EBAY - buying online

[ColinRiche]

Has anyone got any experience of buying computers/laptops etc from Ebay ?

I bidded for something on there and straight away i am getting loads of emails
from people offering me the same product privately at much lower prices.

Any comments welcome
.

 

[jpwone]

There are so many scams associated with higher value items now on the auction sites it is beyond a joke.

If you are selling then they will send a cheque for too much and ask you to Western Union the balance back to them. You pay the cheque in and it appears in your account. You send off the item and the substantial over payment. The bank then tells you the cheque has bounced. You are out of pocket the item you sold and the monies you transferred.

If you are buying then the seller will typically want paying via Western Union and will expect payment before shipping. This includes the opportunists who see your bid and then contact you directly. The deal seems so good you would be daft not to do it. Look at the money you are saving. Kiss your money goodbye - they have no intention of ever shipping anything and if they do there is no come back if it is not what you bought or does not work.

Nearly all the scammers expect you to wire the money as there is no come back and no means of tracing who collected the money.

For a laptop or other high value items (camera's etc.) only buy from a reputable dealer. You pay a bit more but you have a warranty and you can use your credit card and recover your money if you are not happy. Pay 10% more and save 100%.

 

[TheBramble]

WatchDog (BBC) last week or week before had a piece on someone being ripped off buying, wait for it, a LAPTOP on ebay.

Seems ebay are aware of the numbers of rip-offs of this nature from customers' complaints, but feel it isn't statistically significant enough for them to do anything about it.

Personally, I'm not too sure that they COULD do anything to stop this...

 

[JE2000]

I have bought hundreds of items through ebay and have not been caught yet (not on the product end but have been on delivery charges). Always read the small print or ask questions (most common is payment option or delivery cost if foreign i.e. US).

The best advice I can give is careful and double check everything.

 

[jpwone]

Do a quick search on www.google.co.uk and use the terms

ebay laptop scam

ie.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ebay+laptop+scam&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&meta=

be ready to be shocked

 

[Zenda]

Never a problem

Just buy off off people who have 50+ more transactions with positive feedback !

 

[frugi]

I bought my laptop a year ago on eBay from a UK source with 100% positive feedback, paid by Paypal and saved about £200. I'm using it now and have no complaints. I'd avoid buying from the USA and I'd avoid anyone with less than 50 praised transactions as Zenda says. Also watch out for shill bidders - "friends" of the seller who always seem to bid only on the seller's auctions with the obvious aim of jacking up the price.

http://www.geocities.com/ebayoyvey/ebayshills.html

 

[jpwone]

Even buying from highly rated sellers is risky now. There has been a spate of account hijacking. The person you think you are dealing with could be a very different person to the one you are actually dealing with.

I use ebay and have used ebay in the past. I now stick to low cost items ie. less than £50.00 and even then if I'm not happy I will pull out.