The Six Golden Rules of using eBay:

Going, going, gone. The gavel comes down and proclaims another bargain! Or does it? Online auctioneer, eBay.co.uk, has become one of the biggest sites on the internet but that's no guarantee, as many people seem to believe, that it’s a treasure trove for bargains. eBay provides its users a place to offer items for sale, which other users can then bid on. Yet, as the site has grown, so have the amount of scams and dodgy deals used by unscrupulous punters to trick honest bidders out of their hard-earned cash. How are people being conned? These cons come in various guises. Many involve the sale of hyperlinks; eBay users bid to be sent the URL of a website touted as being exclusive with information of great interest. Then, having won the bidding, they get sent an address that's freely available to any web user. There have even been instances of the “ad-free, free to use” MoneySavingExpert.com address being sold to the highest bidder! Others have been swindled thinking they're bidding on an actual item, when all that's actually up for grabs is a link to a site selling the items in question. One seller seemed to be offering laptops at the low price of £425, but closer inspection of the small print revealed the only thing for sale was a link to a site selling discounted laptops. These rip-offs so often work because we all seem to believe “It’s on eBay, so it must be cheap”. This complacency allows sellers to hike up prices, knowing that the majority of people won’t check whether or not they're getting value for money. Anti-MoneySaving in action I was finally jolted into writing this after seeing a particularly devious piece of anti-MoneySaving on eBay, concerning an offer I announced a few months ago in the weekly Money Tip. I reported a short-lived sale of Dell colour printers, cheap at £10 a go. Later I discovered a tip received had seen this, and used the info to order 70 and made over £2000 profit from flogging them for £40, four times the asking price. Some may say 'good on them making profit' yet this kind of behaviour goes against everything this site stands for. Of course businesses source products and make money - that's fine. Yet to use info from this site, a Consumer Revenge site, to take money out of other's pocket's is precisely why we all need to become more savvy consumers and stop people unnecessarily taking our cash. What can you do about it? So, to fight back and protect your potect from overpaying and yourself from scams, I’ve devised MSE’s Six Golden Rules for eBay bidders. Rememember I'm not saying don't use eBay, it can be a great way of having fun and finding a bargain, but don't fall for the hype that its a panacea for finding a good buy. Three rules to check if it’s cheaper Google it. Use a comprehensive search engine like Google or Yahoo to check out exactly what you’re bidding for. If it’s just ‘information’ that’s being sold, you’ll almost always find the same thing elsewhere for free. Use quotation marks in your search terms to define your query accurately. Use Shopbots. It only takes five minutes to check whether you’re getting a genuine bargain when buying off eBay. Special price comparison websites such as Dealtime, Pricerunner and Kelkoo search the web to find the cheapest prices on a broad range of goods (see Internet Shopping article). If you’re going to buy something on eBay always compare the prices using these shopbots first to see if the deal really is as good as it sounds. You may be able to pick up the goods brand new, from a recognised e-retailer for less. Ask the forum. Our very own Chat Forum regularly has thousands of MoneySavers chatting about the best bargains. This mass consumer power means someone will almost always know whether you’re being ripped off. Three rules to check what you’re buying Read the small print. Make sure you sift through every word of the eBay auction description. Often if there is a catch it is hidden in the tiny text at the bottom – that way the seller is protected if there’s a problem. Know your rights. If you are buying via a 'buy it now' (more and more common) from a ‘UK based trader’ on eBay, i.e. someone who makes a living by selling goods regularly then provided it's a 'buy it now' not an auction you have all the same statutory rights as buying from a shop. However there is no strict definition of a trader, this would be decided by the courts, yet if its someone obviously doing this as part of their living, on a regular basis then its very likely they're a trader. However if you’re just buying from a UK private individual, then the law says “let the buyer beware”. If your purchase arrives ‘as described’ you’ll have little legal comeback – you may want to ask yourself “would I be willing to buy this off a man in the pub?” Don’t rely on feedback. eBay sellers often have a ‘feedback’ rating which acts as a useful guide to whether they've dealt fairly in the past. Yet it’s not infallible. In fact there are US websites that actually sell ‘good feedback’, so never rely on this alone. The bottom line is that you mustn’t be complacent and assume that eBay will always provide you with the best deal. Always check the price, always check whether information’s freely available somewhere else and, then, you should always avoid being taken for a ride.

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