Jobs & Education2 mins ago
ebay
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There was a fairly positive report a couple of months back, but I do agree that people are more likely to remember the bad. Provided you take reasonable care, ebay is a great place to shop. The scammers are pretty easy to spot. Any offer that's too good to be true is just that.
I was almost taken in by a different scam when I had a piano for sale on a site. It was only because the 'buyer' wrote of 'the item' and asked for the price when it was clearly stated in the ad, that I smelt a rat.
Agree with kempie..The media feed off negativity, its their fix...they can take something like this ebay story involving a few crooked romanians and make it sound like the entire ebay site is at the mercy of them..i have been a member for 4 years with no trouble whatsoever, and will continue to use this site, whatever negative stuff i read..as long as you use your common sense you'll be ok.
Not put me off, but I tend to read the descriptions and feedback very carefully. I would disagree that there is only a tiny percentage of fraudulent sellers, though. A lot of the DVDs I have looked at have patently been bootlegs; at the moment someone is offering "Lost Season 2" for �2.25 (obviously instructions on how to use P2P), and there are always those "Sky for �4.99" offers.
Yes, the majority of sellers are on the level, but the fact that eBay doesn't boot off the patently dodgy ones (and makes it quite difficult to report them) doesn't make them seem as if they care (and they still get their cut of the sale).
P.S. Re the bad grammar of fraudulent sellers, you ought to check your own post before criticising, Captainebay! ;o)
I guess, with this kind of thing, it's like writing an essay - you must focus on a certain aspect, rather than try to cover every angle in a limited amount of space/time.
I have had a few negative experiences on ebay and have only bought about 20 things!
So, I think its important that people aren't lulled into false sense of security by all the good reports, and are aware of the pitfalls and how to spot a scam.
its easy to play the 'common sense' card, but unfortunately a lot of people don't have much, and don't deserve to be ripped off because of it.
any show that highlights scams is a good thing, though I agree it would be good to acknowledge the good aspects too.