Help us weed out fraud on bidorbuy and stand a chance of having R500 credited to your bidorbuy account

Early this morning bidorbuy got an urgent call. Steven, a seller of about two years standing, phoned to warn us about a suspicious listing. Two minutes later, the listing was suspended and messages were dispatched to bidders (four or five of them), warning them not to send any money.

Since there was almost an hour left to the close of the auction, the affair had a happy ending. The rouge seller was ousted before he had a chance to do real damage. The potential buyers were saved a neat pile of money and a lot of headache.

What alerted Steven and made him reach for the phone?

To an ordinary visitor, the listing in question looked good. Well, perhaps a little too good. A coveted gaming console at such a great price! And not one, but three of them on offer!

With such a bargain tempting them from the screen, some buyers will forget common sense that is trying to tell them: stop, this is too good to be true! They will also forget to check seller’s credentials, namely:

• How many stars are there next to the name of the seller? In other words, are her or his ratings above 95 percents?
• Is the seller a verified seller? In other words, does the seller have a check mark next to her or his name?

True, you as a buyer – or a seller, for that matter – are aware that the ultimate responsibility for transacting on bidorbuy lies on you. However, buyers, if you exercise a bit of caution, you may avoid many an unpleasant situation. And if you make sure that there is a little check mark next to a seller’s name, you may at least recover a part of your money should you find yourself in an unpleasant situation after all.

Having thus laid the responsibility squarely on your shoulders, we must emphasise that bidorbuy is duty-bound and vitally interested in doing everything it can to make certain that you, buyers and sellers, transact in a safe environment.
But – just like in real life – we cannot be everywhere and do everything. We depend on the bidorbuy community to help us weed out the baddies, preferably before they do harm.

True – the moment one fraudster is exposed and plucked out, another one will sprout. That is just the way of the world, and not a reason to become disheartened and give up. We simply have to keep our eyes open and alert others whenever we spot danger. Only if we persist does the world have a chance of gradually becoming a safer place for all of us.

To encourage user participation in combat against fraud, bidorbuy will offer every month a R500 reward for reporting illegal items or fraudulent activities. You will be automatically entered into the draw when you send us a link to a listing and tell us why you feel it is suspicious. You may either use the Report a problem link on the listing, or send an email report to communitywatch@bidorbuy.co.za.

In any case, reward or no reward, do keep reporting any suspicious behaviour you come upon on bidorbuy pages. Your involvement is greatly valued!