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Digg it UP - Online Auction Fraud
Coming up with an idea, seizing the opportunity, and setting up a business was the relatively easy part. Now you are ready for the challenge of finding your customers, or at least make it easy for your customers to find you. Here are some tips for marketing your new and growing business.Know & Understand your CustomersFind out or decide who your customers will be. Then find out as much as possible about them. Consider the needs of customers, and make sure your business or product fulfils those needs. Look at factors such as where they live, their age, their gender, how much they earn, their interests and pastimes. Detailed knowledge of your customers will help you to be more precise in your marketing.Reach your CustomersThere are many different types of media out there. Cho
A few of the key recommendations from Paypal's Protection for Sellers section include:
Ship only to the address listed on the Transaction Details page
Use a shipping service with tracking
Check out the buyer's reputation
Accept payment from only one Paypal account per buyer
Limit credit card payments
Enhancing Your Safe Seller Image
Here are a few tips that will help improve your image as a safe seller for your bidders.
Identify Yourself - Make use of the about me pages to let your customers know who you are, how long you've been in business and how much
Why do we need to get control over entire business?None of us starts out being an expert in any business and so in Internet business. All of us start from scratch. You also have to start from scratch. You might have so many ideas in your mind, you might learn so many techniques, but you can't afford to use all of them in a single run. You need to use one idea or technique at a time to see the result of it. If you find one single idea is working well for you, reuse it and get the confidence in using it. Then you need to see another idea or technique and in the same way see the outcome of it. Compare the results and find out which one gives you best return. Whatever brings you the best return for you, make it separate from others and get the total control over it.You need to do it repeatedly for
Online fraud is a growing problem on the internet and the auction segment is far from immune. The IC3 reports that most complaints consist of late or no shipment of products, items that don't match advertised condition and bogus payment or escrow services.
If you decide to offer "all items to be shipped within 24 hours", make sure you keep your word, and go to great lengths to honestly represent and describe the item in your auctions. Your bidders will appreciate your honesty and it will eventually show up in your feedback.
As consumer fears increase, there are a number of common sense ways to help protect you from fraud, as well as enhance your reputation as a trustworthy seller and set you apart from the crowd.
Watch Out for Bad Checks, Money Orders and Cashiers Checks Years ago I had a buyer who complained rather loudly when I didn't ship an item as soon as I received the check in the mail. In hind site it was a good decision to hold the shipment since the check ended up being fraudulent. Bad checks, money orders, and cashiers checks are rampant in ecommerce today. The simplest way to offset the danger of bad paper is not to ship the auction item until the check, money order or cashier check clears your bank for payment.
Overpayments
Never accept any overpayments for any item. One of the more popular scams today is for a buyer to send a cashiers check for an amount that is higher than the agreed upon final price. They then claim it was in error and ask the seller to kindly return the overage when the item is shipped. Off goes the item, the overage amount in good money, and the defrauded seller finds out too late the cashiers check was fake.
Use an Escrow Service for High Priced Items
The primary purpose of escrow services is to protect buyers and sellers from fraud. Basically what they do is to accept the money from the buyer and hold it until the buyer receives and approves the merchandise. Please note that fake escrow services are increasing on the internet. If a buyer contacts you after a sale and recommends an escrow service you are not familiar with BEWARE. At present eBay only recommends one escrow company: www.escrow.com. For information go to http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/payment-escrow.html
Records, Records, Records
Keeps a copy of every transaction detail from the original auction listing to the last email. You will need that kind of proof to validate your claims if you should find you need to file a complaint.
Protect Yourself by Being Educated
At the very least you need to be knowledgeable about your legal obligations as a seller and familiar with the fraud protections and policies for the auction sites and payment processing services you use. eBay and Paypal have extensive sections on their websites dedicated to fraud policies and protections. You should take the time to read through these or similar information pages for the sites and services you use on a regular basis and be very familiar with the material.
A few of the key recommendations from Paypal's Protection for Sellers section include:
Ship only to the address listed on the Transaction Details page
Use a shipping service with tracking
Check out the buyer's reputation
Accept payment from only one Paypal account per buyer
Limit credit card payments
Enhancing Your Safe Seller Image
Here are a few tips that will help improve your image as a safe seller for your bidders.
Identify Yourself - Make use of the about me pages to let your customers know who you are, how long you've been in business and how much
As childhood obesity levels rise, schools are looking for healthy fundraisers as an alternative solution for raising much needed funds. Many school districts have even banned fundraising candy sales, so what kind of school fundraisers will help bridge the funding gap?Here are several ideas for healthy school fundraisers:Participant events Many schools have discovered that events where all students participate in a fun exercise-based event do a good job. Examples of this are school walkathons, rope jumping contests, and fun runs.Students raise funds by getting sponsorship pledges linked to their performance. For instance, a pledge sheet for a fun run or a walkathon might suggest a donation of $1 a lap or $5 a mile.In a jump rope contest, pledges might be raised by the number of co
As consumer fears increase, there are a number of common sense ways to help protect you from fraud, as well as enhance your reputation as a trustworthy seller and set you apart from the crowd.
Watch Out for Bad Checks, Money Orders and Cashiers Checks Years ago I had a buyer who complained rather loudly when I didn't ship an item as soon as I received the check in the mail. In hind site it was a good decision to hold the shipment since the check ended up being fraudulent. Bad checks, money orders, and cashiers checks are rampant in ecommerce today. The simplest way to offset the danger of bad paper is not to ship the auction item until the check, money order or cashier check clears your bank for payment.
Overpayments
Never accept any overpayments for any item. One of the more popular scams today is for a buyer to send a cashiers check for an amount that is higher than the agreed upon final price. They then claim it was in error and ask the seller to kindly return the overage when the item is shipped. Off goes the item, the overage amount in good money, and the defrauded seller finds out too late the cashiers check was fake.
Use an Escrow Service for High Priced Items
The primary purpose of escrow services is to protect buyers and sellers from fraud. Basically what they do is to accept the money from the buyer and hold it until the buyer receives and approves the merchandise. Please note that fake escrow services are increasing on the internet. If a buyer contacts you after a sale and recommends an escrow service you are not familiar with BEWARE. At present eBay only recommends one escrow company: www.escrow.com. For information go to http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/payment-escrow.html
Records, Records, Records
Keeps a copy of every transaction detail from the original auction listing to the last email. You will need that kind of proof to validate your claims if you should find you need to file a complaint.
Protect Yourself by Being Educated
At the very least you need to be knowledgeable about your legal obligations as a seller and familiar with the fraud protections and policies for the auction sites and payment processing services you use. eBay and Paypal have extensive sections on their websites dedicated to fraud policies and protections. You should take the time to read through these or similar information pages for the sites and services you use on a regular basis and be very familiar with the material.
A few of the key recommendations from Paypal's Protection for Sellers section include:
Ship only to the address listed on the Transaction Details page
Use a shipping service with tracking
Check out the buyer's reputation
Accept payment from only one Paypal account per buyer
Limit credit card payments
Enhancing Your Safe Seller Image
Here are a few tips that will help improve your image as a safe seller for your bidders.
Identify Yourself - Make use of the about me pages to let your customers know who you are, how long you've been in business and how much
Every organization has its share of complaints and, while every company would prefer not to have them, complaints do play an important part in the organization’s ability to continuously learn, improve and develop long-term client relationships. Complaints provide a feedback mechanism that help organizations rapidly and inexpensively shift products, service style, and/or market focus to meet the needs of the customer or continuously improve internal systems and processes that make it easier for the client to work with the organization. Complaints are one of the primary means to communicate directly with customers and should be welcomed as opportunities to engage in a dialogue with the client.Technical Assistance Research Programs (TARP), an Arlington-based market research firm, is the most widely quo
Overpayments
Never accept any overpayments for any item. One of the more popular scams today is for a buyer to send a cashiers check for an amount that is higher than the agreed upon final price. They then claim it was in error and ask the seller to kindly return the overage when the item is shipped. Off goes the item, the overage amount in good money, and the defrauded seller finds out too late the cashiers check was fake.
Use an Escrow Service for High Priced Items
The primary purpose of escrow services is to protect buyers and sellers from fraud. Basically what they do is to accept the money from the buyer and hold it until the buyer receives and approves the merchandise. Please note that fake escrow services are increasing on the internet. If a buyer contacts you after a sale and recommends an escrow service you are not familiar with BEWARE. At present eBay only recommends one escrow company: www.escrow.com. For information go to http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/payment-escrow.html
Records, Records, Records
Keeps a copy of every transaction detail from the original auction listing to the last email. You will need that kind of proof to validate your claims if you should find you need to file a complaint.
Protect Yourself by Being Educated
At the very least you need to be knowledgeable about your legal obligations as a seller and familiar with the fraud protections and policies for the auction sites and payment processing services you use. eBay and Paypal have extensive sections on their websites dedicated to fraud policies and protections. You should take the time to read through these or similar information pages for the sites and services you use on a regular basis and be very familiar with the material.
A few of the key recommendations from Paypal's Protection for Sellers section include:
Ship only to the address listed on the Transaction Details page
Use a shipping service with tracking
Check out the buyer's reputation
Accept payment from only one Paypal account per buyer
Limit credit card payments
Enhancing Your Safe Seller Image
Here are a few tips that will help improve your image as a safe seller for your bidders.
Identify Yourself - Make use of the about me pages to let your customers know who you are, how long you've been in business and how much
You know how it is, you believe something for so long, everyone agrees with you, all the books tell you it's true and then suddenly you have a blinding revelation - we've all been duped! You know like my gorilla mates were? (If you're not sure about my gorilla mates then you really need to read the book - we've got a great offer on at the moment!)And you feel such a chump - how did I ever fall for that - the logic just isn't there - I must have been a fool. Let me explain."Under Promise & Over Deliver"You know the old saying "Under Promise & Over Deliver"? - well, here's the idea behind it.Buyers these days are ever more ready to complain when something isn't to their liking (yes, even in the UK!) Customers are prepared to walk if you don't deliver when you said you would. Clients
Records, Records, Records
Keeps a copy of every transaction detail from the original auction listing to the last email. You will need that kind of proof to validate your claims if you should find you need to file a complaint.
Protect Yourself by Being Educated
At the very least you need to be knowledgeable about your legal obligations as a seller and familiar with the fraud protections and policies for the auction sites and payment processing services you use. eBay and Paypal have extensive sections on their websites dedicated to fraud policies and protections. You should take the time to read through these or similar information pages for the sites and services you use on a regular basis and be very familiar with the material.
A few of the key recommendations from Paypal's Protection for Sellers section include:
Ship only to the address listed on the Transaction Details page
Use a shipping service with tracking
Check out the buyer's reputation
Accept payment from only one Paypal account per buyer
Limit credit card payments
Enhancing Your Safe Seller Image
Here are a few tips that will help improve your image as a safe seller for your bidders.
Identify Yourself - Make use of the about me pages to let your customers know who you are, how long you've been in business and how much
How many ideas fail to launch because they will require big changes in the business? Could it be the result of a failure in leadership? Do good ideas turn bad? If an idea fails to produce, does that mean it was bad? How many good ideas will be applicable to your business? Do they fit your mission and the context of the market in which you operate?Can an idea succeed without a leader and champion? How would you manage it with objectives and measurable results? If key stakeholders managing the change are not engaged, what then? Should you inform key employees of the change and its importance? Maybe employees will shy away from sticking their necks out for something that is a little different. Then you have a culture of fear and control in your organization.A group of people in a brainsto
A few of the key recommendations from Paypal's Protection for Sellers section include:
Ship only to the address listed on the Transaction Details page
Use a shipping service with tracking
Check out the buyer's reputation
Accept payment from only one Paypal account per buyer
Limit credit card payments
Enhancing Your Safe Seller Image
Here are a few tips that will help improve your image as a safe seller for your bidders.
Identify Yourself - Make use of the about me pages to let your customers know who you are, how long you've been in business and how much their business means to you. Be honest.
Feedback Ratings - Auction buyers want to see 100% positive feedback.
Methods of Payment - Make it easy for your customers to buy but consider convenience, cost and security in choosing any payment method you offer.
Full Disclosure - Your auction listings should clearly state the condition of the item you're auctioning, your shipping/insurance and return policies.
Bonding programs - A number of bonding programs are available on the internet. One of the more popular is BuySafe (www.buysafe.com). In a bonding program the seller agrees to certain obligations such as shipping on time, representing the item correctly, and standing behind the transaction. In return the seller can display a seal on their auctions showing bidders they are honest sellers and providing transaction insurance in some cases up to $25,000.
Other programs you should be familiar with include:
IDVerify
SquareTrade
Trust-e
If You Become a Victim of Online Fraud
You need to know exactly what should be done in the event you are victimized. Make your plan now, before it happens. The most recommended steps to take if you are victimized are listed below but please keep in mind these are general recommendations and you should have you own plan based on your needs.
File a complaint with your auction site
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
File a complaint with the IC3
File a complaint with the National Fraud Information Center
Contact your local and state law enforcement agencies
Contact the local and state law enforcement agencies in the perpetrator's home area
File a complaint with the shipping company you used
It the perpetrator is a business and a member of the Better Business Bureau you should also file a complaint there.
Further reading
Paypal Seller Protection Policy (go to your Paypal account)
FTC recommendations http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/auctions.htm
To read the entire 2004 IC3 Internet Fraud Report http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/strategy/2004_IC3Report.pdf
More Important Fraud Links
Find Your Local Police http://www.usacops.com
FBI Internet Fraud Unit http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.com
FTC Internet Fraud Unit https://m.ftc.gov
USPS Mail Fraud http://www.usps.com/postalinstpectors/fraud/
© Copyright 2005 Steven Woodward - All Rights Reserved
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