XBOX 360 - READ THIS BEFORE YOU BUY ON EBAY!

Only on eBay...

There are a few things you must be very careful of when bidding on a XBOX on eBay. At first blush you might think these warnings are somewhat ridiculous, but there are sellers out there that are actually creating these auctions to take your money. I believe the buyer should be aware of these common XBOX scams before they get started with their eBay XBOX purchase. If you take your time and read the fine print of the auction, there is no doubt you can get a nice new, or slightly used XBOX 360 at a reasonable price; certianly at a better buy then your Big Box Stores. Now, here's what to look out for.

Some sellers are actually only selling a picture of an XBOX - that's right, unless you read the fine print, you could be taken, like one eBayer recently, was taken for $611.00 - for a picture of an XBOX. He/She did not read the fine print in which it stated, "This auction is not for an XBOX system, but rather a picture of one." The seller only accepted Money Orders so there could be no Paypal Claim filed against the auctioner.

Also, and you are not going to believe this, some sellers are buying and selling JUST THE XBOX box. That's correct, they are selling just the box the game system came in, plus the controller, instructions, etc. So they will say something like this in the auction, "Included in the BOX will be the normal things such as the controllers, instructions, power cord, etc". So when the high bidder gets their box - that is exactly what they get - and all that they get: The empty box, with only the controllers, the instructions, and power cord. The last auction where I had seen this scam the seller got away with $372.92.

There are many sellers on eBay that are also selling defective XBOX, but do not adequately state this in the auction - again, the moral of the story is to READ every word of the auction, and sometimes read between the words. If any question lingers in your mind, fire off an email to the seller, and if it goes unanswered, move on. Simple as that.

I suppose the thrust of this guide is to ask the XBOX purchaser on eBay to read the fine print of these auctions. There are scammers out there, and these are just a few of the tricks. The way to combat this is painfully simple.

Read every word, and when in doubt, email the seller. Look at the their feedback, and look at the number of negative feedbacks, and mutual withdrawls. If emails go unanswered, then move on.

Safe Buying Everyone.

Mark