eBay-The "Big City" at Your Fingertips
by ocean-gypsy
eBay Member

eBay is like having a big city like New York City in your home or office. As with any other large city, the virtual city of eBay has large corporate-run sellers (like Disney), small businesses (like smaller, brick-and-mortar businesses that also do a part of their business via eBay), "mom and pop" sellers (couples or individuals who don't do this as a primary source of income, but who sell on a regular basis and pride themselves in personalized customer service), and "yard sale" sellers (people who don't sell on a continuous basis or buy for resale, but who are just trying to clean out their personal closets). Also, just like in a big city, you have to expect that you will also have the seamier side trying to sell you items that "fell of the back of a truck" from out of the trunk of their car.

There are clean stores and honest sellers aplenty and you can have great experiences shopping with them, but you will also be smart to stay away from the "dark alleys." The only way to know where these alleys are is to educate yourself and to use your "street smarts."

In this city of eBay, we have our own reputation system: Feedback. Feedback will show you a history of a buyer or seller's eBay transactions and whether they were positive or negative. Study feedback. Know with whom you are dealing and what prior customers' satisfaction levels with that person were. Use discretion when you look at feedback. Having tons of feedback doesn't mean the individual is a great seller necessarily. A seller can have lots of good feedback, but enough bad comments to make you feel uncomfortable dealing with them. A seller with a lower feedback rating, but with all stellar comments from customers, may encourage your trust more than someone with a high rating that also has a track record of receiving regular negatives. Remember, you are sending money in trust that you will receive your item as described in return. Has your prospective seller a proven a track record of happy customers? Or are there more complaints than you are comfortable with?

eBay's Safe Harbor is like the police department in this big city of eBay. But as in any police department, they can't be everywhere at once. They depend on the Community to be their eyes and ears and to report when suspicious activity is occurring. In real life, although the police are a presence, it is very rare for them to stop a bank robbery or con artist before the bank is robbed or the unsuspecting victim is scammed. They depend on alarms being sounded and complaints being lodged in order to be alerted and prevent future activity from the perpetrators. Just as the real life police hold Community Awareness campaigns to alert citizens of red flags to beware in order to keep themselves from falling victim, so Safe Harbor has Help pages, educational information, and online workshops to help educate eBay members about how to protect themselves from falling victim to a scammer. Take advantage of these programs that eBay offers. After all, they only were created to help you protect yourself.

Just as in real life, there will be a bad element found on eBay. They are a tiny percentage of eBay as a whole, but sometimes it might seem like they get the lion's share of publicity. Use common sense and ask yourself common sense questions about the sale before you bid.

To quote another member from one of their helpful postings "Remember that most designer items cost what they cost. The makers could hardly ask premium prices if they allowed a limitless secondary cheaper market to exist. They would be cutting their own throats. Take a moment to question how some one would have gotten the item and why they would sell it so cheap. Why sell a $500.00 new 'name' handbag for $200.00 if new ones are worth $500? Why would any one in the far reaches of central Europe or Asia even HAVE the newest Plasma Screen TV?"

I usually send folks to carefully read This Page - 'It Might Be A Scam If...'. That page is also available as a link on my About Me page.

Most problems in the "big city" of eBay can be avoided if you remember you use good common sense and keep these two thoughts in mind: 1) if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and 2) bid on sellers' items who have established feedback reputations that justify your trust (as most good eBay sellers have).