Too good to be true

Question

Should you buy an item if you the price too good to be true from a newly joined eBay seller?
Will eBay money back guarantee cover my money back if the item received doesn’t match what described or if it sent to the wrong address by the seller?

eburtonlab · Answer

@hassanghassan

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.

eastlaneave · Answer

@hassanghassan

All of those red flags sounds like a fake deal to me.

If a "seller" wants you to do anything on this list, don't do it:

1) text them/give them your cell phone number,

2) add them on Instagram or other social media,

3) give them your PayPal address or email address,

4) communicate outside of eBay messages,

5) send them a "code" that you will get on your phone,

6) pay him outside of the eBay system,

7) click a link

8 ) send you photos or videos by email (you can send photos in eBay messages),

9) do anything else that seems odd/wrong.

-- Don't do the above things. Requests like this are designed to get your email, text, and account information for nefarious purposes. --

If the item is not as described, you should be able to return for a refund. Here is eBay’s Money Back Guarantee https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210

But a brand new seller with a fabulous deal is very suspect to me. Maybe you won't get anything at all

The best case scenario is that you will pay, your money will be held for 4-6 weeks before you get it back.

Worst case you could lose your money.

disneyshopper · Answer

I wouldn't gamble on purchasing an item that sounds too good to be true from a new seller. If the seller sends to an unknown address in your zip code you will need to jump through hoops to get your money back.