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.
Quoting from [GeoHri]: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.
I will not go that far by accusing everybody of fraud on alibaba but I personally as a seller do not feal comfortable dealing with online "buyers'. There are a lot of ways to get scammed online and before anybody sends money online should think again.
Bottom line is Internet trading HIGH RISK INVOLVED.
Quoting from [saad4uin2000]: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
I am so sorry to hear that. There are some chinese suppliers, who had cheated you before. But please don't be upset with all chinese suppliers. Some of them are doing very good. If I am a manufacturer of computer parts, I am willing to help you. But I am a manufacturer of the inflatable products, such as the inflatable bouncers, castles, air dancers, pools, slides, cartoons, shape modles, water games, advertising products, and so on. I am so sorry that I can not give you my help. But if you need the inflatable products, I can do my best to help you to let you know that some chinese suppliers are good.
Selina
selina_67123( at )hotmail.com
Quoting from [selina_67123]:Quoting from [saad4uin2000]: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
I am so sorry to hear that. There are some chinese suppliers, who had cheated you before. But please don't be upset with all chinese suppliers. Some of them are doing very good. If I am a manufacturer of computer parts, I am willing to help you. But I am a manufacturer of the inflatable products, such as the inflatable bouncers, castles, air dancers, pools, slides, cartoons, shape modles, water games, advertising products, and so on. I am so sorry that I can not give you my help. But if you need the inflatable products, I can do my best to help you to let you know that some chinese suppliers are good.Selina
selina_67123( at )hotmail.com
Hi, thank you all for posting all this valuable information on here.
Re: the above.
I am brand new to this and am contacting suppliers/manufacturers re buying audio/studio gear ( eg microphones etc ) from China. I posted a lead to hopefully have some people contact me and one of my responses was from a gentleman in Indo who offered me a brand name mic for US$310 with a MOQ 100 pcs.
My response was that that particular mic ( this is a major name in the Audio world ) can be purchased on Ebay brand new for US$88. His resonse was to offer me the mic for US$70 incl shipping and we could negotiate MOQ. This sounds like a scam...is it?
Another response was from a young lady in China, the business/website looks legitimate but when I asked her why she is using a "yahoo" address to liaise with prospective customers her answer was that she often wotks "out of the office". I did contact this company via their site so to be fair, her reason could well be true. They are indeed a "gold supplier".
WHO DO I TRUST??
I am really excited about starting a business but am overwhelmed with fear due to the horror stories I read on here. Does anyone know of legitimate suppliers for the type of products I'm looking for?
Thanks again to the original poster.
Actually, too good to be true. Scamers is in everywhere. So that we want to
I advise that when you choose a supplier, you had better choose a supplier who is the gold supplier in alibaba , and be a member no less than 2 years.
If the supplier is the scamer, when alibaba received someone charge this supplier, they will stop to show this supplier's website and make clear whether it is true.
When alibaba make sure this supplier is a scamer, they will stop to show this supplier's website.
i think it is a better way to make safe business with these supplier who are on line no less than 2 years.
I ordered 2 kindle and 1 blackberry storm. The saler name Lynn Wong , she had all my money by asking me to transfer by Westurn Union and she gaven me a wrong tracking number .
And now it's already 7 days , she ia not online for 2 days !!! I am scared !!!!
Saowaluck.n@btdasia.com
Please help - I should have read this first !!!
Sorry!!!
im sick and tired of all the scam stories Im reading on a daily basis and it seems that Alibabis not taking responsibility over misleading us with their goldmemberships and trusspasses rubbish ( buy with confidence - ). I will be formally contacting watchdog on everyones behalf and I im the process of populating a list of all the comments made on the forum. Wish me luck. This is not fair and needs to be stopped. I myself have just been scammed and I have yet to hear from the service team. I told them not to send me a 'sorry to hear that 'email or the one about 'contacting your local police'. Im sooo annoyed.