Beware of likely to be Fraud Sellers/cheaters at Ebay

[kamalprasoon]

Dear All, (my ebay id-kamalprasoon)

1.) On 22nd April 2010 i bought a used laptop(Item number: 160424666426) from a Seller (Ebay id- tapan2012).
Immediately after buying the seller started calling me to make the payment out of Ebay, directly depositing in his bank a/c. and he assured a good discount if i do that.

2.) I am a Ebay user since 2005..little experienced...so i refused out of Ebay payment.

3.) On 25th April 2010 i made the payment through paisa pay. Once i made the payment the Seller started telling that I should click the check box at ebay site that I have recieved the item and he will personally deliver it at my doorstep.
Again I refused. Then the seller started asking me to make some extra cash payment for wireless mouse, TV tuner etc. as bid was ended at a low price.

4.) After one week the Seller told me that no courier guy is accepting the item for delivery. I arranged a courier guy (who has a tie-up with my company)to book the item. When the courier guy went to collect and book the item the Seller refused and said he will deliver the item personally in Pune. During all this (1-7 April)period he kept giving me wrong information that he is on the way to Pune, in some trouble and I should inform Ebay that I have recieved the item.

The I smelled something wrong...I immediately informed the Ebay CC but they told me wait till 7th April 2010.
Today is 8th April 2010, I have not recieved my item..I have claimed a refund from paisa pay.
So now i didnt get the item and i will interest to the bank.

I dont understand why ebay dont check the credentials of buyers or seller before registering.

I am little experienced so i am saved from from this cheating effort i believe. had i been new to all i am 100% sure i would have been got cheated.

Ebay must look into the matter and save its members from cheaters and frauds.

Thanks
Kamal
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Earlier also a seller selling item number:120552581383-Compaq Presario V3000 had done the same thing

[mobile-phones-etc]

Dear Kamal Ji.
Indeed you have been troubled, and thanks to your experience on eBay that saved you from being scammed.

There are a lot of fly by night sellers on eBay and for a new buyer its very difficult to distinguish, more over these scammers, offer very lucrative prices; and new buyers often fall for it without understanding the risk. There is an old saying "When you think its too good to be true, then it probably is" .

Now due to this attitude of some new sellers, lot of buyers have stopped buying from eBay and off course, it is ultimately us (sellers) whose bread and butter depends on business on eBay are adversely affected.

However, the new buyer protection program is offering real sense of confidence in buyers. Lets see how it goes.

Keep the thread alive by posting your bad experiences with some fly by night sellers.


Regards buy genuine mobiles at unbeatable price.
http://stores.shop.ebay.in/Mobile-Phones-ETC

Change is state of mind..but inevitable.

[rptechindia]

buyers wake-up please beware from new sellers those having low feedback ratings

[bhushan.mehta]

I have been buying from eBay-US and eBay-India on a regular basis. The difference between the 2 sites are many, but one thing that stands out the most is that at eBay-US, the seller is given the benefit of doubt - unless he defaults. PayPal directly transfers the money into seller's account, and only after that the seller ships. That is, you have to explicitly mark the item as not received. Why? Because the trend is that usually one gets the item one ordered.

eBay-India on the other hand has Paisapay, which explicitly requires one to mark the item as received. Payment made by buyer is held by eBay till the time the buyer marks the item received (or does not claim for a refund within five days after the last date to mark item as received has lapsed). That is, seller gets paid after buyer receives item and confirms all is well. Why? Because, cases such as the one presented here are more common.

This speaks to the general trend in the Indian marketplace, which is that of "buyer-beware". Sellers usually whine about eBay policies being too pro-buyer. But IMHO these policies have not been put into place by eBay randomly. They have been put into place after seeing market trends and researching local buying and selling patterns.

Recently sellers have been complaining about new fly-by-night sellers who are bringing down their sales. My question to them is what are you doing about it other than whine? I remember one user 'pcrock' whose posts have made sure that the amount of fake RayBan sunglasses being sold on eBay-India have reduced (speculations about his angle aside). Why not indulge in information campaigns that help buyers differentiate between a genuine seller and a fly-by-night one? Please do not tell me to check feedback scores and DSR because i have had bad experiences and close shaves even after that. Plus, this is not a true benchmark because there are always going to be sincere sellers whose feedback scores are still low as they are new entrants. At best, they are guidelines, not gospel. -- Signature: I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

[rajelectroniks]

Mr. Mehta, memory span in people is very lived and we are generally a greedy race, pcrock's campaign has done nothing from preventing buyers from buying fake glasses, how many have buyers have read his posting and how many are going to read it in future before buying. The matter will remain hot for a few months and then it will be business back as usual. Because we are greedy and hence we will continue to fall for bargains.

In your last para you have said the sellers are just whining, sorry that is NOT whining, what has been said is a fact and how can you educate buyers in the matter of FBN sellers, because here the matter is not of fake products but that these sellers are screwing up the market by selling products at throw away prices which does not make economical sense (no inventory, no presales knowledge, no after sales service, no warranty, no packing, no labels nothing-see the same in comm court) and thereby making it difficult for genuine sellers to survive on ebay, that's the problem that we are having and we have voiced the same, no whining surely.


The DSR & feedback rating factor is very valid and true, be it just guideline and not gospel, I agree. Here we should go by rule and not exception, in more than 90% of the cases you are not swindled, but when we talk of new sellers with low scores the scale reverses. and from this the 10% who are good will probably go ahead on ebay and become good sellers.
******************
Regards.
Raj Electroniks.

[bhushan.mehta]

@Mr.Raj: Let me just say the seller whining comment was an afterthought. My main point what was difference between eBay-US and eBay-India policies, and why.

Having said that, I agree with the greed part Mr.Raj, and that is why these FBN sellers are able to hawk their goods here. What these FBN sellers are taking advantage of is the fact that buyers come to sites like eBay looking for bargains and cheap deals. And why wouldn't the buyers do that? isn't ebay itself promoting it that way? Plus, people who promote online shopping often mention that goods are available online at cheaper prices because the middle-man is cut.

The typical buyer coming here for a bargain will not be aware of the different 'marketing' techniques sellers use to hawk gray market / refurbished goods such as the dealer's warranty. Nor will he be aware of the charges eBay levies on the sellers like paisapay fees and FVF and what not, which means that there is not much difference between the online and offline prices of genuine goods. And in terms of greed, we are all afflicted regardless of whether we buy or sell. Else there wouldn't have been a dealer's warranty. I have practically stopped buying electronic goods from here, unless i see a good value from a good seller, because i have had too much trouble with OEMs sold to me at retail prices or warranties sent without a dealer's stamp or without mentioning serial number, etc. Its all not too different from what the FBN sellers are doing.

Anyway, in terms of pcrock, my statement was that this has prevented some sellers from selling fake glasses. This in turn reduces the chance of buyers falling into their trap. But yes, i agree with you that the gullible inexperienced first-time buyer will jump on the fake ones by just looking at the price.

In terms of how many people will read this posting - that is something neither one of us, nor eBay, can control. One can only hope. But just because the probability of someone reading this post is less shouldn't stop any one of us from discussing it. I hope you agree.

I use the word 'whine' because i have been reading the posts and so far no seller has offered a concrete way to identify FBN sellers. All they say is eBay should do something about it. I doubt eBay can do anything about it because it can only act if the DSR or the feedback or SNPs warrant it so. But how many gullible buyers will be able to spot the difference, and hence give appropriate feedback? (not to mention that these FBN sellers also have the community court to appeal their feedback) Hence, this is a community issue where the genuine sellers are required to step in and make sure that they educate whatever buyers do come to these forums so that their genuine business and consequently, the buyer's interests, are protected. -- Signature: I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

[mobile-phones-etc]

@ Mr. Mehta,
I know we have not done any thing about FBN sellers. Just wondering, can we control the greed part in the buyers who fall for "too good to be true" deals, knowing this very well, that if an item is available in market for Rs X and something like that on eBay at 10% of Rs X.

Lets take the case of RayBan sunglasses, do you think any buyer would be that half witted that, they will think, on eBay Original RayBan is being sold at 10% of the cost in open market.

The point I want to make is,

A) Its of course, FBN sellers greed, that forces him to sell a counterfeit item.

B) Its buyers greed as well. They have some doubt in their mind, but looking at the dirt low price, they still take the risk.

For the very same reason, eBay has Feedback system,SNP, Resolution Center and few policies in place to mark the grey areas and eventually such sellers out.

You will be amazed to know that as many as 60% of mobile users in India, use a Chinese unbranded handset.


Buyer education & awareness is very important and call of the moment. buy genuine mobiles at unbeatable price.
http://stores.shop.ebay.in/Mobile-Phones-ETC

Change is state of mind..but inevitable.

[chandru1432]

Hi I purchased the watch on 22-april`10 and payment also made on same time. but till now i have not rcv the things and on 3-may i got a message from ebay reg Amount will be refunded with in 5days after i complined to ebay CC and they are supporting to seller and they try to making understand me the goods is delivered. and I haven`t receive the material and money.and there is proper respond form CC they will call everyday asking whether goods rcvd or not if i told no they will say as per online tracking the goods already delivered.
Dear Buyer`s please dont purchase anything from Ebay.this is worst platform which i seen.

[bhushan.mehta]

mobile-phones-etc. said: "Just wondering, can we control the greed part in the buyers who fall for "too good to be true" deals, knowing this very well, that if an item is available in market for Rs X and something like that on eBay at 10% of Rs X."

To say that EVERY decision a buyer makes is out of greed is not accurate at all (although i do get a feeling that the above statement is a very nice way of saying "how can buyers be so stupid?").

I have bought quite a few cheap watches. But if you assume that i have done that out of greed and blindly bought into the seller's quality assurances, then you would be wrong. My thought is that they are good looking, will last me some months, and after that i'll get something new. If it stops working or i get bored of wearing it, i can just throw it away or give it away without having a heart attack. Instead, if i get a 25000 or 50000 rupee watch, i'll get a very good product but i'll be forced to wear it even if i no longer like it or it becomes outdated.

In a way, what i have written above, you have said in Point-B of your post.

Let us take another example - pirated movies. Offline, they are available as pirated DVDs, online they are available as downloads. No matter what has been tried, this market refuses to die. Is it because of greed of buyer alone? Nope. International market analysts concur that online movie piracy is a result of a gap in the market created by greedy movie studios who refuse to cut prices. Go to a movie or buy an original DVD and it will set you back hundreds of rupees with more or less no repeat-value. They have simply failed to address the buyer's needs that is being filled by pirates.

The sale of chinese mobiles are another example. If the genuine sellers indulge in educating their potential customer base that there are brands like Micromax, Fly and Spice that specifically cater to the economy-class segment with good features and warranties, then it shall benefit both the buyer and the genuine sellers.

Why do i say potential customer base? Because i, for one, will never be a customer of high-value watches. But i am your best bet at buying high value electronics if you give me good value and good service and a genuine product, and don't consider me a stupid gullible fool who is only buying by looking at the price tag. Unfortunately, that has yet to happen. -- Signature: I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

[mobile-phones-etc]

Dear Mr. Mehta,
You really didn't get me, did you?
What I wanted to convey was,
Lets say a seller is selling an iphone for 2999 and another one selling iphone for 24000, (assuming seller i mis guiding the buyers) dont you think a buyer should just use the common sense here.

I know sellers are at fault. But all I want to say is buyer is falling for it. in simple words, seller is happy fooling a buyer and buyer is happy being fooled until he receives the item and say hey this is not genuine apple iPhone.

About buying watches, well i dont mind a seller who has clearly written its an apple i phone look alike or this is not an apple iphone. but a seller not mentioning such details or explicitly misguiding a customer; needs to be thrown out of eBay.

About Piracy, its off course a global issue, not just online but offline as well. However, selling a pirated movie is different from selling a copy or look alike product, usually copy products are some what different like they come under different brand name or software is different and all. but selling a clone phone is certainly under piracy as it carries original brand's name and all and the differences are hard to be identified.

My market is mobile phones, so couldn't give an example for another industry. Pardon me for that. however, my message is clear - piracy as a whole is killing the trade and it is with every industry. buy genuine mobiles at unbeatable price.
http://stores.shop.ebay.in/Mobile-Phones-ETC

Change is state of mind..but inevitable.