| Internet - Auctions | |||
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It is becoming increasingly popular to buy goods on auction
sites such as www.ebay.com
Users bid for goods and when a time limit is reached, it is sold to the highest bidder - provided their bid is over the minimum or reserve price. Users can also sell items online. The owner of the site takes a small percentage of the sale price.
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| Care must be taken as the popularity of auction sites also
attracts the unscrupulous!
Scam 1 : A seller gets a friend to bid for an item. This will push up the value of bids or start a bidding contest. Scam 2 : A buyer gets a friend to bid high for an item they want. This will discourage further bids and then at the last moment the friend withdraws their bid. Some auction sites do not allow bids to be withdrawn. Scam 3 : A winning bidder may send money and never receive the item they were bidding for. Either they were bidding for a non-existent item or the seller does not send the item.
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In 2005, three Romanian fraudsters conned people out of £300,000 on eBay...they were sent to jail! | ||
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