Safest way to buy from EBAY

[Unclej78]

What is the safest way to buy from ebay?

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks.

[nospleen]

Originally posted by Unclej78
What is the safest way to buy from ebay?

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks.

One thing is to check the items that people built their feedback on. If they built it on two dollar items, i would be hesitant to purchase a large transaction. I bought my Dual 1gig Powermac with superdrive on ebay for 1699 still sealed in the box!! Good deals can be found, but check out the feedback!

[Nipsy]

Length of registration (now displayed on seller's item) is key as well.

Even if someone has earned their rep selling $1 baseball cards, if they've been doing it for 3 years, they're much less likely to disappear with a big ticket item.

I primarily sell items of low value, but recycle my machines, and always get higher than average bids, because I've been an active trader almost 5 years, write thorough descriptions, and use ACTUAL photos of the items.

[howard]

yeah, actual photos are a good thing, i never buy anything if there isn't an actual photo of what i'm buying. also paypal helps, just seems a better way than just sending a check in the mail. but thats more of a personal preference.

[rainman::|:|]

the absolute *safest* way to use ebay is to use Escrow, but that's a bit expensive. good for high-priced stuff. There are a couple of trustworthy escrow companies on the web, but there are plenty of scams too, so ask around before you pick one--

pnw

[TheInevitable]

You got to be careful even if their feedback is good. I have great positive feedback on my account, and last weekend, someone hacked into my account and changed my passwords and username and tried selling (scamming) stuff using my account. If the bidder checked the feedback, they would see my feedback.

EBay caught the suspicious behavior and fixed it for me, but I still feel violated.

[cr2sh]

You need to be careful even with ESCROW tranfers. There are escrow scams going around where someone will setup and entire site that looks legitimate, they'll give you an account number, and when you go to use the "escrow" service, its actually just smokescreen for stealing your money. Be careful, but overall ebay is safe. I've never had a problem... other than people who are assholes. Good luck.

[Kwyjibo]

you m ight want to use a postal money order too way back when that guys pbook got ripped off he said that if he had used ap sotal money order they owuld have investigated the scam or had a jurisdiction to investigate it./

[Flowbee]

You can also look for sellers who live near you. Ask if you can pick up and pay for the item in person instead of having it shipped. I'm happy to drive a couple of hours to make sure I get the item I'm paying for (and to make sure it's not 'damaged in shipping'). :eek: