3 out of 4 items on ebay has been fraudulent in the recent days. Do you see the trend?

[venkyms2011]

In the last 1 year, my experience with ebay has been terrible. 3 out of 4 items purchased turned out to be fraudulent. The item doesn't match the description. Also, when I return the item, I had to pay from my pocket for the postal charges, which is a double whammy. I can't get the refund for the return shipping.

I am moving away from ebay to Amazon.   How you seen this trend?

[sandypebbles]

Why did you have to pay for return postage when the item was not as described?

Did you follow the correct procedure and open the proper item not as described dispute?

Were these also sellers registered in China ?

[performance_parts_clearance_centre]

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@venkyms2011 wrote:

I am moving away from ebay to Amazon.   How you seen this trend?

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Yes, it's very common. Strangely, the number of people who actually do it is far lower than the number of people who say they're going to do it... A change of mind usually occurs once they actually try using Amazon... 

[paper-jack]

I've noticed a trend in that complaint posts using the word fraudulent seem to come from buyers with a tendency to leave negative feedback. Probably set themselves up for disappointment in other areas of their life, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Do any of those abandoning Ebay ever come back and report on 'better' sites?

[springyzone]

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@venkyms2011 wrote:

In the last 1 year, my experience with ebay has been terrible. 3 out of 4 items purchased turned out to be fraudulent. The item doesn't match the description. Also, when I return the item, I had to pay from my pocket for the postal charges, which is a double whammy. I can't get the refund for the return shipping.

I am moving away from ebay to Amazon.   How you seen this trend?

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If the seller is based in Australia, and I think 3 of your 4 last purchases look to have been, then you probably would have been better off opening a proper ebay claim of item not as described, rather than just trying to sort it privately with a seller. If you open a claim, sellers in Australia will usually issue you with a postage label so you can post it off without cost to yourself.

Buying from China is a bit riskier.

As for a trend, no, I haven't noticed one but what do you mean by fraudulent? To me, that would normally mean buying a brand name product that turned out to be a poor copy or something like that. Buying a product that was broken when it arrived or faulty is more 'not as described' rather than fraudulent as such.

Buying from ebay is usually fine, just be careful what you buy & check the sellers. If something is amazingly cheaper than similar products, it is probably not going to be top quality.

[shoppingbag*]

I would like to know what you mean by "fraudulent" Did you receive a Fake item? Was the item not genuine? or are you just meaning it was "not as described" like it had a mark when it was described as "absolutely perfect" Are you just expecting absolute perfection for a cheap item? Like the buyer I had who expected a mass produced product that was perfect to the naked eye, but under a 600% magnification  did show a small dot or two that was almost imperceivable even at that magnification.

Is your bad luck due to your own bad choices?  I have bought from all around the world over many years with few problems, but I do have a few rules, as follows.

!. Always check the feedback of the Seller.

2. Never expect cheap items to be of good quality.

3 Never buy electrical goods, or phones etc online.

4 Expect things from overseas could take months to arrive.

5 Never buy brand named items that could be fakes.

6. if a problem arises, always politely contact the seller before doing anything else.

7 if the only person selling the item you want has heaps of bad feedback, weigh up the risks before proceeding.

8 Lastly, accept that even if you follow all of the above and the Seller has 100% Positive feedback, that things can and sometimes do  go wrong. Always work it out with the Seller, knowing that we don't live in a perfect world, and that we are all human, and we all sometimes make mistakes.

[sugar249]

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@venkyms2011 wrote:

In the last 1 year, my experience with ebay has been terrible. 3 out of 4 items purchased turned out to be fraudulent. The item doesn't match the description. Also, when I return the item, I had to pay from my pocket for the postal charges, which is a double whammy. I can't get the refund for the return shipping.

I am moving away from ebay to Amazon.   How you seen this trend?

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I would hope you would reword that to say, that 3 out of 4 item you have being interested in are fraudulent,   I suspect that 99% of transactions put through Ebay are 100% good,   it's bad that you are basically labelling 75% of sellers on Ebay as frauds.

A PS your feedback left for others doesnt bare out your comments either.   One was broken, which I am not sure can only be blamed on the seller,  did you reach out to them.  One was delayed delivery, again possibly a postage issue.  Does that make them frauds.

Maybe you need to check out sellers feedback, and consider the product you are purchasing.

[venkyms2011]

The seller is saying that is their policy not to pay the postage.  The seller is in registered in china but looks like they are shipping from a local warehouse. 

[venkyms2011]

Fraudulent, I mean either the product that is sent is not as per the description or the product doesn't work at all or broken.  Every time, I had to escalate to eBay and it takes weeks together to resolve.  The seller will ask us to return the product but they won't pay the shipping. I end up losing double the money. 

[venkyms2011]

You have a fair question. I had good experience with eBay since the last 5 - 6 years. The bad experience has started since a year or two. But it is not one off, it has been consistent as well and again, mostly with the asian sellers. I am trying to avoid them nowadays.