You get the good with the bad.. (ebay.co.uk)

Member Name: abercrombie92

Product:	ebay.co.uk
Date:	17/06/09 (52 review reads)
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Who doesn't love a good bargain? I can assure you that anytime there's a bargain, there's going to be a Michaela (that's me by the way, HI!!) - I'm not stupid though, I always make sure that I do everything I can to make sure I don't get scammed like I have done in the past.

Ebay.co.uk is a public auction site that originated in America, it was first launched in the UK in October 1999 and has become one of the Britain's most used websites ever since. It was first meant to be used as way to swap unwanted things with other people for money (one man's trash is another man's treasure), but has since become a place where people set up their own businesses and can earn a bloody fortune!

Now, it's easy enough to sign up, log in, purchase what you want and then be a happy chappy, but as of late, there has been a sudden increase in scams. I'm not going to blabber on for hours about internet safety because this is a review about ebay, but I will however, give you a few tips on how to stay safe on ebay.

Personally, I've only ever been scammed once, this was around 2 years ago when I was first starting out on ebay. I had ordered a set of MAC make-up brushes (yes, I know, MAC brushes only come in sets if they are in a collection, and even then they are very rare, but I was young, okay?), this set was a 24 brush set in a brush roll for £50 and £10 postage and packaging - a damn good deal if they were real, but when they arrived I could tell straight off that they were fake - plastic brush roll, MAC stickers, plastic brush handles, brittle bristles that would shed. It was my own fault for not checking the feedback though, so can I really complain?

On the other hand, my aunt has been scammed many times and even had her account hacked into. This isn't because she's stupid, it's just because people are extremely sneaky and will advertise something as something else, sell it then delete their account making it harder to make the situation right again. In these situations, my aunt has found that ebay has been of very little help and she even stopped using it! Sadly, that's her loss in more ways than one as I still find ebay to be a brilliant site when it's done right.

Just the other day I purchased two BRAND NEW Lipsy VIP Collection dresses for £80 - I made a saving of over £100! They arrived today and I've never been happier. Usually, I'd buy them straight from the store (or the website), but I wanted the dress in both colours and was tight on extra cash, so I headed to ebay and found them there, and boy am I glad I did.

Heres a few of my tips for staying safe on ebay:
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- only use a seller if they have 99%-100% feedback. Any lower is a no go for me.

- ALWAYS check the feedback if they have anything less that 100%, check why & when they received a negative or neutral feedback, determine if that could effect your order.

- only purchase from inside the UK/Ireland. I'll occasionally make exceptions for a few of my trusted American sellers, but other than that, I will only order from inside the UK. If something is coming from Hong Kong, it is most likely fake/a scam.

- always read the description. Then read it again. And again. If something seems off, step back.

Overall, I think ebay is wonderful, but there are definitely things to watch out for. If you are smart about what your doing, then you should be perfectly alright.

Hopefully my tips will help you and I hope my aunt's experiences haven't put you off of purchasing from ebay, but I felt it was only fair to put two sides into this review as ebay will never be perfect.

Thanks for reading!

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