Here are some tips to help you immediately spot a probable Dishonest Ebay Auction and/or probable Rip Off Ebay Seller to save you money as well as being ripped off on Ebay in the future.

1 – 3. Shill Bidder Auctions.

These are auctions where either the seller under another screen name or accomplice bids up the price of the item auctioned. There are 3 ways to spot shill bid auctions:

1. An item with no bids for at least a day after a legitimate first bid, suddenly gets a second bid within an hour or two. That second bid is in all likelihood a shill bid.

2. An item with no bids for at least a day after a legitimate first bid, suddenly gets a second bid within an hour or two by someone with 0 to 3 feedback. That second bid is even likelier than example 1 to be a shill bid.

3. Someone in the last few hours of an auction with 0 to 3 feedback bids furiously. That person in likelihood is a shill bidder.

Note, some people with 3 or less feedback are legitimate bidders but common sense tells me they are probably not. The reason shill bidders have 3 or less feedback is because they seldom accidentally win an auction.

4-11. Rip Off Ebay Seller.

This is the seller who either sells you stuff not listed as described or doesn’t bother to send you an item at all. Of course the easiest way to guard against this is if a seller has over 25 selling Feedbacks that are at least 95% positive. I also would not purchase anything expensive from someone who lives in a foreign country.

4. Any Seller who uses the Words “Sold as Is” or “As Is” on an item should be avoided because they are telling you in obscure language that once you buy it, you are stuck with it, no matter what.

5. Sellers who use ambiguous language, omit key points, etc., are in all likelihood hiding important facts from you. Do not buy from them. There is a reason why they’ve written their listing so unspecific.

6. Sellers who insist on having money wired to them by Western Union or a telegraph wire. This one is so obvious.

7. Sellers who ask for personal identification like Passport ID’s, Social Security Numbers, Birth Dates, Back Account Numbers, etc.

8. Sellers who have less than 10 positive feedback. This one I admit is a bit unfair as one has to start from someplace but my attitude is it isn’t going to be from me.

9. Seller who won’t respond to questions you have on an item.

10. Sellers whose listings look like they’ve been written by someone on crack.

11. Sellers whose Buy It Now Prices are too good to be true. Guess what they are!

You might want to check out another Blog I wrote here titled How to Win Ebay Auctions At The Lowest Possible Price Click Here

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