Out of curiosity, I logged into eBay and searched “scams.” A bunch of auctions and buy it now offerings on e-books and other products that had scam in their titles came up. Then I looked at the “Community” tab and found discussion boards for buyers and sellers. Buried in the list of boards was “Trust & Safety (Safe Harbor). Under that link, I found “Today’s scams in progress,” 36 in all. In addition, you can find more posts on eBay scams.

Lesson learned: Before you trade on eBay, be sure you understand how the scams work and how to avoid them. Basically, don’t deal with Western Union or Money Graham, and never sign in twice to eBay, because if a new signin request is made after you’ve signed into your account, you’re being scammed for your identity.

No wonder eBay is having a problem attracting new buyers.