Sunday, February 22, 2009

Things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction.

Check seller's score

One thing that could prevent e-auction is to check the seller’s reputation. Many auction sites have a section where every seller’s feedback score is reflected. Some sites assign a community-ranking system to every user’s profile. Reputable sellers will have positive comments or messages from people they have done business with in the past. On the other hand, if the seller has many negative comments indicating their failure to ship the item on time, then insist on using a method of delivery. Many sites provide buyer protection, such as courier delivery, because if you don’t get what you pay for, you will always get a refund from the website. Besides, if the seller doesn’t have a high rating but you still want the item, check him or her by look them up in the Yellow pages or local directory services. Also, search for their name in Google or Yahoo.


Never disclose your financial details

The website clearly states that one should exercise caution if an email requests personal information such as credit card details or passwords. Despite that there have been cases where people have gone out giving credit card number through email. The important thing to beware of is to make sure that while paying, never lead money to anyone’s account under any circumstances. Use one of the methods authorized by the website, such as paisa pay and also read the rules of insurance before making the purchase.

Check for multiple accounts

While dealing with auctions, Radhika Malhotra, a software professional in Mumbai, has another story to tell. “I uncovered a very clever tactic that sellers use while auctioning off their wares while I was bidding for a music player. Some sellers attempt to drive up the price of their own auctions by using fake accounts -- multiple eBay identities, all controlled by them. “It happened with me too. I got involved while bidding for this player and as two other buyers were bidding neck and neck, I ended up paying much more than I had earlier decided. But when the price went totally out of hand, I decided to check out the other bidders, and only then did I find that it was actually the seller himself who was driving up the price,” she says. This works especially with auctions, since people start getting involved with auctions. So it becomes an ego issue with many to get the product, and they foolhardily fall for the trick and pay extra price for the product. A good way to prevent this happens to you in an auction is to check the seller’s auctions that have already closed and confirm if the same usernames are continually bidding in his or her auctions.

Be wary of ‘too-good-to-be-true’ auctions

If the price you’re being asked to pay for an item is unusually low, it is probably too good to be true. This only applies to ‘Buy it Now’ prices, as opening bids for auctions will often be extremely low before climbing up to a more reasonable level.

Similarly, if you receive an email from a seller shortly after an auction closes telling you that the winning bidder defaulted and that you are now the winner, be cautious. The seller receives a list of all of the bidder’s email addresses when the auction ends, so it is possible that the seller is trying to scam not only you, but some or all of the other bidders. It takes several days to default on a bid, so be suspicious if it is been less than three days since the auction ended.

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