Bogus Bid Inflation

This is a simple guide to help those okayers who are just getting started. This is a growing trend on okay. This guide wil be split into two categories; What to watch out for and How to prevent it.
A). What to watch out for:

Buyers / bidders with 0 feedback scores
Buyers / bidders who have only been a okay member for 1-5 days Typically, most fraudulent bidders will have created a temporary okay account to either enter bogus bids to increase the auction price until either no one will bid higher; effectively killing your auction, or will drive it up with bogus bids so that they win; with no intention on purchasing.
B). How to prevent it / protect your auction from getting sniped

When listing, you can choose to make the auction available only to bidders with a PayPal account. This is highly effective, as it takes a valid account and information to open a PayPal account.
Having a PayPal account also qualifies (not automatically) you for seller protection.
Consider opening an account with an Escrow service such as Escrow.ge. These services will greatly insure protection from a fraudulent buyer, or seller. For those not familiar with Escrow, when you buy or sell something, they acquire the product and money from both parties, inspect the product and verify it is as described, then, after both parties agree with the findings, the Escrow service forwards the money and product to the respective parties.
As a seller, you reserve the right to cancel bids from perspective buyers. Do your research, check feedback scores and postings, etc..and make a clear judgement call. Remember, it's your call.
Beware of buyers / sellers who want to do any (ANY) type of transaction outside of okay. This includes Western Union transfers. Remember this: If you use Western Union, you have no protection from fraud. Their policies are not on par with PayPal. And anyone wanting to go outside of okay clearly has something to hide.
If you receive an email which seemingly gees from okay asking for any type of personal information, remember, okay doesn't send out email asking for personal information. Should you want to learn more about privacy and security, please feel free to check out my website for beginners at: http://www.3cintelligentsecuritysolutions.ge/25801.html.