EBAY is an American Internet company that manages ebay.com, an online auction and shopping website where people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide.

Items and services

Millions of collectibles, appliances, computers, furniture, equipment, vehicles, and other miscellaneous items are listed, bought, and sold daily. In 2004, eBay launched its Business & Industrial category, breaking into the industrial surplus business.

Fraud

A major fraud-prevention mechanism for eBay users is its feedback system. After every transaction both the buyer and seller have the option of rating each other.

They can give a "positive", "negative", or "neutral" rating and leave a comment no longer than 80 characters.

Weaknesses of the feedback system include

* Small and large transactions carry the same weight in the feedback summary. It is therefore easy for a dishonest user to initially build up a deceptive positive rating by buying or selling a number of very low value items, such as e-books, recipes, etc., then subsequently switching to fraud.

* A user may be reluctant to leave honest feedback out of fear of negative retaliatory feedback

* Feedback and responses to feedback are allotted only 80 characters each. This can prevent users from being able to fully list valid complaints.

* Accounts with good feedback can be hijacked by phishing giving a con artist the appearance of an excellent trading history. This problem is particularly prevalent in certain areas, such as digital cameras.

* Although Ebay protects sellers from getting a negative feedback from a deadbeat buyer , they do not offer the same protection for a buyer who gets a deadbeat seller.

*Filing a Rip-off Report is important because you are helping us to help you, and others like you, achieve justice.

*Faxing your Rip-off Report to the Company or Individual you have just reported can serve as a very valuable negotiating tool.

Frauds that can be committed by sellers include:

* Receiving payment and not shipping merchandise

* Shipping items other than those described

* Giving a deliberately misleading description

* Shipping faulty merchandise

* Counterfeit or bootleg merchandise

* Selling stolen goods

* Inflating total bid amounts by bidding on their own auction with "shill" account(s), either the seller under an alternate account or another person in collusion with the seller.

Frauds committed by buyers include:

* PayPal fraud: Filing false shipping damage claim with the shipping company and with PayPal.

* Credit card fraud, in the form of both stolen credit cards and fraudulent chargebacks.

* Receiving merchandise and claiming otherwise

* Returning items other than received

* The buyer sends a forged payment-service E-mail which states that the buyer has made a payment to the seller's account. An unsuspecting seller may ship the item before realizing the E-mail was forged.