How to be safe on eBay!

There are loads of guides out there like this one, "how to be safe on ebay", but most of them tell you the same stuff...

...use paypal, only use 100% feedback sellers and dont post anything abroad....

...well bits of this are true, but ebay has evolved to become THE biggest auction site on the net, and these simple basic ruloes/tips arent really valid now (at the strat, yeh, but now, no!)

1.Many sellers have 99% feedback and even some who have 96% feedback can still be bloody brilliant...you must look at the actual amount of feedback as well as the percentage score, because if someone has sold 10 things and they all went well he has 100% positive...where-as if soeone sold 10,000 things and some went wrong (which is highly likely with royal mail and new ebayers making mistakes etc) then he will not have 100% positive, but will be sound..

2. Payment methods...there are loads available and most people say "use paypal only its the best" -well thats because ebay own paypal and ensure that it has the advantages on their auction site (funny that) but there are many other payment options that are just as good, and just as safe. The 2nd best one being NoChex! -This is exactly like paypal and works easily and quickly. They also have protection schemes like paypal but because tehy are a smaller company they are more people/user orintated...here-as paypal do not care when you get problems (trust me, when you get problems with them you will see that they couldnt care less!)

Another great payment method is postal orders! They are fully traceable because of their unique id's on them all and they can be sent via recorded post (even more traceable) and the seller can cash them the saem day (like gtting cash really) and the item canbe on its way to you instantly. This is a personal favourite, obviously the e-payments are better, but nothing beats good old post.

Then finally there is cheque, this is safe but takes ages to clear...and make sure it clears, do not take the buyers word for it that the cheque will clear, you must wait. If you send the game and it doesnt clear you are screwed.

3. Who are good sellers/buyers? -get to know them!!

Simply enail them a question and see if they reply with a decent answer for you about an item, this is the first soign that they care about the item(s) and the sale. If you want to find out more about a buyer then request their information. If someone has bought from you then you can go to the help section and request their information and you will be sent the information they entered when they registered...if it comes back invalid or is actuall ynot a real entry and is numbers etc then dont send the item....inform ebay that the "buyers information is wrong/invalid" and they will excuse you of posting the item.

FINALLY A NOTE ABOUT PAYPAL.....

regardless of how safe everyon says it is it actually isnt. There is no protection on your account, so anyone can hack into it and paypal dont care -they hold you responsible for it. Nochex have a clever system where if you enter your password wrong when trying to log in (or anyone does) then you are emailed to say that there was an attempt to log into your account. PayPal is safe in general, but even if you are dealing with people that are verified they can actually not b the account holder....so please ensure you check the following:

Name of the person on ebay acount and the paypal account and see if they are using a different name in correspondance...also look for email addresses and other details that may not be matching.

If they are in a country such as nigeria, or anywhere in africa do not send it. even if they are verified, as many many people operate scams where you send the item and then they claim you never sent it, so paypal refund the, Just like that....thats why paypal is stupid, they dont listen.

I hope my ramblings and my tips/points have made some sense to you and you find this guide helpful.