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New at Ebay
I'm looking at a camera which is advertised as new. Supplied photos look like new camera and lens. Seller has no history, no feedback, selling no other items, and is new to Ebay. The camera is being advertised at a small fraction of what the expected price would be. No returns, so only the standard Ebay policy to make things right is available.
Is this a scam? Could this be stolen goods? "If it's too good to be true...". If Ebay says they will make it right if something is amiss, is that enough to trust doing this deal with someone with no history selling on Ebay.
Thanks for any advice.
3 comments
aerom62
OP1 year agoThanks very much for your reply. I subsequently narrowed my search via the "Sold" list and noticed a bunch of sellers with zero history selling the same or similar cameras for impossibly low prices; e.g. $74.00. And these were "sold". So I guess if the scammers scattershot enough fraudulent sales, it turns into a living for them.
Thanks again for taking the time. Caveat emptor, as always.
ML
eburtonlab
Mentor1 year agoYou are very welcome -- good luck!
eburtonlab
Mentor1 year ago@aerom62
Scammers want to create a sense of urgency to get their victims to react emotionally rather than thinking dispassionately about whether something really makes any sense.
eBay has a good money back guarantee, but scammers know more about how it works than the average user, and scammers can exploit flaws in eBay's process to make it very hard to get a refund in certain circumstances.
In general, you can avoid a lot of headaches by choosing to purchase only from established sellers that have recent and past positive feedback as a seller for selling items in the same category that you intend to buy. If someone is selling a dozen apple watches, but has no feedback, or only has feedback as a buyer, or only has feedback for selling dress patterns or fishing lures (actual examples I have seen), perhaps wait until they have a track record of positive feedback for selling electronics before you buy from them.
You might miss out on a good deal from a new seller once in a while, and nothing can guarantee that you won't still run into an issue anyway, but you can avoid a lot of potential problems by choosing to do business with established sellers. Anyone can put together a listing that looks nice -- it is not hard at all to simply copy an existing listing -- but it is much harder to create a history of consistent sales and positive feedback.
For more experienced sellers, you can learn a lot about the sort of seller you are dealing with by checking the seller's feedback page to see where the seller is registered and to notice if the seller has any negative feedback. If you see negatives indicated in the table of recent feedback, you can choose to exclusively see each type of comment by clicking on the numbers shown in the table. Reading negative or neutral comments can often tell you if a seller has a pattern of problems with items not matching the descriptions, canceled orders, late deliveries or item location misrepresentation.
If a seller has a pattern of too many serious negatives -- or just not enough positive history -- it is often better to find another seller with a better track record to do business with.