I recently heard about a scam being perpetrated by online sellers (individuals) on sites like eBay. I'm not blaming eBay or any other site, because it's the sellers who are doing wrong (but hopefully the sites will do what they can to clean up this kind of thing). People order something such as a laptop or a gaming console, which is offered at a great price. They order it thinking that they are getting a great deal, but when the box arrives all they get is a photo of the item. It's the same photo used in the ad on the site that they sold the "product" on. I don't know how scammers live with themselves. Be aware of stuff like this when deciding whether or not a deal is too good to be true.
I have also read a post about this scam. I am not well versed with eBay because I haven't bought or sold anything yet in that site. But with the picture instead of the real product, I guess those scammers are getting too far. Isn't there a law that punishes scammers in online trading? What about eBay, did it act on the complaint or did they just let the culprit go just like that? That's a nasty scam.
I also heard of this scam in another forum where I am a member. As per the news these fake sellers send only images of the product while the customer already pays for the product. But I wonder why a seller would do that. He is aware that there is a feedback system and everybody goes through the ratings and feedback of buyers before finally selecting a seller. I heard that it is not the sellers but the buyers are playing the scam. After receiving the original product they just complain that they received only the image. In most of the cases Amazon would stand only on buyer's side and the poor seller has to refund the money. The buyer has a twofold advantage – the product and also gets his money back!
One has to be very careful when they are being involved in online buyer/seller activities because there are so many modern day brigands around who make it their duty to be constantly devising ways and means of cheating people of out of their hard earned money. This is why I usually subscribe only to PayPal supported sites because I believe that there may be greater level of credibility involved with these sites.
I hadn't heard of this scam ntil I read your post. I mean this is height of fooling someone! So darn unfair! People have lost the courtesy bone in them. I wish the mart would look into such scams and get them arrested. Thanks for the alert.
There is a Samsung USB changer listed on Amazon.in which is very cheap. But when you look at the feedback of buyers almost all of them have a negative feedback to share. It is clear from the customer voice that the product is a fake one and not a genuine Samsung product. But still people continue to buy that product, may be because of the lowest price quote. I wonder why a renowned shopping site like Amazon still allows sellers like this in the first place. There should be an effective monitoring system from sites like Amazon to weed out such fake sellers.
I read this news before and it was right before I was going to purchase something from ebay. Now that I know of such scams I am too afraid to go through with it. I opted to buy at a well know electronic store instead just to be safe. I don't think I will be purchasing anything there until I see such problems resolved.
Yes, this is true. Ebay can control as much as we allow it because teh website is so big with so many sub-sites that it became reasonably impossible to track and monitor every seller. Or buyer. With such a scam it is always better to check if they offer the return policy and what teh fine print says. It sometimes is listed like a photography, so you have no defence to claim your money back
I've not bought anything from eBay so far, but even if I intend to... this thread has made me cautious. Online shopping is the fad of the season. Given the deals they offer, it is difficult not to avail them. Saying so, everyone needs to be careful while making any online deal. Scam has many faces. Careful approach could save someone from being trapped.
I think if we are a customer, its better to stick purchasing from trusted seller, and never trust those deals to-good-to-be-true mainly during black friday, cyber monday and holiday season...
I have already read this in some social media and there are even pictures shown by the victims. It was just a publication of such scam but I never read anyone of those who complained that they have been attended to or they had been refunded by eBay for their online purchases. At least, the online shoppers are aware of that or it would be a demolition tactics to discredit eBay or whatever. I don't know if eBay is owned by Google.
