AUCTION SITE SCAM

Online buying is a big business. Many people were lured in entering into buying an item because they can find a great deals and discounted price on a hard to find items around the world. They become a perfect hunting ground for scam artists to do their dirty work. How can you protect yourself from fraud? Stay away from the online auction if you don't know the ropes of the business. But if you insist, then take it at your own risk.

There were tremendous growth of purchasing an item on line even in the midst of cheating and scamming innocent internet users. Doing internet auction is not relatively safe. If you are new to this kind of transaction, know it first before buying.

Don't believe too much of what they advertised. Luxury goods may be counterfeit or fake. Use your good judgment in choosing a specific item. Read the forum of the auction site your choose. Read feed backs from other people. There may be negative comments you can find from such a site.

Use postal insurance for the item you want to purchase. This will be your security if something happen to your shipment. When sending payments for your purchases, use online payment service like pay pal or use your credit card. Check if the auction site is a secured site. Ask a return receipt of any payment you made. Don't send cash or use money-wiring services.

Control your spending. Allow only a certain amount in your budget for such a purpose. If something goes along the way in transacting business with the seller, you will not completely losing tremendous amount. It is not easy to recover what had been lost in your hands.

Consider the location inside the U.S. territory. Check if the location of the seller is true and legitimate address. If he failed to deliver the goods,you can no longer ask for a refund. Don't reply to a phishing e-mail asking you of your password and other personal information. Check the true origin of the e-mail. Check if the item you are bidding can be send to you immediately or late. Expect that there is possibilities that they will not send it to you or sending a wrong merchandise of less value.

Before entering into a transaction to any auction site, read their term of use. There may be hidden fees and charge you at the time of purchase. Transact business only to those legitimate auction site already noted for their honesty and known throughout the world. Don't be lured immediately to the promise of a better deal.

Don't entertain any pop-up notice asking your personal and financial information or clicking any link. A legitimate site will not ask this information via e-mail. The use of credit card is safe when paying an item. It allows the buyer to seek a credit card issuer called "charged back", if the product is wrong and not what was ordered or intentionally will not deliver. Using online payment is more secured because it protect buyers' account information.

Know the correct description of the merchandise. Ask additional information about the item. Don't believe too much what they told you. Beware of any convincing words or headings about the item. It maybe possible that the item information is not the actual description of the item. Give much thought before buying an expensive item. Fraud is common to this kind of seller-buyer interaction.

If you are very suspicious of what had been advertised, check it thoroughly. Don't take it for granted. It maybe a valid warning for you to consider verifying. Don't allow yourself to be defrauded because of your inattention and misinformation. Ask the seller more questions for your satisfaction. If you are not convince, then don't.

One technique employed by scam artist (seller) is to use capital letters with highlights indicating the description of the item. The quality may be exaggerated to make the item more beautiful to the eyes of the buyer.

Know the true price of the item. It might be overprice or the price is unreasonable and unacceptable. If the seller can give you an authenticated price listing of the item you want, it is a helpful guide for you to decide to buy.

Know any sign of misrepresentation of the merchandise, its value, condition, authenticity and the price. This is always the common trick applied by the seller to do an act of fraud. Most often, the seller run and take your money and the failure to ship the item leaving you wondering what happened, putting you penniless as you are caught off-guard of not expecting the possible.