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October 19, 2006
Avoid eBay Scams This Holiday Season
Authors Ed and Steve Klink reveal a dastardly cast of Scrooge-like characters who make eBay shopping a sorry experience.
HILLSDALE, N.J., Oct. 19 -- Think You've Found the Perfect Holiday gift on eBay? Better check twice! While many auctions take place without a hitch, most people have no idea how easy it is to get ripped off.
In a recent book, "Dawn of the eBay Deadbeats: True Tales of Treachery, Lies, and Fraud from the Dark Recesses of the World's Largest Online Auction Marketplace" authors Ed and Steve Klink reveal a dastardly cast of Scrooge-like characters who make eBay shopping a sorry experience.
Compiled from their eBay watchdog website, ebayersthatsuck.com, the book is packed with lurid stories of auction rip-offs: a woman whose wedding was tainted by moth-ridden tuxedoes, a collector duped out of a $16,000 vintage Spiderman comic, and the family-man trucker who lost a whopping $27,000 buying a rig that didn't exist. "It looks like the Grinch got a computer in his cave and is now selling on eBay," the authors say.
Steve Klink, a New Jersey police officer and his brother Ed, a New York City business writer, wrote Dawn of the eBay Deadbeats to tell the stories of these victims.
The Klink brothers offer these tips to help honest eBay users avoid getting ripped off:
• Be wary if the person requests only one form of payment
• Read carefully, some scams depend on a lengthy description that can be
deceptive.
• Never be put off for two weeks on a deal or you risk being unable to
stop the credit card transaction
• Don't use Western Union or MoneyGram when paying for auction purchases
• Ask yourself the following: Who is this person? Is there a sob story?
Does this money have to be sent immediately? Does this offer sound too
good to be true?
Dawn of the eBay Deadbeats ($12.95) is available on Amazon, eBay, through the authors' site, and in select bookstores.
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 8:58 PM | Link to this Post
