65. Below is how Buyer A bids and buys on ebay.

Buyer A wants to buy a $2,000 laptop computer for his work and a $1,000-worth NEW CURRENT FASHION Gucci bag(as a gift for his mom). He'd like to get a deal. However, Buyer A won't bid on seller's auctions because the seller('s):

• mainly has FB from seller feedbackers.
• promises ridiculous stuff like free or discount s/h, free or discounts on other items or says ebay or Square Trade or USPS or paypal would insure the transaction
• lists his location as "Mickey's Land."
• lists his location that is 6 states away from Buyer A or tells Buyer A to send payment that is 6 states away from Buyer A when his auction ad location stated he and his item(s) were in Buyer A's state
• lists his location that is outside the U.S. or tells Buyer A to send payment outside the U.S. because he's temporarily on a business trip or family emergency trip to Europe even while his auction ad location stated he and his item(s) were in Buyer A's state
• lists his location as N.Y., New York while in the past, he listed it as Houston, Texas
• wants Buyer A to send payment to Miami, FL when in the past, his auctions listed his location in Portland, Oregon
• wants Buyer A to send payment to London, Paris, Spain, or Romania when in the past, his auctions listed his location in Phoenix, Arizona and seller says he's in London on business and the item will be sent from the U.S.
• lists the currency in his auction ad as Euros or other currency and his past or other auctions list it in $$'s
• won't accept Paypal via CC.
• has FB where a feedbacker called him Dave and now in the email, the seller says his/her name is Mary.
• has FB below 700.
• doesn't show all the sides and angles of the item in the pic.
• didn't take an actual pic of the item since his auction ad looks like it came from a manufacturer's site.
• looks like he stole the pic from another seller on ebay or somewhere else online.
• states in his ad that they're selling "information" only even when the title of the ad says "mobile phone."
• only received 43% of his FB from buyers.
• has most of his buyer feedbackers have FB below 500.
• has negs about misrepresentation
• has negs about non-delivery
• has comments about misrepresentation hidden in his positive FBs
• has comments about non-delivery hidden in his positive FBs
• has been an ebayer less than 5 years
• has 13 pages of CURRENT ongoing auctions whereas in the past, only half a page of ongoing auctions were listed at a time
• has many BINs, 3-days or 1-day auctions
• has preapproval required
• has private auctions/private FB
• ebay-listed phone number was called by Buyer A and the person who answered knows nothing about the ad
• has a P.O. box as an address
• has an anonymous email like yahoo or hotmail
• has bad english spelling/grammar
• wants money wire transfer of Western Union or Moneygram or Egold
• wants Buyer A to use a fake escrow site
• wants Buyer A to deposit/transfer funds into his bank account
• wants Buyer A to pay in cash, money orders, or cashier's checks or checks
• wants Buyer A to pay via Paypal via his paypal account and not his buyer-favorable CC
• wants Buyer A to pay via bidpay
• wants Buyer A to pay via C.O.D.
• wants Buyer A to pay a small upfront fee first
• neighbors say they know nothing about his business once Buyer A called them
• ebay-listed phone number was called by Buyer A and the person who answered says he knows nothing except he works for a company that employs him as a delivery manager so they can use his paypal account
• has really bad comments from buyers from ripoffreport.com and/or the BBB and/or epinions and/or other ratings agency
• has positives below 99%
• hasn't sold enough $2000 laptops which is what buyer A is looking to buy
• is using a cellphone number instead of a landline phone number which is listed in the phone directory
• has only been a resident in his present address for less than two years
• has FB which all look the same like "Great seller A++++++"
• has excellent FB posted from feedbackers less than 2 days after the end of the auction and item is not downloadable/emailable and shipping is not speedy with any type of FedEx or other as speedy shipper
• has not sold in the past 3 months
• has too many TOO-GOOD-TO-BE-TRUE deals
• is selling 6 pages NEW CURRENT FASHION Gucci bags
• mainly sold beanie babies in the past and is now selling $2000 laptops
• is stating on his ad that the item is "As is"
• is stating on his ad that the item is "MINT"
• hasn't been active in the past 3 months and so has auctions which are too old so that it's hard to tell where he sold from and what he sold in the past and for how much $$'s
• is located in another country
• is located in Florida and buyer A is located in Oregon
• does not have a business license and doesn't pay business taxes, especially since he doesn't accept escrow.com or Paypal via your buyer-favorable Credit Card
• is not bonded, especially since he doesn't accept escrow.com or Paypal via your buyer-favorable Credit Card
• is not following the laws in his state as far as having requirements for being an "auctioneer" and/or consigner e.g. Ohio, Illinois
• has a satisfactory listing at the BBB
• past feedbackers which Buyer A emailed, say that their transactions with the seller were really only for items under $20
• has many of his feedbackers located in one state
• past buyers which Buyer A emailed, say that their transactions with the seller were for items not even related to the item(s) the seller is selling now
• past buyers which Buyer A emailed, say that their transactions with the seller were great since the received items were in NEW, JUST LIKE RETAIL condition AND they all came shipped PROFESSIONALLY PACKAGED in NEW Amazon.com boxes
• past buyers which Buyer A emailed, say that their transactions with the seller were unenjoyable since he sent them cheap fake ugly knockoffs or bootlegs and they were too scared to leave neg FB or they didn't realize they were cheap fake ugly knockoffs or bootlegs until AFTER they left great FB for the seller
• past buyers which Buyer A emailed, say that their transactions with the seller were not enjoyable since the item(s) described as "new" by the seller in his ad & emails usually broke after a week or month which was AFTER they had already left great feedback for the seller. Consequently, the seller would not refund or replace the item(s) unless buyers sent back the item at their own s/h expense (which was usually as much or more than the cost of the item) after which time the seller was usually not available upon email or phone calls by buyers
• states on his ad or email to email him at another email instead of his ebay-listed email
• has name/address/phone number that does not exactly match what's in the phone directory or with the phone operator
• is selling an item which is in a high fraud ebay category like electronics, computers, game stations, cars, motorcycles, luxury designer items, autograph items, popular ticket events, gift certificates, rare art/collectible items and Buyer A has decided he doesn't want to risk his $$$$'s on anonymous "we're only a venue" ebay and Buyer A has decided he wants RETAIL BENEFITS like manufacturer warranties, rights to return for refund or replacement if he or his mom don't like the items or if something goes wrong with them, and quick, excellent customer support
• is selling items that are 3 $$$ digits or more $$$$ items and Buyer A has decided he doesn't want to risk his $$$$'s on anonymous "we're only a venue" ebay and Buyer A has decided he wants RETAIL BENEFITS like manufacturer warranties, rights to return for refund or replacement if he or his mom don't like the items or if something goes wrong with them, and quick, excellent customer support

***And in conclusion, Buyer A has decided to buy his $2,000 laptop and $1,000 Gucci purse (for his mom) at reliable well-known computer and designer or upscale retail shops.

From the below 4 choices, what is the best description of Buyer A?

Answer is #3. YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT. I'VE ASKED PEOPLE AGAIN AND AGAIN HOW IS IT THEY DON'T GET AS BURNED AS MUCH AS OTHERS HAVE BEEN BURNED. AND THE CONSISTENT ANSWER IS IN ADDITION TO READING UP ON/UNDERSTANDING ALL THE VARIOUS SCAMS ONLINE, THEY ARE "PICKY" WITH WHO THEY DO BUSINESS WITH. THEY DON'T JUST DO BUSINESS WITH ANY SELLER, NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE SELLER'S FB LOOKS, NO MATTER HOW "FOLKSY" HE SOUNDS ON HIS EMAIL, NO MATTER HOW "PROFESSIONAL" OR "FOLKSY" THE AD LOOKS. SOME BIDDERS DON'T DEAL WITH SELLERS BELOW 1,000 FB, BELOW 99% POS, WHO HAVE SOLD LESS THAN 5 TO 7 YRS, ETC., HAVE UNBELIEVABLE UNEXPLAINABLE TOO-GOOD-TO-BE-TRUE-DEALS. YOU'LL SEE, TOO THAT THESE TYPE OF SELLERS THAT PICKY BIDDERS WILL DEAL WITH WILL HAVE MANY BIDDERS, MANY TIMES REPEAT BIDDERS, BIDDING ON THEIR ITEMS BECAUSE THESE TYPES OF SELLERS ARE EXCELLENT & RELIABLE.

SO, THE PICKIER YOU ARE AS A BUYER, THE BETTER WILL BE YOUR EXPERIENCE ON EBAY. FACING UP TO THE FACT THAT THERE ARE MORE SCAMS THAN DEALS ON EBAY GIVES YOU A MORE MATURE COMPLETE OUTLOOK ON HOW TO BID/BUY ON EBAY AS WELL AS OTHER ONLINE AUCTIONS. THE HIGHER YOUR STANDARDS, THE MORE "FINICKY" AND PICKY YOU ARE WITH WHAT TYPE OF SELLERS YOU WILL DEAL WITH MEANS YOU RUN INTO LESS SCAM OR BAD TRANSACTIONS. DON'T BE AFRAID TO SAY TO YOURSELF, "NO, I DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH THIS SELLER BECAUSE HE'S MISSING SOMETHING OR BECAUSE I'M LOOKING FOR THAT EXTRA THING."

FOR EXAMPLE, AIM YOUR STANDARDS HIGH AND SAY TO YOURSELF YOU WON'T DEAL WITH THE SELLER IF HE:

• HAS LESS THAN ...........(highest number that makes you feel the MOSTsecure)......FB
• HAS LESS THAN ...........(highest %age that makes you feel the MOSTsecure)......% positive FB
• HAS BEEN ON EBAY LESS THAN ...........(highest number that makes you feel the MOST secure)...... YEARS
• DOESN'T ACCEPT (form of payment that makes you feel the MOST secure like Paypal via buyer-favorable CC)
• WANTS YOU TO SEND PAYMENT OUTSIDE THE U.S. OR 7 STATES AWAY
• ................................
• .............................

YOUR "EXTREMELY PICKY" BUYING DECISION WILL BE ONE OF THE BEST DECISIONS YOU WILL EVER HAVE MADE ONLINE.

66. You win the auction. Then, the seller asks you your name & address and tells you to money wire the total payment after you receive it. Fair, right? What's wrong.

Be careful!! Then the guy probably has stolen credit cards and/or stolen merchandise. He'll use an online shop and "pay" with his stolen credit cards to your address. So you've lost your $$'s and your stolen merchandise will be confiscated by the police and the online shop.

67. You won an item that was misprepresented so you reported it to ebay. The seller has no other negative/neutral comments during or after the period you filed the report to ebay and he's still selling on ebay even a week after you reporting it to ebay. True or False----->> You'll ALWAYS get your money back (per the ebay buyer protection plan) right way within 2 weeks from ebay.

False! Many ebayers have reported ebay taking it's sweet and slow time to give back refunds. Many have still YET to see their refunds after many months. Yeah, ebay likes to wax about its "guarantees" and "safety policies," but as a self-proclaiming entity of "security", they are dubious at best.

68. You pay for an item by going to bidpay.com using your Credit Card. You later find the seller lied to you about the item, but Bidpay won't give you back your money and the Credit Card company won't help you. Why is this so when you paid with your Credit Card?

You used Bidpay to pay for the item. Bidpay's only obligation to you is to make sure they deliver the bidpay "money order" to the seller. Your problem is with the seller. Your Credit Card company will say that since Bidpay delivered the money order, they provided the service and so you have no case against Bidpay. Even if your Credit Card company is favorable to your case and gives you back your refund, Bidpay will send you a Delinquent Collections Notice to pay up. Bidpay should really only be used for sellers who you have had a long history of good experiences with and the item should be of low $ value in case the transaction goes bad.

The same goes for other 3rd party "money order or money online" services. Just because you pay by Credit Card doesn't mean you're covered.

In addition, you should NEVER use Money Wire Transfer Services even with a credit card for the same reasons above and because these services are only for family & friends. ---------------

69. So you've analyzed the seller's auctions and his feedback and you like what you see, especially since the Seller has the icon "Seller Verified." You then go to check/verify/confirm Contact Info. You call the seller and he answers. However,

1. the phone number listed in ebay's "Contact info" for the seller is not in the major phone directories or the seller's own local town's phone directory
2. you call up businesses and people near the seller's location and they know nothing or little about him

#4. You already received 2 red flags--no name/address in directory and then neighbors don't know him/her. Don't go any further looking into this seller. It's risky enough sending money to a stranger, esp. online. This may be a very recently hijacked account. The only time to go to the other steps is if you have NO red flags. As you go from one step to another in confirming/verifying, if you receive EVEN ONE red flag, don't deal with the seller. Save your money for a more reputable seller/business.

70. Why is ebay very unfavorable for the honest ebayer, esp. honest buyers?

1. Ebay is not regulated by the government.
2. Ebay doesn't care about its reputation as a business center since it only cares about making $$$.
3. Only sellers, not buyers pay anything directly to ebay.
4. Ebay views itself as a "venue only" like a newspaper classifieds section so they can neatly "cleanse" themselves of any obligations to the honest sellers & honest buyers being ripped off on its site.
5. Ebay doesn't really care about verification of its members as long as it's open to more and more "new" members who have little idea of the amount & severity of fraud on its site until it's too late and they've been ripped off.
6. Since Ebay has a whole planet of employees and coopted "volunteers" in their "community," Ebay can always point out that the obligation to observe & report fraud to them lies with the "community" and not with ebay----This is a clean & tidy JUSTIFICATION for ebay to keep up on their sign post so that they can escape being proactive against scammers while racking up possible stolen CC bank interest $$'s from hijacked seller accounts, extra seller fees from honest sellers/bad buyers transactions, and the $$'s from bad sellers who dutifully pay their fees to ebay while ripping off some to most to all their buyers.
7. All of the above

#7 All of the above.

------------

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws