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Buyers Beware


Yellow Wingers

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I've notice a lot of people looking for a good deal on their first GPSr. I bought the one I'm using on e-Bay and recently I've been looking to upgrade. When doing this, you need to be very careful. For example (not selling here, just using this for example) take a look at This e-Bay Item.

 

This looks like a pretty good deal. Until you do a little bit more research. Take a look at the seller's Feedback and then click on any of the completed auctions. At this point, it should be obvious that this guy is a rip-off.

 

e-Bay and other auction sites are a great resource for us. You can get new items and slightly used items, and roughly used items. But it is always Buyer beware. If anything about the auction makes you raise an eyebrow, don't bid. Don't be afraid to write the seller with any questions you might have. If you don't get an answer, don't bid.

 

I'm sure there are other people here who can give additional suggestions for this kind of purchasing.

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You are not instilling much confidence in anyone looking to start out on ebay or any other "garage sale site". I have NEVER used ebay because of concerns like this. I had 2 GPSr that I posted here in the garage sale forums because I thought who would even consider anything from a seller with 0 sales 0 feedback ect. through ebay. I did sell my units to a new geocacher through the forums although the transaction is not complete (items have been shipped - not received) I hope they have the confidence not to think I am trying to rip them off.

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One of my personal favorites was when I was temping, the company was giving consumers a $25 rebate and had the coupon printed in newspapers throughout the United States. Someone onE-Bay tried to sell a coupon, I ended up buying it in the auction for about Fifty cents and then giving her a negative reference. The e-mails from her were pretty funny, she thought she could sell it because she had bought the newspaper.

 

Like the other poster said, check their feedback. When I looked at this woman's account she had history of selling simialr items.

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How do you figure he's questionable? The strange feedback is due to the use of Chineese characters. Look at one of his past auctions on the CHINEESE ebay site...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com.cn/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...fromZR40QQfviZ1

 

He has 100% positive comments. So what if he ships out of China? My wife has sold internationally. Does that mean she gets flagged because she ships out of the US? And PayPal also offers protection (if he accepts it).

 

As for selling the coupon, people swap coupons all the time. I personally see nothing wrong with selling it. If a person lives in a small town without a major newspaper, they may not have access to the coupon. It's not illegal and there's no rule on ebay against selling coupons. If I had been the seller, I would have gone to ebay to have the negative removed since it was placed based on your affiliation with the company who issued the coupon and not how the transaction was handled. Feedback is not supposed to be used in that manner.

 

I have been on eBay since before it was known as eBay, and have seen many things. But leaving that sort of feedback takes the cake...

Edited by Clayshooter
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've notice a lot of people looking for a good deal on their first GPSr. I bought the one I'm using on e-Bay and recently I've been looking to upgrade. When doing this, you need to be very careful. For example (not selling here, just using this for example) take a look at This e-Bay Item.

 

This looks like a pretty good deal. Until you do a little bit more research. Take a look at the seller's Feedback and then click on any of the completed auctions. At this point, it should be obvious that this guy is a rip-off.

 

Yeah, notice all the feedback is from the same day within minutes of each other and neary every one uses very poor grammar.

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I just bought my first GPS on ebay. Very helpful guy - checked his feedback and paid a sensible price for the item. Personally I would steer clear of buying from abroad - simply because it is much harder to follow it through if you are ripped off. Any deal that looks too good to be true probably is!

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The theme of my original post was BUYER BEWARE.

 

This particular listing was used as an example of "things that make you go HUH???"

 

I use e-Bay quite a bit. I bought my GPSr through them and think I got a pretty good deal (though the shipping was a bit high).

 

Anytime you purchase through e-Bay, things can go wrong. We've been ripped-off before and being able to give negative feedback is a poor replacement for the loss of cash in your pocket. As the old adage goes... If it looks too good to be true, it probably is...

 

Just be careful when buying anything on line. This goes for any kind of transaction. It is very easy for someone to put up a web-site, get your money, and then disappear. You work hard for your money, just do a little more work (research) before sending off your money to someone you don't know.

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Well ive been on ebay since Nov 29th 1997 and have over 1000 feedback and this is buying and selling. We have never been ripped off. We have never honestly had a really bad deal. As long as you do your research like you did you will have good deals.

 

J

This thread was not intended as an indictment against e-Bay or people who use (sell or buy) on e-Bay. It is a tremendous service, but it has its risks. These are the same risks that you take on anytime you buy anything.

 

If you go to your local supermarket, there is a chance that you could get a bad piece of meat. If you buy a new car, you could get a lemon. If you buy a new sweater at a clothing store, it could fall apart the first time you wear it. If you buy at an on-line store, your item may be broken in shipment. These are the same chances you take when you buy on any of the on-line auction sites.

 

You protect yourself from bad meat at the supermarket by checking the cut of meat out before buying and cooking fully. When buying a new car you do some research first, then take a test drive. You look at the sweater and see how well it is made. You buy shipping insurance when buying breakable items at an online store. These are all common sense things to do when buying anything, and buying at an on-line auction site is no different.

 

We've been on e-Bay since December 7th, 1997. We've done 279 transactions (selling and buying). We have never received a negative feedback and have only given one or two.

 

Remember that e-Bay is only an "introduction" service that hooks buyers and sellers together. They do not take any responsibility for any item listed, nor do they guarantee anything. The transaction is between the buyer and the seller. The responsibility of the seller is to list the item accurately, and the responsibility of the buyer is to do a little homework before giving up their hard-earned cash.

 

e-Bay has some great deals. But one of the reasons we (and I suspect others with high scores and some experience) have had such good results is because we apply a little common sense when buying there.

 

If someone has a low feedback score, or negative feedback, we take a very careful look at them before bidding. We will e-mail them and after we get the answers we are looking for, we decide whether to bid or not.

 

We look at how they take payment. We prefer to send a personal check and wait for it to clear, but have used pay-pal and sent money orders.

 

Buying on e-Bay is USUALLY a good thing, but there are enough potential problems out there, that I felt this needed to be said.

 

We realize that every transaction is a gamble, but if a little bit of common sense care is applied, that gamble can be greatly reduced.

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There are some things on that auction that raise (?) Such as some of the feedback comments are just(????)

 

Also all the bid item descriptions for the last 12 auctions which were on the same day have lots of (????????) in the description except for where dimensions are given.This can very well be due to translation problems but then why are the feedback comments in English.

 

The link clayshooter provided comes across to me as square boxes in the description area as Chineses usually does on my computer.

 

This person has completed some more recent auctions and soon there should be more feedback to judge by.

 

I have concluded that there are translation problems for me When trying to view items from previous auctions and so I would never bid on this item untill I could read every thing in English

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Good catch.

 

There are a lot of red flags with that seller. Low feedback, questionable feedback comments, outrageous shipping (~$50) and selling out of China.

 

Sellers like that give the good ones a bad name.

Alot of people sell at a low price but charge VERY high shipping to beat paying taxes. Uncle Sam doesn't collect taxes on shipping.

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There have been a lot of GPSs shipping from China recently (I have been watching them as I was wanting to buy one). If you search on the completed items, many of the sellers are 'no longer registered users'.

 

e.g http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Garmin-eTrex-Vista-C...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

I haven't found any that have had + feedback from a UK purchaser of a GPS unit. I'm sure there are great deals out there to be got from China, but I think these sellers are probably not genuine dealers.

 

Always try and pay through Paypal - that way you do have comeback if the item does not arrive. These sellers don't accept paypal - that in itself should ring alarm bells.

 

F.

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Ebay is a good place to shop for alot of things (ive bought alot of stuff off the site)but make sure to check out the more prominent GPSr retailing websites too. Personally, i just havnt seen all that many good GPSr deals on ebay but that might depend on whether you're looking for new or used. Definitely look at the feedback numbers and be sure to watch for those high S&H charges!

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Good catch. 

 

There are a lot of red flags with that seller.  Low feedback, questionable feedback comments, outrageous shipping (~$50) and selling out of China. 

 

Sellers like that give the good ones a bad name.

Alot of people sell at a low price but charge VERY high shipping to beat paying taxes. Uncle Sam doesn't collect taxes on shipping.

The ebay fee structure is based on the final sales price as well.

 

You couldn't pay ME to buy from this person.

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The original poster "Yellow Wingers" is correct -- you need to be careful and do a LOT of research when buying on eBay. The item he mentions does have strange feedback. The first thing to do when shopping eBay is READ the feedback. Pay attention to who posted it, when they posted, and what they said. The first thing I noticed in the item he mentioned was the times of the feeds were all within a few minutes of each other. Then I saw many used the exact same phrase. Many of those were no longer registered users. This is what happens when eBay finds someone commiting fraud. They lose their account. So, the theme here is "buyer beware."

 

Anyway, I have done a little business on eBay, and have been fortunate to have had all good experiences. I purchased a Jaguar XJ6 on eBay in 2001, and sold it there in 2005. Properly used, eBay is a great buying and selling tool. Just be careful. ;)

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Good catch. 

 

There are a lot of red flags with that seller.  Low feedback, questionable feedback comments, outrageous shipping (~$50) and selling out of China. 

 

Sellers like that give the good ones a bad name.

Alot of people sell at a low price but charge VERY high shipping to beat paying taxes. Uncle Sam doesn't collect taxes on shipping.

The ebay fee structure is based on the final sales price as well.

 

You couldn't pay ME to buy from this person.

Well everyone was quick to mention that the sellers feedback was mostly generated on 23 Nov 05 look at the people how claimed they bought products you'll notice that this seems to be a ring (organized e-bay fraud) out of china.

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This one is beyond fishy.

 

If you look at the feedback of the people in the feedback list, you will find that about a dozen different accounts all bid and won auctions from each other. The auction descriptons are all gibberish, and were low dollar auctions.

 

Then, all dozen accounts left positive feedback for all of the other accounts on the same day, and nearly the same time, many of the comments being gibberish.

 

Then suddenly a high dollar auction pops up, with a perfectly formatted description.

 

I see that somebody won the auction. I hope I am wrong, but I am willing to bet they just got ripped off for a good chunk of change.

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I emailed eBay's fraud department and notified them of this item and the strange feedback this evening prior to my post in the forum. I thought about emailing the buyer, and (after some hemming and hawing) I finally did later in the evening. I didn't accuse anyone or anything like that. I just pointed out the oddities in the feedback and suggested they contact eBay for guidance.

 

Now watch... The seller from BeiJing will probably seek revenge. I should probably expect a bunch of Ninjas to break into my house later this week. :ninja:

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I never bought from eBay because I figure the risk isn't worth the small percent savings on legit deals. Also, I like the warm fuzzy feeling of being able to return it without a hassle as most direct selling concerns have a decent return and warranty policy. Ebay Just doesn't do that, does it? I recall a few years ago a couple of caching members got ripped off when they purchased GPS's on ebay. That could hav been before PayPal.

 

But my question is how does PayPal really protect you? What if the product is broken or some features don't work. (How do you buy a Jaguar sight unseen and without inspecting it?) Does the payment get released as soon as the package arrives regardless of the condition? What recourse do you have?

Edited by Alan2
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I emailed eBay's fraud department and notified them of this item and the strange feedback this evening prior to my post in the forum.  I thought about emailing the buyer, and (after some hemming and hawing) I finally did later in the evening.  I didn't accuse anyone or anything like that.  I just pointed out the oddities in the feedback and suggested they contact eBay for guidance.

 

Now watch...  The seller from BeiJing will probably seek revenge.  I should probably expect a bunch of Ninjas to break into my house later this week.  :ninja:

I also reported this auction to ebay. The seller is no longer a registered user.

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Heh, I reported it, too. I wonder how many reports they got on that guy!

 

I see that the majority of the feedback list is "not a registered user" now. Looks like they followed the trail a little and found that all of them were fraudulent accounts.

Edited by Docapi
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Now that we have successfully brought down a Chinese e-Bay cartel, what next?

 

Really, I have to tell you all how proud I am of what you did. I didn't even think about notifying the fraud department at e-Bay. My only reason for posting this topic was to raise generic awareness about some of the dangers of buying on-line. You guys took it upon yourself to get this guy out of the market.

 

But he (or she or they) will be back. Maybe on e-Bay, maybe on Yahoo-Auctions, or maybe on some other auction site. The warning still stands. Buyers Beware.

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When I browse through the eBay listings, I always check the "Completed listings" to check the market prices + shipping. I've found better deals on Amazon with the shipping included. :)

 

Many eBay newbies make the mistake of using ongoing auction for price comparisons.

 

eBay is a great place to shop for items that are hard to find, like antiques and collectibles. There's always a risk buying electronic items on eBay, unless you or someone you know can perform repairs in case you get a lemon.

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Yeah, I know, buyer beware. . .but I bought the windshield mounted GPS holder, carrying case, and cigarette lighter adapter all on eBay and have been very happy with everything.

 

I also bought a geocaching Italian charm for my bracelet on eBay from another cacher/eBayer!

 

But, bought the GPS through Amazon. The hubby doesn't always like internet purchasing, but Amazon and Walmart had the best prices. . .and he HATES Walmart!

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Making a deal on Ebay is the same as making a deal anywhere - DO YOUR HOMEWORK !

 

You have to find out about the people you are doing business with.

 

In the example given by the guy who started this thread - I too would have concidered him a no go.

 

First: I checked to see what other items he has sold on Ebay. Nothing came up.

 

I found it interesting that he had feed back already and he had not sold anything on Ebay yet. Very strange.

 

Second: I decided to see who his feed back was from and what items they bought - paying attention to the date and time it was logged on. I also make note of how much of the feed back was from current members.

 

His was very interesting - a lot of the feed back was the same day and close to the same time. That tells me he probably did it himself or has friends who are in on it with him. None of the feed back had a real item listed. RED FLAG

 

Third: I do not purchase anything from out of the country - that is a personal thing. But if I have to press charges to recover funds, I can't do that to someone from out of the country.

 

Fourth: Ebay tries hard to weed out the jerks and rip-offs, but most of the time they have to have a problem before they know the seller is a shmuck.

 

BUYER BEWARE - anytime you shop the net.

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The seller and most of his sock puppet accounts have been delisted by ebay.

 

This is a common practice among ebay cons, they register a dozen accounts and leaved each one positive feedback on low dollar auctions to make themselves look legit. When everythings ready, thye list a bunch of high dollar auctions and the ripoffs begin.

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