eBay Thieves Make Auctions Tougher

Written by Sydney Johnston


The online auction world was shocked byrepparttar biggest eBay fraud in its seven year history. What made it even more astonishing isrepparttar 117013 fact thatrepparttar 117014 crooked seller has a five history of successful sales on eBay, accompanied by thousands of glowing testimonials from satisfied buyers.

Stewart Richardson, owner of a Michigan store called Retired Figurine Exchange Inc., sold small figurines to eBay collectors, some of them costing thousands of dollars. The heart of eBay's seller-honesty system is "Feedback", which allows buyers and sellers to rate each other. Mr. Richardson earned 6,185 positive feedback points since he started selling on eBay in 1997, with an additional 58 negative and 56 neutral ratings from buyers who bought from him. These scores mean that 98% ofrepparttar 117015 sales Mr. Richardson made resulted in satisfied buyers.

Richardson posted large numbers of auctions which concluded early in January, supposedly selling hundreds of figurines from an estate sale. He apparently sold items he didn't possess, listedrepparttar 117016 same item multiple times and even contacted losers inrepparttar 117017 auctions, informing them thatrepparttar 117018 winners didn't pay and offering themrepparttar 117019 opportunity to buy. Then on January 17, he left for lunch and hasn't been seen since. Estimates of his stolen money range from $225,000-$400,000. Investigators later discovered that Richardson spent a total of about eight years in prison duringrepparttar 117020 late 1950s and 1960s for a number of felonies,repparttar 117021 most serious of which was assault with intent to commit murder.

Nor is herepparttar 117022 only high-profile crook. Brian D. Wildman was convicted of wire and mail fraud for selling valuable sports card sets ? but not delivering them as promised. Other sellers were indicted for attempting to sell a fake painting for $135,805. In another case, sellers themselves turned into a vigilante group, seeking justice from a 35 year old man who sold computers and then failed to deliver. The angry buyers apparently brokerepparttar 117023 law in their attempts to retrieve their money back fromrepparttar 117024 dishonest seller.

You and I are damaged by these reports. There are many people who are uneasy about internet sales in general, and these kinds of high-profile stories make it tougher for honest people. In truth, eBay claims that fraud includes only .01% of its transactions, but that isn't reassuring to a nervous buyer.

What can we do?

1. Plaster your identity everywhere. Put full contact information where all potential buyers can see it. Give as many ways to contact you as possible. Include your picture (and perhapsrepparttar 117025 dog and cat. :-) Choose anything that will let buyers see you as a real person with a stable life.

5 Successful Marketing Tips

Written by Lady Camelot


5 Successful Marketing Tips

If you are seeking ways to market your site, but aren't certain about how to do so with little or no money, then here are a few tips that you may find quite valuable in spreading news about your organization. An excellent way to relay news about your Website or organization is to:

1. Go to www.prweb.com/ PR Web is a superb venue for networks, websites, companies and many other similar organizations to create free press releases torepparttar public. You may submit as many press releases as you wish (so long as they are not advertisements) and at no cost to you or your organization. E.g., "....Holistic Junction Introduces "The Marketplace...." and write a small piece on what you offer, where it is offered and how it could be helpful to others. Never list costs - as this is considered a form of advertising.

2. Go to www.free-press-release.com/ Free Press Release is another press release organization that offersrepparttar 117012 same opportunities as PRWeb.

3. Submit articles to several websites about topics in which your site engages. Always be sure to include a resource box that lists author name, and website link. Never include products or services inrepparttar 117013 body of your article, as these articles are all too often rejected. A good site where you may submit articles to is http://www.goarticles.com/

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use