July 20, 2008

Protect Yourself from Auction Scams



If you buy or sell on big name auction sites you should protect yourself from lots of online scams. Every day people lose thousands of dollars due to online scams on auction sites. Here are some ways to protect yourself.

Online scams are very prevalent on Ebay and other auction sites. If you buy an item make sure that the buyer has a positive rating and has some history, usually ten or more purchases or sales. Most of the time, a scammer will have a brand new account with no history.

If you buy an item on Ebay prefer to pay with Paypal. Paypal has excellent buyer coverage and doesn't give the seller any credit card information If you never receive your item you can contact Paypal and request your money back. Usually if there is no proof that an item was delivered you will receive your money fast and easily.

If you are a seller it is important to state your return and exchange policy clearly. Most people fall into trouble when they do not state a return and exchange policy or the policy is not clear. Also make sure that your packages if expensive have tracking numbers. On very expensive orders make sure an item is insured by you or the buyer purchasing the item.

If you sell specific merchandise such as DVD's or CD's make sure that an exchange can only be given for defective merchandise, you don't want a person buying your product, copying it and returning it.
If you have a web site that you would like to monetize, one of the best ways to create profit is to sell other merchant products on your site. The beauty of affiliate marketing is that you share the commission when you either produce a sale for them or produce a lead to their web site. The affiliate merchant sells the product, collects the money, and then sends you the commission once or twice a month.

There are many affiliate marketing sites, each with their own products and each with their own ways to pay their affiliates that sell for them. Some of the well known affiliate sites are Commission Junction, Clickbank, Amazon and PaydotCom.

If your web sites can reach lots of visitors that buy your featured affiliate products you can make lots of profit each month. Many top affiliate sites make thousands of dollars each month just by having their visitors buy other merchants affiliate products.

Most affiliate marketing sites are free to join for affiliates and can be free or cost a few thousand dollars for merchants wanting their products to be sold. Affiliate marketing sites usually just require your contact information and bank information if you would like direct deposit each month or bimonthly to your account. If you would like to monetize your site, look into affiliate marketing sites.