Author Topic: Would you buy from this seller?  (Read 6779 times)

*CountessA*

  • Administrator
  • Knight of the RT
  • *****
  • Posts: 35154
Would you buy from this seller?
« on: June 27, 2009, 04:11:40 PM »
Buying from an online seller is clearly fraught with more risks than buying from a b&m shop. To offset the risk, you want to be sure you're dealing with someone who's trustworthy.

How do we establish who is trustworthy? How do we pay? What protection can we be afforded?

1. When buying from an ecommerce site by an established Australian business with b&m shops, such as ABC Online, or JB Hi-Fi, or Apple online stores, you are protected by the TPA, and you're also reassured by the physical presence of the shops.

2. However, what if you're buying from a seller like EBS? EBS had a warehouse, as well as online shop, and of course they also sold through eBay. Things still went pear-shaped and the buyers were the ones who lost out. Is there any difference between EBS and other stores? - Yes. EBS pre-sold items, and delivery was not promised immediately. This signals that the seller is drop-shipping. Buying from such a seller represents a much greater risk than buying from a store that either has the stock in their possession or are established and reputable importers where full payment is made upon supply, not pre-supply. A deposit may be required at the time of ordering, but purchasers are NOT expected to hand over the entire payment before receiving their goods.

3. From this, I draw a rule: don't pre-pay for something that you haven't yet received. Don't buy from drop-shippers. (I realise some people will disagree with me and talk about the savings to be made; it's just that I think the savings don't offset the risk.)

4. Clearly you can't rely on the business having an ABN and hearing other people talk about the bargains - IF the seller is drop-shipping. Your own good judgement is an important factor. I must say it again: don't pre-pay when it comes to something you haven't been supplied.

5. When buying through eBay, I believe it's also important for the buyer's own protection to realise eBay doesn't provide guarantees. Take your own steps to be sure about the seller - it's not only a matter of checking feedback, but being scrupulous in reading any negative feedback. Does the negative feedback (even though it is lost in the preponderance of positive feedback) point to a problem? Are you absolutely sure that your purchase is safe? You might well have visited the seller's warehouse and spoken to the "lovely people" on the phone, but those aren't guarantees. Scammers (deliberate or inadvertent) are very good at sounding like lovely people, and they might well have a warehouse and have been operating a legitimate business, all to set up a scam at a later date because of the goodwill created. BE CAUTIOUS!

6. If you absolutely must purchase by pre-payment, then back your payment with the security of your card in case of problems. Then if the item isn't supplied within the specified time frame, initiate a chargeback and don't listen to the excuses served up by the seller.

7. If you're worried about your card details being taken when purchasing online, don't forget that Australian businesses are required to comply with the code of conduct and policies to which they agreed when signing up to become businesses with a merchant account. If the seller were to misuse your card information, your card provider would reimburse you and the seller would be dealt with by his/her bank, and almost certainly criminal charges would be laid. Paying by card online is not unsafe. Check with your card provider for further information.

8. But do be careful. Don't buy on dodgy-looking websites that don't even have 128-bit security!

9. Don't email your card details to a shop. Emails can be intercepted - they are NOT ENCRYPTED during transmission unless of course you have got a public key. Information sent from a seller's website to the bank IS ENCRYPTED because the seller is required to follow the correct procedure, and that includes a) having SSL installed on their server so that the pages are encrypted, and b) having a payment gateway (and payment gateways offer state-of-the-art encryption during transmission). That means scammers can't get your card details during transmission of the information.

This is how it goes:

YOU with your credit or debit card --> Seller's website (encrypted - you should see this by the site URL beginning with https when entering sensitive information to indicate it's secure) --> card information via payment gateway to the bank (securely encrypted) --> Success or failure feedback from the bank's processing --> Transaction completed - voilĂ . All done securely.

10. In my opinion, it's necessary to have a contact phone number for the seller. If the buyers who were scammed by that 14-year-old girl (references in other threads here) had been able to call her, they may have suspected there was a problem. A 14-year-old doesn't sound like an adult.

11. Check out the seller in any way you can. You're buying online - sight unseen - and legitimate sellers are taking a risk selling to buyers in that way, but you the legitimate buyer are taking a risk in purchasing online as well. You can minimise the risk by taking precautions. Don't buy from people who reply rudely to negative feedback. (If someone uses foul language in replying or calls their buyers by vicious names, it indicates a problem.) Don't buy from people about whom the same type of feedback pops up - repeated comments by buyers of fakes or lack of supply or lack of resolution with problems tells ME to back away. And if you ARE going to buy from such a buyer, be prepared for the loss of your money.

In my view, it comes down primarily to the trading partners. Good sellers and good buyers won't have any problems with each other.
"No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is ...a part of the maine; ...any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde"

cueperkins

  • Guest
Re: Would you buy from this seller?
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2009, 04:17:19 PM »
Hi Countess....EBS was also registered as a company with ASIC.....shelf company of course.......and they had physical premises.  They used Ebay to sell their goods...so they're more sophisticated than many realise at the EBS level...it was a massive fraud, and so perfectly orchestrated.  Who would have known?  Not Ebay, that's for sure.

*CountessA*

  • Administrator
  • Knight of the RT
  • *****
  • Posts: 35154
Re: Would you buy from this seller?
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2009, 04:33:19 PM »
Yes, it points out my concern with this whole drop-shipping thing.
"No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is ...a part of the maine; ...any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde"

ernest_price

  • Guest
Re: Would you buy from this seller?
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2009, 06:19:51 PM »
I know many we know on the various forums/boards were victims. That's part of the reason many came to the forums/boards, and what a reminder to eBay management  that is.

From afar, and without my $$$ being on the line, I saw it as someone who got in way too far then scarpered in fright. All still illegal etc of course. Was it really a scam all the way through or someone bailing when their shipper never delivered?

In the end, good advice above!