Cell Phone Scams on eBay

Sunday, April 09, 2006

If you have ever shopped on eBay for cell phones you should be extra vigilant. eBay does not actively police the auctions on its site but leaves the responsibility to the eBay community leaving room for scams to appear on the forth busiest site in the world. Cell phone scams are exceptionally common because of the high popularity of cell phones in general.

The types of cell phone scams that appear on the site vary. Here we will cover some of the more common cell phone scams on eBay and how to avoid them:

The first cell phone scam is where someone will offer a brand new phone for a particularly cheap price, sell it, receive payment but never deliver. More often these cell phone scams will ask you to contact the seller directly through email. You will then receive an email back asking for you to pay through western union. Western Union is a legitimate payment method but means you cannot track who you pay so should never be used in transactions on eBay. Cell phone scams often ask for western union as a payment method, as soon as you hear the word western union you should know to stay away.

Another cell phone scam is where the seller lists a cell phone but the advert contains a disclaimer that the actual auction is for information on how to get a cheap cell phone, this information would lead you to a website which runs a pyramid scheme or matrix type scheme so you are never guaranteed a cell phone. These types of cell phone scams quite often trick people because they miss the disclaimer and if it was quite clear then they will have difficulty asking eBay or Paypal to get their money back. To avoid these scams always make sure you read the advert fully.

Cell phone scams don't just affect buyers but also affect sellers. It is very common to find you have sold your cell phone for a decent price and the buyer pays you straight away by Paypal. You then find the payment has been recalled the next day. If you have sent the phone already then you have basically sold your phone for nothing as you will not get the money back. These types of cell phone scams are very common. To avoid them always leave it 2 days before you send a phone to see if the payment gets recalled and avoid dealing with buyers from foreign countries.