First the bad news: there are more ways to get ripped off when buying and selling over the internet than ever before. The good news is that with a little common sense, most are avoidable.

The great playground of the modern fraud artist has been Ebay, GlobalSource, Made in China and Alibaba. Fueled by greed, buyers have been lured into lowball auctions on high end items. With their savings sent overseas via Western Union, buyers waited patiently on their doorsteps, fake UPS tracking numbers in hand, never to have that expensive new toy arrive. Although Ebay has been cracking down efficiently, Alibaba has made also no effort on this part. At the end of the day it is still a buyer beware world out there. While there are many other sites out there, the following red flags should apply to any purchase you make.

High end items at low dollar prices: Sure, we are all greedy, and we want as much money for our stuff as possible. This applies to sellers as well as everyone else. When you see someone selling a brand new video camera for half the price of other, you need to ask yourself why. It doesn't cost him anything to raise the price, so why should he want to sell it for less? It's common sense, yet we are often blinded by the opportunity to snag a deal that we can all brag to our friends about. You need to remember one time tested saying: "If it is too good to be true, it probably is."

Look for them hawking brand new items at ridiculous discounts. High end electronics, video cameras, still cameras, mobile phones, and laptops are always popular items.

Slow/Zero feedback: It's only the bargain if what you buy actually shows up. Unless you can pay in person, or have someone local make payment on your behalf and pick and inspect the goods, don't bother with zero and slow feedback sellers. If they are slow to reply before you buy they will be even slower or disappear completely after you buy. As the old cliche goes, "time is money".

Seller's Location: Would you seriously buy a Rolex from China for any price, and think it's real? Would you really wire money to Croatia for a new video Ipod at a quarter of the price?

Here's the truth. If these people had legitimate items to sell, they'd be selling them over there. They are trying to get your overseas money because they know there is absolutely nothing you can do to get it back once they've got it. Even if you get scammed out of $10,000 are you really going to track down some scumbag in the middle of China?

Not all foreign sellers are rip-offs, but the further out you go geographically, the higher your risk gets.

Seller's Industry: Would you seriously buy a Laptop from a company registered as ABC Textile Trading Co. Ltd at any price price, and think it's real? Use your common sense.

Anyone Traveling: If you ever read anything like "I'm from the Shanghai but currently traveling in Hong Kong," forget it immediately. It is almost always trouble. Scammers use traveling as an excuse as to why they haven't been able to ship you your package three months after you have paid. They'll keep you on the hook as long as possible to keep you from going to the authorities, and then they'll eventually disappear.

Escrow: Escrow used to be the safety net you could rely on. Then crooks began setting up fake escrow services and continued on stealing as happily as before.

Here's reality. Real sellers don't use escrow. They take your money up front. Then they ship you the package. That's the way it's done. They have the goods so they make the rules. If you want to use escrow and they agree to it, beware!!

Breaking The Rules: Watch out for anyone who offers to break the rules for you when there is nothing in it for them. Unless they are the boss or you are a large client someone who can move production time forward for you or reduce the price from $10 to $5 is someone who is agreeing to give up money. No one gives up money. Anyone who approaches you outside the system is instantly suspect. If they were legit, they'd be selling legitimately.

Add anything that I may have missed to this.

 

 Hello.  I would like to ask you a favour.I am a businessman from

,wich is going to export our dried fruits to Cameroon.The fact is I was asked to pay a fee 950 Euro to Ministry of Health, in order to get the Certificate for Exporting,and releae the money from the Bank. That e-mail was send me by the Accountant of the Ministry of  Health.All I want you is to send me the E- mail address of the Ministry.Or to call and find out is this person really works there.Ndop Njinke  

 

 NAME / MR BETRAND JOSHUA   

 

 ACCOUNTANT MINISTRY OF HEALTH  

 

 


DOUALA

LITTORAL

PROVINCE  

 

 

 DOUALA  

 

 Waiting for your reply very soon  

 

Thank you very much.

 

Hello,

This certainly sounds like a scam.  You should ask the buyer to pay for any certificates required.  Don't ever send any money when you are the one doing the selling.  Contact their local Chamber of Commerce and ask them to run a check on this company.  There is no fee attach.  Be careful.

Quoting from [Otabek]:

 Hello.  I would like to ask you a favour.I am a businessman from


,wich is going to export our dried fruits to Cameroon.The fact is I was asked to pay a fee 950 Euro to Ministry of Health, in order to get the Certificate for Exporting,and releae the money from the Bank. That e-mail was send me by the Accountant of the Ministry of  Health.All I want you is to send me the E- mail address of the Ministry.Or to call and find out is this person really works there.Ndop Njinke  

 

 NAME / MR BETRAND JOSHUA   

 

 ACCOUNTANT MINISTRY OF HEALTH  

 

 



DOUALA


LITTORAL


PROVINCE  

 

 

 DOUALA  

 

 Waiting for your reply very soon  

 

Thank you very much.

 

Please don't waste your time. And Make sure you DO NOT send any money.

It may sound like a very big business but it's fake.

No ministry will do purchasing in this manner.

I am also willing to bet they have never bought or tried any of your product.

Once you've sent the money it's gone forever.

They may keep sending you lots of email and tell you that time is of the essence and you need to do it quickly. Just disregard the email and use your time better. This is 1000% scam.

More info for you:

http://www.fraudwatchers.org/forums/showthread.php?p=21283

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=%22MR+BERTRAND+JOSHUA%22&as_q=scam

 

Don't buy anything from Mr. Daniel Jones!!!

This is a fraud!!!!

This guy doesn't sell anything!!!

 

i have been cheated by 3 companies from china thru alibaba they r all gold members u have sent total of 1200 usd and order 2 e90 nokia ,1 canon 5dcamera and 1 nokia 8gb and instead got 1 china copy watch phone .2 china copy cheap phones and 1 n95 china copy :(

these are the 2 companies who cheat me at the momnet i cant find the 3rd once please donot deal with these companies they are very rude and once you get your fake items from them they just never come online or reply you i wish alibaba could help me also .thankyou all

Putian Hengwang Trade Co., Ltd. gold member.

Era Impression Designs Ltd. 

and bxb168.com which is also linked with alibaba once i send this company she start cussing on me and telling me bad words dam

 we are mbanefo agency international,we offer business services on behalf of other business.you have heard a bad experience from been insulted over the phone e.t.c.

we are here for you,we can help you make contacts with the best compaines in china and buy the products  you may need.you do not need to worry about the payment for our services,individual compaines takes care of this.go ahead get in contact with us and you will never regret it

Quoting from [Remus]:

yes , you are right, the price is too good to be true.

But in the internet, people want to buy lowest price goods, but you can think it base on your purchase experence, you know the cost of the goods, if the goods price is much lower than other supplier, you shall pay attention, it is not true, they are scarm you, it is two result to you when you pay the deposit , 1:  they will not send the goods to you.  2. they will increase the price to you base other reasons, this time , do you will pay it? it is very dangerous.  

People get scammed over the internet all the time because they are fooled over low prices, big deals, poorly informed......etc

I am a seller on alibaba and I also received e-mails from African "buyers" which want to buy from me large quantities of goods which will eventually make me a millionaire over time!! The "Buyers" were from countrys like: Benin, Cameroon,Nigeria....... I must say that I did not fell for these deals, the buyers all asked me to pay for some certificates, for the money been sent and all kinds of bla bla bla bla....

The way I deal is in person. So everybody who wants to buy from me large quantities of goods has to visit my office otherwise NO DEAL. This is the best way to deal and you will never get scammed. If they say they cannot come but do not have a problem with sending you 100,000 dollars for merchandise than something is seriously wrong here. Gold,silver and other members cannot be trusted under NO curcumstances especially if they come from countrys located in AFRICA,ASIA,MIDDLE EAST. Accounts get hacked all the time and some outlaws actually pay money in order to get there hands on a gold member account, that way they will take your money easilly.

Hope this helped for the inexperienced and the experienced traders as well.

hi i wana buy computer products from china

but i dunno who i can rely cause 2 company have cheated me

are there any company who can help me to locate genuine suppliers

of used computer parts and new computer parts  i cannot

beleive on any chinese  supplier now

i