Tips for Protecting Your eBay Account from Fraud

As a veteran eBayer, I have done my share of both buying and selling on eBay for many years. For the most part, my experiences with using eBay have been very smooth and straightforward. However, last week I had an eBay experience that left me confused and a little worried: someone gained access to my eBay account and actually listed an item for sale under my username. As both eBay and I took the necessary steps to remedy the situation and to make my account once again private and under my complete control, I have learned that this type of thing happens very frequently. I have spoken with many experienced eBay users, and I have heard many tales about eBay accounts being compromised and accessed by outside third parties. And as a result, I would like to share a few tips to help you avoid having your account illegally accessed or compromised.

First of all, the most important precaution for an eBay seller to take in terms of protecting the privacy of their account is to be very leery and careful about any e-mails that are received that are supposedly from eBay. After analyzing my account activity in the weeks leading up to my account invasion, I realized that I had probably been the victim of a spoof e-mail from an outside party impersonating eBay. That happens all the time, and that seems to be the number one way in which an outside party can gain access to an individuals eBay account: spoof/fake e-mails. An e-mail is sent to an eBay user - in this case myself - and it will usually say something to the effect that your eBay account information needs to be updated, or that you have a complaint lodged against your eBay account, and that in order to rectify the problem(s), you must log into your eBay account via a link pasted inside the e-mail that was sent to you supposedly from eBay. The e-mail will look legitimate as well, complete with the eBay logo at the top of the page and everything else. And, being somewhat naive, that's exactly what I did. Thinking this was an official e-mail from eBay, I punched in my secret password and username. When I did this, I unwittingly gave my account information to whomever had sent me the fake e-mail. I remember receiving a series of these types of e-mails in the weeks prior to my account being invaded.

I now know that not all e-mails that seem to be from eBay are in fact from eBay. And now, as I have experienced this type of thing on more than one occasion, I can now spot a fake or suspicious e-mail. The main thing to notice when opening an e-mail that is supposedly from eBay is that your username will be displayed at the top of the e-mail. A genuine e-mail from eBay will have your username - in my case it would have JasonAnthony28 pasted at the top of the e-mail. And, if it's an e-mail that's related to a question or complaint regarding one of your auctions, the auction number will appear both on the title of the e-mail, as well as inside the e-mail. And, those auction numbers MUST match! Shortly after I resolved my account problems and my account was back up and running, I received a spoof e-mail that looked like an authentic e-mail from eBay. Except for a few small details. The first thing that I noticed was that my username was not displayed at the top of the e-mail. The other glaring thing that I noticed was that the auction numbers that this e-mail was referencing did not match. The e-mail subject line had one auction number; inside the e-mail their was a Totally different auction number! And, to top it all off, both of those auction numbers were for auctions that I never even had in the first place! So, pay close attention to all e-mails that you get that are supposedly from eBay.

As a side note, many people elect not to open any e-mail that they receive concerning eBay. Instead, they will only retrieve their eBay messages off of the eBay website. And that is a smart move! Whenever you receive anything relating to eBay - a question about an auction, a complaint, an update, anything at all concerning your eBay account - eBay will send it to you in your eBay inbox, which is accessed off of your My eBay page under "messages"! This is the safest way to retrieve and respond to eBay messages. There's no way an outside party can access the main eBay website, and this is where all of the correspondence originates from that you receive in your My eBay page. So, you can do things either way. You can continue to open eBay related e-mail directly from your e-mail, or you can do it the fool-proof way and only access it directly from your My eBay page.

Another important tip to keep in mind for safeguarding your eBay account is to be very, very, very careful when you are accessing your eBay account from a public computer. It's very easy to access your eBay account from a public computer and then either forget to log out - which can give anybody who uses the computer after you complete access to your account, or inadvertently check the little box on eBay that tells the computer that you are using to remember your password for future log-ins. If you inadvertently check that box - as I usually do at home so I don't have to keep logging in and out all day long - you will have your eBay account information stored on that computer - a high traffic public computer - and if another person happens to use that same computer and they go to eBay, they will see that someone is already logged in - in this case you - and a lot of bad things can happen from there! So, to keep things simple and easy, forget about using the "remember my password" feature when accessing your eBay account on a public computer. And, just as importantly, don't forget to log out of eBay when you are done using the site. By remembering to follow these two steps, you will save yourself a lot of potential heartache!

As you can see, it takes some consistent vigilance and work on your part to keep your eBay account safe. But with a proper amount of vigilance and caution, you can ensure that your eBay account stays impenetrable from any outside source!