How not to lose money buying a mobile phone.

How not to lose money buying mobiles.

I have been an ebay member for over a year now and trade solely in mobile phones.

During this time i have bought and sold over 700 mobile phones purely through ebay.

I have had my share of con men too and would like to advise how to avoid these people.

After a while finding these cons becomes instinctive just from the look of the listing and the too good to be true prices always arouse suspicion.

The first thing to look at is feedback. Particlularly if their feedback is only from sellers for items of little value. This is feedback doctoring and is designed to instill trust in their next buyer.

I have seen feedback rings too where several members all buy from each other and leave praise for being both the buyer and sellers of items which never existed purely to gain feedback and respect the respect of future buyers.

The next thing is to check what the seller has sold or is selling.

If they have sold an unusual amount of the same item or are selling quite a few of the item you are buying and all of them are described in exactly the same way i would be very cautious particularly if it is being sold very cheaply.

Again their feedback will allow you to see if they have recieved good reports for this item.

There have been a number of account hijacks too where someone gains the details for someone elses account and then sells through their account. The thing with this is they cant accept payments through paypal because you would be automatically guided to the paypal account of the person they have hijacked.

Always wait for the invoice before paying and check the payment instructions. If they state paypal is accepted in the auction yet request you dont pay via paypal when they invoice, the chances are that it is a con and should be avoided.

Paypal is the safest way to pay. If your suspicion is aroused after paying by paypal there is a complaint system inbuilt which allows you to get back your money or at least most of your hard earned.

lastly there are a number of pyramid sales sites on offer for mobiles, laptops, ipods etc. These are just selling links where you are placed on a list. This is a list which will reap you rewards if you get to the top. This can only be achieved with a massive amount of referrals. These listings sometimes have this important detail hidden in very small writing so as to trick you into buying it.

Lord knows why they do this as they need the referrals and you certainly are not going to refer them if you have been conned into buying it.

All this said ebay in general is a very safe and entertaining way of buying and selling and i have loved every minute of it.

Probably only 0.1% of my purchases came with problems and of those few only a couple involved losing money.

This is because i trust my instincts and buy with care.

There are too many conmen on ebay but their own ignorance and stupidity usually gives them away!!!!

Good luck and happy shopping.