The internet auction platform e-bay has not only made a name for itself in recent years, but also runs very successfully all over the world. Buying and selling across borders and made simple is often worth a look and a price comparison.

Since e-bay also devised the payment service paypal, which has now even been given the status of a bank, international payment transactions have also been made so simple that, apart from the possibly high shipping costs, there is no longer any reason not to buy a product abroad.

Unfortunately, the success of e-bay has also attracted a host of fraudsters who try to lure money out of people's pockets by unfair to criminal means.

Since buying takes place through photos, one cannot always tell the quality of a product, because photos can highlight good sites and hide bad ones. Even the detailed descriptions required by sellers and the reference to defects of second-hand goods cannot always protect the buyer from bad bargains. In addition, private sellers, at least in Germany, do not have to grant any guarantees or right of return.

The rating system is also a way to catch out crooks, it allows you to rate the transaction with the seller and the quality of the products. So if a seller has negative ratings, one can rightly be sceptical.

However, it becomes especially dangerous when a lot of money is involved and products are offered that belong to the luxury goods.

Although the company e-bay makes every effort to track down fraudsters through the dedicated work of its buyer protection department, they still manage from time to time to have dubious offers put up for auction and to cheat people out of their money.

To circumvent e-bay's built-in security systems, these fraudsters assume other identities, using false addresses or copying the details of others, including their seller accounts, which are linked to the fraudster's bank accounts.

The defrauded person only notices that something was wrong when he does not receive the goods he paid for. Although e-bay also offers a refund in cases of fraud, this amounts to a maximum of €175, and the person who has been defrauded must still pay €25 in any case. In the case of purchases amounting to higher sums, only this maximum sum will be refunded.

What do you have to do to protect yourself from fraudsters?

First of all, one should always look at the reviews by other buyers and take a look at the seller's account. If the majority of buyers are satisfied, the seller is considered reliable.

However, this still does not protect against cases of fraud where the seller falsifies an identity.

Care should be taken when goods are offered in areas that do not correspond to the product description, because it is logical that more potential buyers will find the product if it is correctly placed in its category. If this is not the case, it could be an indication of a tapped third-party seller account.

Furthermore, one should bear in mind that offers for e.g. electronic devices that are far below the normal price could have a catch. Although it does not have to be stolen goods or worthless imitations, all too often people try to make a quick buck with some kind of rotten deal.

Too good to be true is very rare, even on e-bay, because no one has anything to give away, which is another reason why, if in doubt, you'd better not bid if particularly expensive goods have hardly any bids even shortly before the maximum bidding period expires, because if other buyers smell a rotten deal and don't bid, you'd better not either.