Top ten tips for staying safe buying and selling via online sites

Browsing the internet one day, via a favorite website, an item is spotted that looks wonderful. It fulfills exactly the need. The price is either low or something that can be worked with and it's not too far away. Stop! This is where everything usually goes completely pear-shaped. It doesn't matter what the item is - whether it's a camera, an antique fairy cake a computer, a camper, a car or a pair of earrings. Stop right there!

The four main ways of getting secondhand goods are via Amazon, eBay, Craigslist and Facebook. Each has its own individual hurdles for both buying and selling. Different types of precautions are needed for both. Each one has its fair share of oddballs, misfits, criminals and idiots. Let's look at some examples:

• Amazon - Who exactly is selling the goods? Is it a private individual, a store, a private individual running a psuedo-store (these guys usually buy the leftovers from yard or estate sales)? Are they reliable - how to know they're reliable? Sure - there's a "ratings" system in place but they can be skewed easily by having a buddy make a lot of low value purchases and give high ratings. As an example, if on the first sale the seller gets a zero for supplying broken, faulty or stolen goods and a buddy then buys 20 separate postage stamps at 10c each then the bad rating becomes 1 of 21 ratings. Thus a single zero-star and 20 five-star ratings gives the rogue seller 4.76 out of 5. Are the items on sale legitimate?
• eBay - again - who is selling the goods? Have the ratings been skewed? As with Amazon, it pays to pay particular attention to the wording of the item. Is there any way that the item could be as described yet still non-functional? There are so many horror stories of eBay purchases and eBay scams that it would seem foolish to use such a rogue system.
• Craigslist - This site is synonymous with scams, crooks and worse. The Craigslist Killer is just one such example. The only time (and the site even says this) that a deal should be made via Craigslist is when the deal is made in public and when other precautions are taken, including having burly friends along or being armed.
• Facebook - This is pretty much like Craigslist. There's no telling whether the item is legitimate or whether the buyer is legitimate. Anybody can set up a Facebook profile and claim to be anybody. There are enough photos on the internet for somebody to claim to be somebody they are not. In an earlier article, Veritassium was mentioned. The fellow behind Veritassium revealed there were many fake profiles. Having said that, it's often prudent with social media to work under a pseudonym. Thus an anonymous account doesn't mean anything of itself. The same precautions as for Craigslist need to take place with all Facebook transactions.
• Paypal - The number of frauds involving Paypal are immense. Best just to avoid Paypal since it's not actually a bank and does not have to abide by banking rules.

The top tips for staying safe with all these transactions

1. Low prices indicate something is amiss
2. Agreeing to meet in a public venue then changing the location at the last minute indicates something is amiss.
3. The venue is off a dirt track or well out into the countryside or a disreputable area of town indicates something is amiss.
4. Insistence on meeting privately and unaccompanied indicates something is amiss.
5. Unusual payment methods being required eg Western Union indicate something is amiss.
6. Payment by check with a payment for overmuch money requiring a refund indicates something is amiss.
7. Payment is made as a person to person fund transfer on Paypal. This indicates something is amiss.
8. Payment is made to one country/person and goods are shipped to/received by somebody in a different country. This indicates something could be amiss.
9. Use of an Escrow service is suggested. This definitely indicates something is amiss.
10. Proof of ownership of the item cannot be produced or the seller is "selling it for a friend" indicates something is amiss.

There are more indicators of criminality such as somebody being shifty but these are harder to describe and need to be assessed on an individual basis. Remember - missing out on the "bargain of the century" is not a big deal. Getting ripped-off, mugged or murdered is bigger problem - well perhaps being murdered just means your problems are over in this world!

The Great Paypal Scam

Paypal a scam? Say it ain't so! Yes, that great bastion of nothingness is just another online scam but perpetuated by eBay. First off, Paypal is not a bank. It does not have to adhere to any of the banking rules and regulations. It does not have to adhere to rules of privacy, secrecy or even have to give you your money.  It is the modern equivalent of investing with Don Guido.  A while ago, a fellow approached me to purchase a tablet that I had mentioned I wanted to sell. Payment was made via Paypal. Being somewhat suspicious I called Paypal who told me no way should I ship the tablet to the fellow and immediately reversed the transaction.  They actually charged me for this! Anyway, from the words of Paypal, any transaction made that is not made through eBay can be reversed at the behest of the payer. The payee has no say in any of this. Now that doesn't sound entirely honest and is one of the reasons I have not linked my Paypal to a bank account. Paypal is also making things really easy for the online crooks. I placed the following advertisement on Craigslist: 

"One virtually unused Canon 580 EX2 with carrying pouch and stand. I bought this thinking I was going to use it and ended up not using it at all. I just don't do flash photography.
Buyer must be prepared to meet in Lexington. Cash only."

The advert attracted no genuine responses at all even though there was a photo on the advert. I'm just getting very much the feeling that people have become very meh about photography and photographic equipment. I did, however attract a scammer.

 

After convincing the budding felon that I did not have a Paypal account, he wanted me to give him my bank details and bank account number so that he could deposit straight into my bank account. Strangely enough, he found that my account was so old that this was not possible and that my bank hadn't actually connected to the internet yet. They'll believe anything in Nigeria! 

 

Thus, the little felon promised to send a check by post with a tracking number to my PO Box (the PO Box that I'm planning on closing when the rental is up at the end of the month).  Had this check actually arrived, it would have been framed and hung on the wall as a trophy.

The fake check scam and the Paypal scam are pretty much the same thing, operated slightly differently. The fake check relies upon inertia in the banking system. A fake check drawn against a genuine account might take months to be discovered, particularly if the owner of the account is a soldier serving overseas. The bank, of course, rectifies that immediately and the money trail is reset right up to the account where the fake check was deposited and the money taken back out of that account. With the Paypal edition, the money is paid into the account and then after the goods have arrived, a claim is made that the box was empty or contained nothing but a brick or that nothing ever arrived. Paypal sides with the buyer every time and thus the victim is out to the tune of the goods and the money. In my opinion, Paypal needs to be shut down or sold off to a bank to operate under banking rules and regulations.

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