Who falls for eBay scams?
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There are some very clever eBay scams out there, and anyone who’s used eBay for a while has been conned at least once.
After posting about the fake Tiffany necklace I accidentally bought on eBay, I was catching up on some reading, and found that my favourite fashion columnist has also been writing about fakes on eBay.
Here’s what Maggie Alderson has to say about her experience of being scammed on eBay:
I was put off [eBay] very early on when, inspired by the designer jeans and vintage Chanel jackets my friends seemed to be snapping up for a song, I bid on a Prada wallet, in a great hysterical whirl of excitement — only to have a “Prada” wallet arrive in the post.
When I complained to the seller that it was a fake, she replied that she hadn’t used the word “genuine” anywhere, so I should have known. That put me off the whole thing for several years.
I guess it really does happen to everyone.
PS: If you want to avoid being scammed on eBay, check out my tips on how to avoid fake designer goods on eBay.
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I had just bought a dolce and gabbana bag frome bay. It was lovely, just perfect. Or so I thought. When it arrived I noticed there were no tags inside the bag to say it was a d and g. The actual label on the front was stuck on with glue, and the material was of poor wuality, used it once, but never again. Horrible, absolutley horrible!!!
Sorry to hear about your experience, Sarah! There’s a lot of fakes like that on eBay, unfortunately.
Have you tried reporting the seller? In my experience, eBay typically does nothing about fraudsters, but occasionally you get lucky and eBay stops them before they rip off anyone else.
If you really wanted to get the seller to stop selling fakes, you could contact Dolce Gabbana using this form.
In my experience, eBay take complaints from the copyright holder far more seriously than they would if it was ‘just’ one of their customers who complained.
Good luck!
PS: I guess it’s a bit late now, but sometimes it is possible to get your money back if an eBay seller sent you a product that didn’t match the description they posted.
I’ve always been aware that Ebay products are fake. What makes me mad as hell is that people can buy direct from reputable desigener replica sites directly for a portion of wha they pay on ebay. I’m all for people having the chance to buy replcia - but go to a site where you know what you are getting, for less. Probably better quality than what you get on ebay anyway.
I too have been scammed on eBay, eBay’s repose has shocked me and I certainly will tell everyone who will listen why you should NOT by via this site.
I purchased a laptop with a legal copy of Windows XP Pro. I paid and about 3 weeks later the laptop arrived (so much for the 2-7 days postage). The laptop had no COA from Microsoft but was a working copy of XP, after the fist updates from Microsoft the machine would no longer allow me to login so I call Microsoft to be told you are using an illegal copy and face fines
See another eBayer with 98.9% positive feedback who scammed buyers out of their money. http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=electronicssurpluswarehouse&ftab=AllFeedback&myworld=true
Notice how the account was only suspended once eBay stopped receiving the sellers fees, all the while buyers where getting ripped off. Common eBay if you want anyone to buy though your site you have to do better!!!!
Sorry to hear about your experiences, Gavin and James!
No need to tell me about eBay scams, I’ve been scammed a couple of times myself… and yes, eBay refused to do anything, both times. Their policy that ‘we’re just the marketplace’ is pretty lame when, like you said Gavin, the feedback system is effectively used to blackmail scammed buyers into retracting negative feedback.
In fact, you can’t even leave neutral feedback for some sellers; anything less than “A++++++ best seller ever” etc. results in retaliation.
And then there’s the snipers… really, don’t get me started on eBay’s silly policies ;)