How to | Spot Ebay Frauds!

I love Ebay, and I'm sure a lot of you do to. I love the adrenaline rush of that last-minute bidding war to see if you've won the item, or buying that bargain piece of clothing that is still full price in the shops. Sadly, there are also tons of people on Ebay trying to scam innocent buyers. I've noticed it is a major problem when it comes to high end makeup and nail polishes, which is an issue when so many turn to Ebay to get bargains. I've been shopping on Ebay for many years, and have also sold on Ebay. You need to be careful when shopping, so I've come up with my list of how to avoid frauds on Ebay.

Check their Ratings
Checking  a seller's rating is easy and can be a good indication as to whether or not they are a trustworthy seller. If a seller has very few pieces of feedback they are likely to be new to Ebay so it's more difficult to gauge. However, if the seller has below 90% feedback I tend to steer clear, if 1 out of 10 of their feedback reviews are negative, I don't want to waste my money to potentially be cheated. There are many sellers on Ebay with 95%, in fact, there are tons with over 99%, who I would rather do my business with.  There are also also 'high rated sellers' on Ebay which had little ribbons next to their names, these are people who have consistently had high amounts of positive feedback over a long time. If I want to buy anything I tend to try and buy it from these people as they will most likely be trustworthy.

Check their Feedback
I always make sure I check out a person's feedback, even if they seemingly have a high rating. For example, if the the seller has really good reviews but their last few reviews are negative, maybe the ebay account has been hacked or it has been taken over by a new seller who isn't so trustworthy. Also, check to see if they have sold any similar products to what you wish to purchase, and see if the feedback is positive. A seller may be very good at selling clothing (which is more difficult to fake) but when it comes to games/dvds they may be knowingly or unknowingly selling fake produce. For example, I once bought a game off of Ebay and was so delighted at the cheap price I got it for, however when it came it was clear it was a fake. I had checked out the reviews of the person beforehand and they had all been really positive. However, upon further inspection there were two negative reviews that said the seller sold fake games. I'd chosen not to listen to the minority feedback but it turned out it was accurate. Always read all of the negative reviews before deciding to purchase something.

Check the Photos
This applies mainly to beauty products, such as Nail Polishes or high end makeup. If the seller has included actual photos of the product they are selling, check them against blogger's photos of the product to make sure it's the real deal. I remember when I used to buy OPI Nail Polishes on ebay occasionally, I'd always make sure they were authentic by looking at the photographs of bloggers to see if they matched up. For example, simple things like making sure the name is spelt correctly, or that the same font is used can help you avoid buying a fake item! If the seller has only used stock photos of the product, I tend to steer clear. You have no idea what you are getting or what condition it is in.

Use Paypal
Sellers have to list paypal as a payment option but upon paying some may ask you to pay by cheque or bank transfer - don't. Paypal is brilliant because it offers you protection in case something goes wrong, you won't have that protection if you use another payment method.

So those are all my tips! Let me know if this helped you and if you have any tips you use to make sure you avoid frauds on Ebay.

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How to | Konad

 

 OPI Strawberry Margarita

In the past couple of years, nail art has becoming more and more popular with the introduction of the infamous 'crackle' polishes and recently, the release of magnetic nail polish.  About a year ago, I discovered Konad, a company which sold the tools needed to create your own nail art using a simple stamping system. The tools you need to do this process are fairly cheap too, I got this set which contains everything you need for only £15. 

The special tools needed to use Konad to stamp your nails are an image plate (with the designs on), a scraper (to scrape excess nail varnish off the image plate), a stamp (to stamp the image onto your nails) and Konad Special nail polish.

What else you need:

How to | Deep Clean your Makeup Brushes

Cleaning your makeup brushes is essential. Firstly, makeup brushes often collect lots of bacteria (just think of the bacteria your concealer brush collects from one use on your blemishes!) and if they aren't washed this bacteria can cause spots. Secondly, makeup brushes tend to be pretty expensive and by cleaning them you will be ensuring that they last longer. When I first got into makeup and used really cheap brushes I never realised that it was important to clean your brushes, however, now I try to make sure I deep clean all of my brushes at least once a week to ensure they don't become breeding grounds for bacteria.

To deep clean your brushes people use different things, some like to use Brush Cleaners such as MAC Brush Cleaner (although I recommend this more for spot cleaning rather than a deep cleanse) while others use things such as a shampoo. I use Johnson's baby shampoo as baby shampoo is less harsh on your brushes than normal shampoo. Johnson's is also pretty cheap, costing £3.35 for a 500ml bottle at Boots. I really like this shampoo for my brushes as I find it cleans them thoroughly and there isn't excess product in the brushes.

My Dirty Makeup Brushes - ew