New E-Bay Sellers Beware: Not a Scam, but Something to Watch For

"(name of my business) is now an E-Bay Trading Assistant!"

That, at the bottom of every listing, is now as familiar as the offer of no materials or handling charges.

It took a long time to earn the positive feedback I thought would qualify me as reliable and experienced. Other Trading Assistants have started with less. I wanted to wait.

A reply came, on what looked like an E-Bay page.

It was a list of stuff -- perfume, cigarettes, fancy running shoes -- in quantities that resembled the inventory of a duty-free shop. (At times like these, the whole world can look like one big duty-free shop.) All priced in Euros.

"I can give u good deal," promised the sender.Trading Assistants help sellers sell things. They're not supposed to buy things on or off E-bay.

None of the links on the "genuine" E-Bay page worked.

Just to see how far this would go, I asked this mysterious sender if he wanted me to help him sell any or all of the items on his list.

In the meantime, I clicked on his E-Bay ID (you can check out anyone this way) and learned that whomever it was lived in Taiwan and had one feedback point.

The reply came via another of the categories on my Trading Assistant profile, identical to the first, addressed as was the first: "hi friend."

My real name is in my profile.

Out of respect for the language, I don't usually respond to anyone who types in all lower case letters or can't take the time to type a complete "you."

A location on the other side of the world didn't help either.

Now and then I ask myself just how dumb some people think other people are. My inner fiction writer created a scene in which Mr. Duty Free now and then scans the list for new trading assistants on whom he hasn't tried his scheme.

Completing transactions outside the formal list-bid-pay process -- via private e-mail for example -- isn't recommended. People still do it. If they didn't, off-site transactions and warnings against wouldn't be the subject of a topic in the FAQ. It's still risky.

If you the buyer find that a purchase isn't what the seller described, or if you never receive the item, none of E-Bay's buyer protection features apply. Without a transaction number, you'll receive only an apologetic form letter.

If you the seller end up with a non-paying buyer, you have an item that in the meantime you can't sell.

Neither buyer or seller will qualify for feedback. Both may find that their trading partner has disappeared or refuses to answer e-mails. For a legal transaction, E-Bay will contact either on behalf of the other. That places one's trading reputation on the line and gives both a reason to resolve any disputes than may arise.

Some members just don't care and may still vanish, legal transaction or not. But E-Bay believes that the great majority of folks who buy and sell stuff are honest and reasonable. So it's best to take care of business the safe way.

I deleted the messages. Then I though about how long it took to get this far only to have as my first contact Mr. Duty Free, and reported him to the authorities. No respect at all! Rodney Dangerfield becomes a Trading Assistant. "Someone tried to sell ME stuff! I'm tellin' ya . . . "