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Suspicious listing?
I have not used ebay much. I am interested in an item listed but the same item, same photo, same boxes appearing to be taken in a warehouse in the background, are listed many times , various pricing, by many user names. Is this suspicious? Do I report this somehow? How to know if it is safe to purchase these days...
2 comments
eburtonlab
Mentor2 years agoIn 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.
disneyshopper
Mentor2 years agoSome sellers do not take their own photos, prefering to download someone else's photo(s) and using those in their listings. Where are each of the sellers registered? If in the same state/country, it could be the same individual with various different accounts. I suggest looking for a different seller.