Buyer and Seller Safety Tips - 10/2/2008
To help promote smooth transactions, we would like to remind you about some important steps you can take to ensure that your buying and selling experiences at NW Georgia Onlie.com are enjoyable and hassle free.
Below is a list of things to keep in mind. These tips are not designed to scare you, but to encourage you to be smart and use common sense when transacting on the internet
Tips for Buyers
What are things that potentially fraudulent sellers do?
* Ask you to wire money into an international account. Seller may ask you to send payment overseas and will only accept Western Union or a similar money transfer service. We would strongly discourage you from wiring money.
* Try to convince you not to use payment services, which offer protection (accepted services are those like Escrow.com and PayPal).
* Refuse to give you a working shipment tracking number, and continuously provide excuses about why you haven't received an item.
* Sell an expensive popular item at a suspiciously low price.
Tips for Sellers
What are things that potentially fraudulent buyers do?
* Place large orders to be sent to a foreign location.
* Buyer offers high-value (but fake) cashier's check in exchange for your item. The value of cashier's check often far exceeds your item and the buyer asks you to wire the balance via money transfer service. Banks will often cash these fake checks and then hold YOU responsible when the check fails to clear. Scam often involves a third party (shipping agent, business associate owing buyer money). We would strongly discourage you from wiring money.
* Pay with an international credit card, cashier's check, or recommend an unfamiliar escrow or payment service.
How You Can Avoid Fraud?
We believe that buying items locally is the safest way to transact. For National items, we strongly suggest taking the following measures to protect yourself from scammers:
1. Know what you are buying. Before making an offer to a seller; ask questions to learn more about what they are selling.
2. Ask for personal contact information. Once you have negotiated the price and have decided to buy or sell the item, ask for a phone number and call him/her up at a random time to make sure he/she is receiving the calls.
3. Use a payment method with fraud protection. Many scammers only accept money by wire transfer, Money Gram, or bank transfer because buyers cannot get their money back and sellers cannot be tracked.
4. Track your shipment. Most major shipping companies allow people to track shipments while they are in transit.
5. Keep records of all correspondence. Hold on to any e-mail, notes, shipping documents, and payment information. Be sure to print a copy of the ad! These records may prove useful in the rare event that you need to seek a refund from a seller or report an incident of fraud.
Other Useful Links
Internet Fraud Tips:
www.fraud.org
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI):
FBI
Current Internet Schemes:
www.ic3.gov
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