Cautions for eBay shoppers

By Charles Sowell  

JULY 28, 2010 10:17 a.m. (0)

A little common sense will carry you a long way when shopping or selling online at sites like eBay, said Patti Massullo, a long-time eBay business woman and certified trainer for the massive online shopping site.

“There are scammers out there and they will, not if, eventually try something (if you shop on eBay or any other online site),” said Massullo. “Reputation is everything for eBay and for the people who regularly trade there, so they do all that they can to maintain a safe and secure site.”

The online shopper is quick to ban people caught using unscrupulous methods like shill bidding or sending items to customers other than what they ordered, she said.

Payments are handled through third party sites like PayPal, she said, and those sites are extremely safe for both the seller and the buyer.

The thing to remember about all of these sites is they will never ask you for personal information, she said, and eBay zealously protects the information of all of the people who buy and sell there.

EBay will refund the price of an item, plus the cost of shipping, when there is an issue, Massullo said. “So you’re never at risk with them if you’re legitimate.”

To be sure, there are sites that mimic the third party pay partners and eBay, she said. But by using common sense and some fairly simple rules (like never dealing with a site where you didn’t initiate the transaction) safety should not be an issue.

Massullo started her career with eBay after selling a broken camera for $67 online.

“I had no idea there were actually people out there who are looking for those kinds of things,” she said. “People buy things like cameras for the parts (often) and there are things like gold contained in old cameras.”

She sold a lot of broken items, early on in her career. “They know at my house never to throw anything away until they check with me,” she said.

Massullo works from home now and has a thriving trading business on eBay as well as a growing business teaching people how to successfully trade on the site.

“It worked out well for me both in trading and in teaching others how to do business online,” she said. “But you have to be willing to work for your business and you have to fine your own niche.”

She said eBay has evolved into a sort of massive online mall over the years. “You’re never going to make it on eBay if you’re trying to sell electronics, for instance,” she said. “The big-box retailers all have onlines stores with eBay now. So if you’re not buying items in 10,000 unit packages you’ll never be able to compete.”

Right now Massullo is selling old pianos for her church. “It’s the kind of thing that has to be done locally,” she said. “That is fairly usual with big items.”

People buying on eBay shouldn’t trade with anyone who has a satisfaction ranking that isn’t in the high 90s (percent), she said.

“And they should read the comments from customers to see what kind of experience others have had,” she said. “It’s important to understand that there is just no satisfying some people and those are pretty easy to pick out in the comments section.”

For people who have gotten suspicious emails from eBay of PayPal, Massullo recommends going to these Websites: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . EBay offers a free tutorial on safety at http://pages.ebay.com/education/spooftutorial.

Massullo’s online store is Jazzy-Brandz.com and her soon to be online Website on trading tips is Mybestauctiontips.com.

Contact Charles Sowell at 679-1208 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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