Online auctions: paradise for scammers or....?

Very often, furrowing the boundless spaces of the Internet, we come across with various offers to buy a good thing (indeed, the thing which you have dreamed of, but could not afford) for a mere penny. The first thought that occurs is that it is a scam. Well, how can super sophisticated phone cost just $5? It can! In case if you deal with an online auction. It is no wonder to find a car here at a price of a washing machine. However, this does not mean that the products are sold at a nominal price: sometimes it happens that it would be cheaper to buy an item in the store ... Someone may say that everything is simple: you put up your stuff for auction, then comes bidding, you pay and get your goods! But no ... It's not so easy and reason is the same – scam!

And where is the catch? Oh, you may find it almost everywhere! Internet is the same market where it’s better for you to keep your eyes open otherwise someone else will go shopping with your own money.

So, where can it be? First let’s turn to auctions. One of the most popular auctions in the world is eBay. Here you can find everything, absolutely everything - from paper clips to cars, villas, cottages and so on. However when it comes to registration, we find an obstacle. Russia is not included into the list of participating countries; hence there is no Russian version. So, you will have to make an effort and recall a funny ABC from school program, otherwise use translating software. Although it is also possible to search for Russian version of registration which is proposed by a whole bunch of different sites on the RuNet. Here can the first trick be hidden. Very often the services offer links you can register through. It seems to be easy, but do not do this! Do not follow links, because they simply can lead to the site of fraudsters who have created a clone site. It’s better just to examine the Russian version and to complete the registration form on the official site following the examples provided. Otherwise you risk to be left without your money kept in your bank account or in PayPal. For your soul sake it would be better to re-read the title of the auction in the address bar and verify the presence of a small icon with a padlock confirming that you are in the right place.

So, you're on the site as a full member. What’s next? Next is shopping! When choosing do not focus on the combination of product-price, it’s better to pay attention to the ranking of members, and more precisely on the feedback rating. If the feedback contains unflattering words, it is better not to get involved. The whole mechanism of the auction is based on trust and reputation - it is important for participants in the auction, so for them to tarnish the reputation - it is as «bite the hand that feeds». The seller with bad reputation is a potential scammer.

Finally, having chosen a decent seller, you start betting. And .... Win! Not so black as one is painted you may say, huh? Wait, everything is ahead ... Ebay is an American site, although its members are scattered around the world. Winning the bid does not mean to receive goods immediately. Not all vendors agree to ship goods to Russia due to high fees, bureaucratic problems. For example, a friend of mine bought a guitar. First the vendor opened mouth wide, and then offered to bring his guitar in parts, which will be considered not like a finished product but as a wood. So, what’s the result? He got only one part, and even not the one offered ... who knows who have scammed, but the guitar has not been received. Choosing of a supplier is also important. Do not fall a victim of the swindlers! Address only to the proven services.

There is another trick of the scammers, which quite often get naive users of the auction into trouble. Looking through the history of trades, fraudsters often remember the addresses of buyers who failed to get an item and send them messages, allegedly from the sellers offering similar lot, but cheaper and better. New users usually rush into the maelstrom with their heads because they think that if a person is registered in the system as a seller, he was verified by the system. But do not rush zealously to the embrasure and quickly acquire the goods. First, you should pay attention to the return address of the sender, he must be from ebay server, and not from any else. You can also ping sender’s IP address, if it is some illicit sender, it certainly will come out some IP of some “illicit” country. If you are still in doubt, it’s better to send a request to the security service, and they will surely dot the i’s and cross the t’s. If everything is legal, then you do not harm the sender, otherwise the sender will be blocked and other people will thank you.))) Although not so long ago, the postal service, gmail from Google has introduced a new service that allows senders to distinguish real sellers from the fake ones. The system simply blocks illicit letters from fake sellers, and receives only the letters that are sent from servers ebay, which can be found from an indication icon in front of the letter with the logo of ebay or paypal.

Where else can you run into a deception? Sometimes it is simply impossible to determine the quality of a product by feel. A model that seems to be new may turn out to be an old and worn-out stuff which was polished before the sale. So, if you doubt you with a safe conscience may demand moneyback for a couple of days and thus you will get a chance to return the goods within a couple of days you need to check the quality. Also, if something's too expensive, it would be nice to take a receipt from the seller that it confirms the quality of theoduct, and rewrite all of his passport details in case if the seller is still lying.

Also you should carefully examine goods before purchase. Learn more about the product before the upcoming purchases, as it happens that people sell goods at auction for the same price as a new in-store, with the only difference that in the shop the seller provides a guarantee as well. Upon receipt it is necessary to examine a purchase since there were cases when people got an item that was similar to the one sold but the quality was much worse.

All this may happen to you if you make purchases yourself but nowadays there is a great number of services, specializing specifically in the supply of goods to Russia. Actually theses services may bring colors to your life. The scheme is as follows: you contact the service, tell them about the merchandise desired, and the amount you are ready to pay. Representatives of the service deducted their fee from this amount, and basing on the value they begin to participate in the auction. The seller may even be not aware where the goods will be sent as a service providing such services always have their people «there». Such office start working only after getting an advance payment and some of them require even full prepayment. Theoretically, these services may scam you, but on the other hand it is not entirely beneficial. First, it is all the same reputation, which is so difficult to earn and so simple to lose. Secondly, with the transport of each lot, they have at least 200 dollars. it is more profitable for them to bring 5 guitars and earn 1000 dollars, than to take a prepayment – the same 1000 dollars and disappear. Although, if you finally come across with the fraudsters, you may….As the saying goes, you never know where you will find, but where you lose.=)

One more advantage of work with such services is payment.. Most sellers want to get paid via PayPal, which is extremely unfriendly to our fellow citizens. And even if you have an account with the system it may mean nothing since unfriendly word addressed towards you and your account may result in locking of your PayPal, with all your money. With services things looks absolutely different. They usually have PayPal account, registered in the U.S., bank aacount, and a good reputation. You can pay for their services in rubles at the rate of the Central Bank on the day of the transaction.

No matter whether you purchase a product yourself or order it to some service you should always remain vigilant, because it is your money, and it is always painful to lose it. Better safe than sorry - this proverb should become a golden rule for you when dealing with online auction site, no matter foreign or domestic. Good luck, and merry shopping!

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