The Scam

Ok, I understand the whole eBay craze. People like shopping, people like getting great deals, and people love to get money for their used stuff. The whole online bidding system was genius, so why are there so many scams going on? Is there a way to truly protect yourself? Is there a better way eBay can do business?

Firstly, I think having an innate seller trust built in to the system of bidding is why they're are so many scammers. It's all to easy to find some photos of anything online and create an eBay account to sell something you don't have. Using systems such as PayPal, eBay has been able to prevent buyers from getting ripped off. But now there are other scams that are a bit harder to stop. There are people making phony bids on items, hoping to win, then paying with a fake PayPal email or with a counterfeit e-check. This causes two problems: first, it causes legitimate buyers to be unable to win your items, which causes your eBay fees to go up without any cause. If you end up falling for their fake email or e-check, you also risk loosing your items to some scammer.

Now, are there ways you can protect yourself? Yes! There is a security department at eBay that sniffs out and reports suspicious activity to interested parties. The problem is, there are so many scammers, that it's almost impossible to detect them all. You can also detect some scams on you're own. If your familiar with the South African scam's, you'll pretty much realize you shouldn't trust any incoming bids from anyone from South Africa. All these scams are pretty discouraging for new eBayer's. Why should we have to familiarize ourselves with scams to be able to use eBay?

The answer? eBay has become too large. With a very wide reach across the globe, eBay has become so big that its attracted many people who just want to make a quick buck the illegal way. So, rather than just identifying the problem, here are a few solutions:

A) eBay sponsored pick-up stores in major markets. Some of these type of stores have been set up by eBayers, but they would be more effective if they were actually run by eBay. The general idea is that eBay would charge a higher percentage of the total sale, but would take care of all the eBay advertising, selling, answering of questions, shipping, and ensuring payment. Once payment is received, the seller would just go and pick up a check from eBay. Since eBay would be selling the items for you, you may end up receiving higher bids, since there is no risk of not receiving the item. (because eBay would be holding it)

B) eBay escrow - This could be done in conjunction with FedEx. Prior to listing, items could be shipped to an eBay escrow warehouse to eliminate the threat of not receiving an item. Payment for these items could be made to an eBay escrow account which would eliminate the possibility of having a counterfeit check or fake pay-pal email sent as payment.

In essence, I think eBay has a duty to stop spending so much money on security and buying up de-funked ISP's and start spending money on REAL security. The two solutions I've suggested will take some major investments on eBay's part, but will renew their name. Day-after-day they're becoming known as a rip off. If you buy something online, don't expect to receive it as it appears, if you expect to receive it at all. If you dare sell something, be prepared for a slew of questions, fake bids, and possibly counterfeit checks that will screw up your entire bank account. Why would anyone choose eBay over Craigslist?

eBay, you're cute, but you're really starting to suck. START SPENDING YOU'RE MONEY IN THE RIGHT WAY!

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