The $200 eBay Rule
Posted by Doug Thu, 12 Dec 2002 16:31:00 GMT
David Minor pointed me to an article about a “Mac Addict” being defrauded on eBay. He’s out at least $2300 (realistically more, though he doesn’t say how much) and knows of others taken in the same scam for much, much more. I personally was sold a stolen ThinkPad that the FBI confiscated. I would have been out $1500, but the FBI agent took pity on me an managed to sign the notebook out of evidence to me.
The moral of all these stories is that eBay is a breeding ground for criminals. You have no insurance against fraud. Your only safety net is the $200 fraud protection program that ebay provides. So:Never expose more than $200 of your own money in an ebay transaction
