this case. If you have documentation or evidence to prove that you did not receive the original item you sold, eBay will refund your money and the scammer will be permanently banned.

4 Alternate address

This cheat is less sneaky than the previous one, but smarter. Once the scammer has paid, they will send you a DM and ask you to send the item to a different address than the one they provided in the official transaction. You play along to be nice, ship the item to a new address, get paid, and then move on with your life.

About a week later you get an email from eBay complaining from the buyer that they never received the item and they want their money back. When you appeal with your tracking information, you quickly find that you’re, uh… thrown. If the goods have not been sent to transaction addressyou ran out of money and the scammer got the item for free.

In this case, you have no choice, as I learned a few years ago when I fell victim to this scam.

5 How to Avoid Fraud as an eBay Seller

Fortunately, there are several ways eBay sellers can protect themselves.

Photograph everything, including serial numbers

Before shipping the item, take a few photos next to the shipping label, preferably with the serial number. That way, if you get hit with a Switch-Up Return & Refund scam, you can prove that you shipped the item and that the buyer actually received it as described. If they return you a different but damaged identical item, you have proof that the serial numbers are different.

Check the history of the buyer

If a buyer is messaging you but the situation appears to be fraudulent, check their eBay profile. How old is it and what feedback do they have? If the account was recently created or doesn’t have a lot of feedback (you won’t see bad feedback because eBay doesn’t show bad reviews), block and report them immediately. Definitely don’t sell them anything.

Track all shipments with delivery confirmation

Do yourself a favor and make sure you purchase tracking and use postage that requires a signature for high priced items. This will protect you and ensure that you have done everything you should have done regarding shipping.

Only transact through eBay

This is listed last because it is the most important and we remember most of what we read. If a buyer asks you to bypass any part of the official eBay process, block them and report them as soon as possible. While eBay emphasizes its protection for buyers, its system provides many protections for sellers, and these protections are void if you do anything outside of eBay’s official processes.