Scammers will try to reach you where you least expect it, including by phone, email, or text message. Be suspicious of any unusual request for your personal or financial information. Don’t click on links that come from people you don’t know, and don’t respond. It’s safest just to delete these messages. Follow these tips to help you recognize and protect yourself from fraud and scams:
- Email phishing is one of the most common ways that people become victims of financial fraud, ransomware, or worse. Be suspicious of any email that promises a deal that is too good to be true, demands you take immediate action, includes attachments or links, or asks you for personal information. Never click on a link or open a file in an email unless you are absolutely certain that you know the sender and that the message itself makes sense.
- Be suspicious of any request for personal or account information. eBay will never ask you to confirm your account password or personal details by e-mail.
- Never open or download files attached to emails you aren’t expecting, even if they seem to come from people or businesses you know. These attachments can infect your system with malware that can steal your personal information, take money from your accounts, buy things on your account, and send scam emails to all your email contacts!
- Watch out for pop-ups that tell you that you need to verify account information, click a link, or download software. When in doubt, close your browser and type in the company’s URL or use a familiar bookmark.
- Scammers will try to reach you where you least expect it, including by text. Don’t click on links that come from people you don’t know, and don’t respond. It’s safest just to delete these messages.
- Don’t respond to phone requests for your account information either. eBay will never ask you for your password or financial information over the phone.
- eBay Gift Cards are ONLY redeemable on the eBay website. Never share Gift Card codes over email or phone.
Learn more about protecting yourself and reporting scams.
Fake emails often include the eBay logo and a fake eBay address in the "From" line (for example, "From: email@example.com"). Just because an email looks real doesn't mean it is. To report a fake email that looks like it came from eBay, forward it as an attachment to firstname.lastname@example.org. Here are some signs to watch out for:
||Real eBay email
|Fake emails often ask you to reply to the message with confidential information.
||We won't ask you to provide confidential information by email.
|Fake emails often use urgent and threatening language and instruct you to update your information or risk account suspension.
||Important messages about your account will also be in the Messages tab in My eBay. eBay will not request personal data such as your password, credit card, or bank number in an email.
|Fake emails might include attachments.
||Our emails never include attachments. If you receive a message with an attachment, don't open it.
|Fake emails often have a generic greeting like "Attention eBay member."
||Our emails usually greet you by the first and last name you registered on your eBay account, and your eBay username.
Fake emails often include links to fake web pages designed to trick you into giving up your financial or account information. Here are some tips to help you determine if a web address goes to a real eBay web page:
Watch out for fake URLs (web addresses)
Even if the web address contains the word "eBay", it might not be an eBay website. Real eBay web addresses have ".ebay.com/" in them. There won't be anything between the period and "ebay" and there won't be anything after the ".com" and the first forward slash (/).
This address contains a dash (-) instead of a period (.) between "signin" and “ebay”.
This address has an at sign (@) between the period and “ebay”.
This address has something between the ".com" and the forward slash.
If you're signing in with your eBay username and password, be sure that the web address starts with https://signin.ebay.com/. Look for the "s" in "https," which indicates that you're signing in to a secure server. This is one more way you can help protect your personal information.
When in doubt, start at the eBay home page
If you want to sign in to eBay or enter personal information, the safest way is start at the eBay home page. Type www.ebay.com in your browser and go from there.
Make sure you're on a real eBay sign-in page
Before you sign in to eBay, make sure you're really on our website by checking the web address (URL) on the sign-in page. Other eBay companies and international sites have different web addresses for their sign-in page.
Sign in web addresses for eBay and our other companies:
Sign-in web addresses for our international sites:
International eBay websites include letters that tell what country the site is associated with. For example, the addresses for eBay France contain .fr
NOTICE TO SELLERS: To help ensure that the world can shop safely on eBay, we are updating the protocols we use to secure communications to and from eBay systems. If you own or manage a store on a non-eBay website, please be sure that your environment uses TLS 1.2 by March 30, 2018. Learn More.
- Make sure you are logged in to the real eBay site.
- Complete your payment using an eligible payment method.
- Do not share your credit card or other financial information over email or text.
- Don’t be fooled by fraudulent emails directly from the seller telling you that there was something wrong with your payment.
- Don’t be fooled by offers to get a better price by paying outside of eBay or by using an unapproved payment method.
- Due to potential for fraud, we don't allow buyers and sellers to complete sales outside of eBay. These sales are not eligible for Feedback, requests for contact information, or eBay's problem resolution services.
- The eBay Money Back Guarantee covers the purchase price plus original shipping if the item doesn't match the seller's description. Buyers need to pay with an eligible payment method. Cash, checks, and money orders are not covered by the eBay Money Back Guarantee.
- Don’t transfer money directly into a seller’s bank account. Instead, use a secure payment site such as PayPal, where money is transferred between two electronic accounts.
- Avoid communicating with sellers privately off of eBay. The record of your communications will provide helpful backup information in case you have problems with your purchase or payment later.
- Don’t agree to unusual requests to make additional payments for shipping or other previously unlisted charges after the sales transaction is complete.
- Don’t share unnecessary personal information with buyers or sellers.
- Never accept overpayments from buyers for items, especially if the buyer asks to be reimbursed for overpayment. Requests like this are often part of a counterfeit cashier's check scheme. Learn more about avoiding payment problems.