How to avoid eBay scams

eBay is not always the cheapest place to make a purchase. Sometimes sellers are trying their luck and so always check prices first on a shopping comparison engine like Kelkoo, Shopping.com and Pricerunner.

Don’t buy information only products
Some sellers try to sell lists or links to information which is usually available elsewhere for free. Avoid like the plague
Read the description carefully
Sometimes it seems you’re bidding for an object on eBay, when all that’s actually up for grabs is a link to a site selling it. Equally sometimes the seller is actually selling the box and item was sold in and trying to pass this off as the real thing.
Always read the whole description in detail before bidding.
Know your rights.

If you use the ‘Buy It Now’ button, rather than a standard auction, to buy from a UK based trader on eBay, and you’ve all the same statutory rights as buying from a shop. A trader is someone who makes some or all of their living from regularly selling goods. Technically it’s up to the Court’s to decide but it’s usually pretty obvious.

Buy from a private individual and the law says “let the buyer beware”. Providing your purchase arrives ‘as described’ there’s little legal comeback (assuming you can trace them anyway) and the standard seven day internet cooling-off period usually doesn’t apply to auction purchases.
Don’t depend on Feedback.

Whilst Feedback is a good indicators of a seller honesty, it is possible to fake feedback by having multiple IDs, and IDs can be stolen.

And finally…

If something sounds too good to be true it probably is. Be careful.