Hello. I have never bought anything online before.
It has always been physically at a store somewhere.
How do people research the legit nature of these places?
Also, if using PayPal...does the "program" ask you to 'give' permission before
releasing any funds?
Or...if I buy something..and I press certainly links....bang...I just lost my money?
Thx.
G
If you're going to be diving into eBay - compare prices to other sites. Somebody might try to sell a used item for brand-new prices.
Watch the price + shipping. An item's price might be listed very low, and then they will list shipping much higher.
Also pay attention to where the item is shipping from. eBay is international - so you might not want to wait a month or two for something to ship from China to your house.
Read the title of the listing. Read the description of the listing. Read the Condition of the description. Then go look at th epictures. Then read the title/description again. Make sure what you're getting matches the pictures/descriptions. Many people have been "scammed" on eBay thinking they're buying what's in the pictures, when the title/description say it's something else. E.g. "Brand new PlayStation 4 box - $200". The picture might be of a PlayStation 4 - but the title and description only mention the box. So I don't think you'd want to buy a cardboard box for $200
.
Look at a seller's rating. Few or no feedback, up to you to take the risk. Low scoring feedback, avoid them.
Also one of the bigger things: Bidding vs Buy It Now. Unless a listing is listed as "Buy It Now" - you're placing a Bid (like an auction) on the item. The listing has a time limit on bidding, and if your bid is the last successful bid when the time runs out, you get the item. If somebody outbids you and places a higher offer, you can either counter or just leave it and you won't be charged anything.
As for PayPal and such, it asks you to login to your PayPal account during the transaction to authorize the payment. After you've authorized it, it will go and deduct money from your payment source (credit card, debit card, bank account, etc. - whatever you set up in PayPal).
