Scams are still rampant no matter how secure online auctions sites are. Be extra careful when you sell online.

Luckily Dan was smart enough not to fall for the scams. Here are what made him suspicious of the only bid that he got from his iPod auction:

1. The bidder responded from a different (but similar) e-mail address to the one on his eBay account.

2. The bidder offered an exorbitant unsolicited shipping fee, even though my auction post clearly said free shipping.

3. The actual name on the ship-to address provided did not match either of the bidder’s supposed e-mail addresses.

4. One of the two e-mail addresses used gave zero returns in a Google search. The second had a single search result, from a Nigerian message board site–a red flag if there ever was one.

Read Dan’s experience here.