SCAM alert - Sellers posting Kmart items at inflated prices

[fcosenti]

People,

I got scammed - I purchased a hallway table with free delivery for $65. Yesterday I received a parcel FROM  KMART directly, it was this table. I go and check the Kmart website - the item is for sale online for $30.

This is it: http://www.kmart.com.au/product/black-hallway-table/124214

The seller didn't even bother to have the goods delivered to himself and then to me - shameless scammer.

Since the overall damage is just $25 (Kmart delivery fee is $10), I reported the seller to eBay and I left negative feedback.

While for electronics it is easier to check pricing online, for furniture it is much more complex.

Note that a lot of people are selling the exact same item for hugely inflated prices ($65 was the cheapest on eBay when I bought it). I am sure they are playing the same game with a lot of other stuff.

[miamiamoo]

Also, price jacking is common, but illegal. All you haters saying this person is the dummy, do some research about it. Google the case about the Hachimals, a woman bought heaps and planned to resell them on ebay, they were as much as 500% marked up. ebay and amazon caught on a banned her as this practice is against their policy. So DO keep putting complaints in because this IS wrong.

[springyzone]

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@miamiamoo wrote:

Yeah I agree its a major SCAM.

With tickets, at least there is a guideline you can not sell above original cost  and max mark up  of 10%for transaction cost. This would be higlhly illegal practice if they were selling tickets, why is it different for furniture. If the item is readily available in a store and youre not eh authorised dealer for them then this should be illegal. 

I would recommend contacting the ACCC to see what their official view is on it. 

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The trouble with your comment is that lots of items-furniture, white goods etc, are readily available in lots of stores-and at different prices. That's why people shop around. There isn't just one set retail price for most things. Tickets are different as they did have one source, one cost.

There are also some companies that do not allow their brand to be sold anywhere but in their official stores, although of course people with second hand items are allowed to sell them-just not allowed to set up a shop selling that brand.

I'm not a fan of people buying from K mart or any shop, then reselling the goods, especially if those sellers are stupid enough to then have the shop ship the item direct to the customer.

What that does is make the customer feel like they have been taken for a ride. 

But if you are on ebay long enough, you'll find a lot of things listed at what I would call inflated prices. I've seen a few things that are nice in themselves but when I checked for the new prices, found that these were dearer than I could buy from the original source, and I am not talking K mart.

To be quite honest, it turns me right off that seller, but it isn't illegal to charge more on most goods.

[davewil1964]

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@padi*0409 wrote:

If you'd read the whole thread you'd see that it's called "dropshipping" and there's nothing illegal about it, and it's certainly not a scam.

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If they had read the whole thread, they would know how pointless it is responding to the OP at this late date.

[digital*ghost]

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@miamiamoo wrote:
Also, price jacking is common, but illegal. All you haters saying this person is the dummy, do some research about it. Google the case about the Hachimals, a woman bought heaps and planned to resell them on ebay, they were as much as 500% marked up. ebay and amazon caught on a banned her as this practice is against their policy. So DO keep putting complaints in because this IS wrong.

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Can you provide a link? I can't turn anything up via google searches except articles detailing which site is better to list them on, and one thread titled "How dare eBay allow sellers to list Hatchimals at a million bucks" (which also contained the reply "We should ban the internet completely so people have to go back to being silly in real life.", which I am wont to give a kudos ), plus a smattering of articles talking about their popularity, and referencing sellers who have them on eBay for "hundreds of dollars" but not a single reference to a woman who was banned from selling them. 

Re-selling for a profit (high or low) isn't illegal in the vast majority of cases - we can talk about the ethics of it until the cows come home (then leave again when they no longer care to partake of the convo), but the legalities are a little more clear cut.

That being said - ebay policy (which is most decidedly not the arbiter of law - Australian or otherwise), prohibits the practice of dropshipping with places like K Mart.

Scam? No. Against eBay policy? Yes. 

[loughdaddy]

Anyone who wants to dignify this behaviour is immoral or amoral. Dropshipping, re-selling etc etc, however you want to dress it up, it might not be scamming but it's very average behaviour. The fact that you want to justify/explain the listing and correct the OP suggests you don't really condemn or have a problem with it. Irrespective of doing their due diligence, why should the people cop it? Disgraceful response really.

[davewil1964]

This thread is dead. Dragging it up to have a shot at a post from years ago might not be illegal but...

Any secondhand goods sold anywhere are technically being resold. It is neither immoral nor amoral.

If you don't like it, only buy new items and chuck them in landfill when you're finished with them. Although THAT would definitely be immoral.

[lyndal1838]

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@loughdaddy wrote:

Anyone who wants to dignify this behaviour is immoral or amoral.

So am I immoral or amoral....please clarify.

Dropshipping, re-selling etc etc, however you want to dress it up, it might not be scamming but it's very average behaviour. The fact that you want to justify/explain the listing and correct the OP suggests you don't really condemn or have a problem with it.

Do I have a problem with dropshipping or reselling?  Not really, but I would never recommend dropshipping to a seller as they are completely at the mercy of their supplier and usually have a higher proportion of poor feedback than those that do not dropship.

As for resellers....this site started as a site for selling secondhand goods and was famous for it.  It is only quite recently that ebay has been encouraging the sale of all new goods.  As far as I am concerned it it a very backward step as the range of second hand goods was second to none.

Irrespective of doing their due diligence, why should the people cop it? Disgraceful response really.

Maybe you don't like my response, but it is my opinion and I am entitled to voice it.

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[aggitator101]

currently happening with some shelving units. They're selling dirt cheap on kmart but are listed as out of stock. Yet the same products are listed on ebay at over twice the price. People are simply scalping like mad.

[repentatleisure1952]

Thank you for dredging up this 5 year old thread... reading it again is good for a laugh.

[sandypebbles]

And obviously some people are more than happy to keep scalpers keep on scalping 

Don't buy from them

Could it be more simple

I understand these shelving units are life or death must haves, but seriously