Is EBay A Haven For Liars And Cheats?

It’s official, eBay is a haven for liars and cheats. No, I am not speaking of those who choose to sell honestly. While they are few, they do still exist.

My gripe is with people like this guy:

“All defective items must be reported within 3 days after purchase, NO EXCEPTIONS. If you have any problems with your device after 3 days please contact manufacturer.”

Wow, this guy must have some amazing shipping abilities if he is able to get an item to me in a such a short period of time. Figure that they must be using express mail? Check this out…

“We ship via United States Postal Service USPS Priority with delivery confirmation number within USA. Average delivery time 2-4 business days. The delivery confirmation number will be e-mailed to you.”

OK, so assuming you receive it before the fourth day, then you might be able to make an exchange possible. This is a crock and they know it. Three days my eye, this eBay’er is most likely a crook. If not crooked, then amazingly blind to shipping realities.

Beware of “Power Sellers”!
Now, I have a couple of friends who are considered “Power Sellers”. They are honest and decent in the way that they conduct their online business. Unfortunately not all “Power Sellers” operate under this line of thinking. How do I know? Because of a frantic phone call from a client of mine who was ripped off when buying a notebook. I am not going into details, suffice it to say that the seller was based here in the States (so it appeared) and they were most certainly a “Power Seller”.

With well over 5000 completed sales and a 98 percent rating, you might assume this is a person that you’d like to do business with. You look into their online store and find that they resell surplus goods. OK, no harm in that, right? Ah, there’s the rub. Have you ever wondered how they deal with defective merchandise? You’re about to find out…

The Dispute process.
Yes, eBay does offer a dispute process. And more often than not, if you are willing to jump through the hoops you can get the issue resolved when dealing with the seller. Now consider this: Not all those who received items not as described bother to file a claim. Shocked? You shouldn’t be. Many people don’t understand how to or simply don’t believe that it’ll work out in their favor. So the seller has two distinct things working in their favor:

1) They can calculate just how many defective items can be sold while still maintaining a great overall rating.

2) They can also bank on many of those same buyers not bothering to do anything short of giving a poor rating.

Is eBay worth it?
Sometimes, yes. Folks, so long as you can afford to lose the money being spent at the auction site, then no big deal. But I watch in amazement as people spend thousands on eBay with no assurances. Just remember, crooks have PCs, too.

When buying online, be darn sure that:

- You really read buyer comments. While there will almost be at least a couple bad comments with “Power Sellers”, try to keep an eye out for poor selling patterns.

- Watch out for those idiots with the insane return policies. If something sounds fishy, stay away.

- Make sure that you keep a very close eye on both the shipping cost as well as the condition of what you are buying.

Well that it’s it for me, I’ll be seeing you Monday and by all means, be careful out there!

(Oh, one last thing! A fellow writer for Lockergnome is in need of help from those in the IT community. Take a look at the latest happenings at Frantic Job Search ‘06. Hey, if this doesn’t work out, there might even be a telethon! Better yet, perhaps a shot at “Motherboards accross America”? Either way, please take a gander. See you all next week.)

[tags]ebay,haven,liars,cheats,postal service,power sellers[/tags]