Ebay Auction Risk Factors
October 4th 2006 00:32
You’ve seen that bargain on Ebay. It seems like an incredible steal and the shipping is even the right price. Why would you be hesitant about taking advantage of it?
In general, you shouldn’t be. Ebay gives you a wide variety of ways to get your money back from a fraudulent seller, but we would all rather avoid the hassle. Here are the greatest risk factors of having a problem interaction:
1) Seller Rating-A seller with few auctions under his belt is not invested in the Ebay community. He’s not at such a point where it would be devastating should he be sanctioned by Ebay and given negative feedback and someone who has been on Ebay a month or so, may have come to push a scam product as long as he could and then disappear.
2) No Picture-This is oftentimes just an indication that the seller does not have a digital camera (certainly not a sign of dishonesty.) but can sometimes also mask ugly facts about a product. Most auctions include pictures. Indeed, one picture comes included in the listing for Ebay sellers. I get extremely nervous when I don’t see one, because at that point, we’re buying an item totally sight unseen.
3) Overseas Auctions-This is a risk factor for a few reasons. Some words in American English mean something different in Australian or British English, so communications difficulties play a part. The second is that it’s harder to work with a seller overseas if a return is necessary because the shipping fees are steep.
Now, just because these are risk factors, that doesn’t mean you never bid on one of these types of auctions. There are a couple factors in considering whether an Ebay risk is acceptable or not.
The first is the amount of the risk. If I’m paying $10-$20 total for an item with shipping thrown in, my actual risk level is fairly low, because I’m only risking $10-$20.
The second is the number of risks I’m taking. If I’m taking one risk and I think it’s a great deal, I’m probably going to go for it. If it’s two, rarely should you do anything. If you’ve got all three risk factors present, I’d strong suggest you walk away, unless it’s money you’re willing to lose.
Sometimes, you’ll get a bad deal when one of these is present. For example, I bought an inexpensive digital camera from Hong Kong, but found a short in the view screen. While the seller reasonably offered an exchange, it would take two weeks for the camera to get to Hong Kong and another two weeks for the exchange model to arrive, and shipping would run over $30. So, I’ve simply held onto it and bought another camera.
On the other hand, I’ve bought several items from Great Britain without any difficulty at all. So, this is an area where you need to use good judgment and choose between risks that are justified and those that aren’t. As in the rest of life, success in Ebay is about risk assessment and choices.
In general, you shouldn’t be. Ebay gives you a wide variety of ways to get your money back from a fraudulent seller, but we would all rather avoid the hassle. Here are the greatest risk factors of having a problem interaction:
1) Seller Rating-A seller with few auctions under his belt is not invested in the Ebay community. He’s not at such a point where it would be devastating should he be sanctioned by Ebay and given negative feedback and someone who has been on Ebay a month or so, may have come to push a scam product as long as he could and then disappear.
2) No Picture-This is oftentimes just an indication that the seller does not have a digital camera (certainly not a sign of dishonesty.) but can sometimes also mask ugly facts about a product. Most auctions include pictures. Indeed, one picture comes included in the listing for Ebay sellers. I get extremely nervous when I don’t see one, because at that point, we’re buying an item totally sight unseen.
3) Overseas Auctions-This is a risk factor for a few reasons. Some words in American English mean something different in Australian or British English, so communications difficulties play a part. The second is that it’s harder to work with a seller overseas if a return is necessary because the shipping fees are steep.
Now, just because these are risk factors, that doesn’t mean you never bid on one of these types of auctions. There are a couple factors in considering whether an Ebay risk is acceptable or not.
The first is the amount of the risk. If I’m paying $10-$20 total for an item with shipping thrown in, my actual risk level is fairly low, because I’m only risking $10-$20.
The second is the number of risks I’m taking. If I’m taking one risk and I think it’s a great deal, I’m probably going to go for it. If it’s two, rarely should you do anything. If you’ve got all three risk factors present, I’d strong suggest you walk away, unless it’s money you’re willing to lose.
Sometimes, you’ll get a bad deal when one of these is present. For example, I bought an inexpensive digital camera from Hong Kong, but found a short in the view screen. While the seller reasonably offered an exchange, it would take two weeks for the camera to get to Hong Kong and another two weeks for the exchange model to arrive, and shipping would run over $30. So, I’ve simply held onto it and bought another camera.
On the other hand, I’ve bought several items from Great Britain without any difficulty at all. So, this is an area where you need to use good judgment and choose between risks that are justified and those that aren’t. As in the rest of life, success in Ebay is about risk assessment and choices.
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