How to Prevent eBay Fraud

EBay fraud makes up a small part of the total transactions that take place on eBay, but it's important for buyers to know how to prevent eBay fraud. According to the numbers released by eBay, Inc., only about one-tenth of one percent of the transactions that occur through the site. However, this small percentage still means that thousands of auctions are fraudulent and thousands of buyers and sellers are there for nefarious  reasons.

1. Prevent eBay fraud as a seller by investigating the sellers that you do business with. Buyers can learn how to prevent eBay fraud simply by learning how feedback works. The seller should have a history of selling items and getting good feedback for those items. Take a look at the seller's feedback and make sure that the feedback was given by former buyers and not just sellers. Most buyers do buy and sell, but there should be plenty of positive feedback that is specifically from buyers. 
2. Look for a high positive feedback percentage from the sellers you do business   with. A feedback percentage of at least 99 percent is generally considered a good one. It shows that the seller has generally had good transactions in the past and has tried to take care of any problems that may have arisen. A seller with a bad feedback percentage may forget to ship items or may simply not ship the items at all occasionally.
3. Be careful when dealing with brand new sellers. Often, the best prices are available from sellers with no feedback. However, there's a reason for those low prices. Dealing with a new seller is a risk that may result in weeks of trying to get the money back through eBay when the item is never shipped. The seller may simply have no experience, but it may also be an account set up to defraud customers. Prevent eBay fraud by making sure who you are dealing with. If a seller is brand new, either avoid the listing or communicate with the seller before bidding to get a feel for how the seller does business.
4. Go through your eBay account when answering messages. Clicking on the links in emails may send you to a phishing website instead of to eBay. If the email was real, it will be there in your eBay message area within the My eBay section. Prevent eBay fraud by making sure that any email you respond to is legitimate.
5. As a seller, always have some record of the shipment of the items. There are fraudulent buyers who buy items and later try to take the money back by reporting a fraud on the part of the seller. With a shipping receipt or tracking number, a seller can prove to eBay and to PayPal that the item was shipped.