eBay and PayPal go after auction fraudsters

Dodgy dealers in their sights...

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in Small Biz, 24th February 2004 15:09 GMT

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eBay customers will get better protection from fraud with the launch of a guarantee service from PayPal.

PayPal is offering punters up to £250 of protection from non-delivery or for goods that are not as described on the auction site.

But to qualify for protection you must be buying from a Buyer who qualifies. PayPal-approved buyers must have at least a 98 per cent positive feedback rating, at least 50 feedback points, a PayPal account and be based in the UK. Assuming they qualify on all these grounds then a PayPal Buyer Protection logo will be shown in the Seller Information box.

The move follows a survey from PayPal late last year which showed a third of Internet users are reluctant to spend more than £50 on the Web and 92 per cent have more general security concerns.

PayPal and eBay hope improved fraud protection will increase users' confidence in the sytem.

For deals not covered by PayPal eBay will continue to offer £120 of protection for a £15 processing fee.

A survey from the Anti-Phishing Working Group found that eBay is the company most frequently targeted by 'phishers' - phoney emails asking for credit card numbers and passwords. There were 50 such emails, purportedly from eBay, in January alone.

PayPal is a big player in online payments - it has more than 40 million members in 38 countries.®