Keep Your eBay Password Safe from Phishers and Hackers

One of the most important things about being successful on eBay is to take active steps to safeguard your eBay password (also PayPal), not just in the early days but for as long as you remain a member of one or other site. That said, it isn’t just through emails your passwords may be picked up and used by fraudsters. Some people use passwords that are amazingly easy for scamsters to guess, such as a first name followed by year of birth (avril1950, for example) or the city from which they run the business (available for all to see inside almost any eBay listing). More often though the blame lies fairly and squarely with the person staring back at you from the bathroom mirror! Case in point: one of our own subscribers once asked me my eBay User ID to see how I listed items similar to those he wanted to sell. No problem with that, I don’t mind anyone checking my listings, but in this case I was rushed, under pressure, I gave him my password instead! He never knew that, of course, but just in case I changed my password fast and emailed our subscriber with the correct user name. These tips will help keep your passwords safe: * Do not include personal details such as month or year of birth, names of children or pets, house name, house number. * Don’t give your password to anyone, including your partner or children. Even the most honest and trusted people make mistakes! * Change your password often, preferably every few weeks. * Use capital letters and numbers as part of your password which makes it even more difficult for people to guess. * Have ongoing virus protection software in place and do a full virus check every few days. Some viruses can access and copy passwords and personal details directly from the user’s keyboard but a good virus checker will find and remove viruses before they can activate. Try Norton Anti-Virus software, you’ll find it at: symantec.com. I’ve tried numerous others, including McAfee - McAfeestore.com â€" but for me Norton wins hands down. * Protect Yourself, Protect Others. Send emails you think might be spoof to the genuine high-profile company from which they purport to come. For eBay and PayPal send them to spoof@ebay.com and spoof@paypal.com, respectively. But you may get hundreds of spoof emails daily, I certainly do, and reporting scams can eat heavily into time you might otherwise spend running your eBay business. So report the facts sparingly and if enough people do the same we might get rid of all but the most persistent offenders. Afterwards delete the phishing emails and empty your wastebasket to avoid colleagues or relatives acting on them later. Avril Harper is an eBay PowerSeller and author of BANK BIG PROFITS SELLING VINTAGE TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW POSTCARDS ON EBAY which you can read about at: sellpostcardsonebay.com and MAKE MONEY TEARING UP OLD BOOKS AND MAGAZINES AND SELLING THEM ON EBAY which you can read about at: magstoriches.com . She has produced a free guide - 103 POWERSELLER TIPS - which you can download with other freely distributable reports and eBooks at avrilharper.com