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Honesty
Hello, Although there are great sellers on Ebay there are too many that Ebay allows to misrepresent their items. Location comes to mind. If I need something I always try to consider the location. Why order something form the opposite coast when the same item is in the same state or an adjacent state? Sellers also list items in stock and at their listed location. However I've received items that are listed in (example) New Jersey and when I receive it the label shows mailed from California? Then there's the "middle" sellers. You order something and they simply order from Amazon using your address. I've learned my lesson on that.
And now the biggest scam. I have contacted Ebay more than once about PRS guitars. PRS does not make guitars in China. PRS do not make $150.00 guitars. Some are easy to spot. Others are not. Some sellers of guitars they list as PRS will not include a picture of the headstock. The headstock on a guitar is usually the easiest place on a guitar to identify it. The response from Ebay is they found no policy violation. Ridiculous.
If I list a car and call it a Mercedes and the car is a Kia wouldn't that be dishonest? Yes, it would. I'm sure there are buyers out there that have run across dishonesty. It's a shame Ebay doesn't care.
eighthnote74
OP5 months agoGot it................
eighthnote74
OP5 months agoThanks for chipping in but I think you're missing the point. Especially when it comes to musical instruments. If I send Ebay an item number(s) and explain in great detail why the item is not what the seller is representing it as, the very least Ebay could do is pull the listing. They should also warn the seller and ban them if they continue. Your points above are valid but they also open inexperienced buyers open to fraud. Ebay is pretty good at protecting buyers after the fact. I'm just writing that the could do more to protect buyers before all the headaches. I've been with Ebay over 20 years and I'm a bit of an expert on musical instruments. Not everyone has that knowledge. I'm sure there are many other categories that all this happens also.
eburtonlab
Mentor5 months agoIf I send Ebay an item number(s) and explain in great detail why the item is not what the seller is representing it as, the very least Ebay could do is pull the listing.
eBay does not know who you are or what your expertise is.
If eBay took down every listing that someone complained about, some sellers would submit complaints about all their competitors' listings, and soon there would be no listings left on eBay.
eBay is not screening listings for counterfeits, and buyers should not expect eBay to do so. Even if eBay did that, scammers could still use a picture of a genuine item and ship a counterfeit to the buyer.
Buyers must look out for themselves rather than relying entirely on eBay to screen listings in advance for counterfeits and scams.
There is no good alternative to buyers knowing what they buy and buying what they know.
eburtonlab
Mentor5 months ago@eighthnote74
Without being able to look at the item in question, how can eBay determine that an item has been misrepresented prior to a sale?
Only the buyer can see the item first hand and compare it to the description. If a buyer claims an item is "not as described", eBay will force the seller to pay for return shipping if the seller wants the item back and force the seller to refund the buyer. Sellers that routinely misrepresent their items or locations cannot do so for long before that becomes apparent in the seller's feedback.
Buyers can avoid many issues by choosing only to do business with experienced sellers with a proven reputation for delivering what was described as shown in the seller's feedback, and by avoiding sellers that are new or inexperienced, that have patterns of feedback that indicate problems delivering what was described, sellers that are offering deals that are "too good to be true", or sellers that shown signs of being drop-shippers.
It may not be possible to always identify in advance those sellers who drop-ship, but it is possible to identify some common characteristics of illicit retail drop-shippers or other under-performing sellers, and thus avoid the worst of them.
Often they can be spotted by a combination of low feedback number, free shipping of heavy items where it would not be profitable to use retail shipping, use of stock photos, high handling time (not necessarily if they are using Amazon or Walmart, though), poor feedback received with complaints of delays and wrong items or out of stock cancellations, very odd item selection and/or quantities like items were chosen at random from a catalog, canned item descriptions scraped from another site that exactly match many other similar listings, differences between registration location on the feedback page and item location (or vague item location -- like "US, United States"), or inability to answer even basic questions about the items being sold.