Things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction

Electronic auctions, auctions conducted online, have been in existence for several years on local area networks and were started on the Internet in 1995. Electronic auctions serve as brokers, offering services that enable sellers to post their goods for sale and allow buyers to bid on those items.

There are several types of e- auction fraud conducted over the internet, which are failures to ship merchandise, improper grading techniques, fraud photo and misleading description. Fraud may be conducted by sellers and buyers. Therefore, in order to protect the buyers and sellers in the e-auction, there are several measures in an effort to reduce fraud.

◗ Verification - used to confirming the identity and evaluating the condition of an item. With verification, neutral third parties will evaluate and identify an item through a variety of means.

◗ Authentication service - Product authentication is a way of determining whether an item is genuine and described appropriately.

◗ Feedback Forum - Its allows registered buyers and sellers to build up their online trading reputations. It provides users with the ability to comment on their experiences with other individuals.

◗ Escrow services -With an easy-to-access link to a third-party escrow service, both partners in a deal are protected. The buyer mails the payment to the escrow service, which verifies the payment and alerts the seller when everything checks out. At that point, the seller ships the goods to the buyer. After an agreed-upon inspection period, the buyer notifies the service, which then sends a check to the seller.

◗ Grading services – determining the physical condition of an item, such as “poor quality” or “mint condition”. The actual grading system depends on the type of item being graded. Different items have different grading systems.