Just Say No to eBay

A Non-Profit Consumer Awareness Site

REASONS TO AVOID EBAY

1. FRAUD: Authorities estimate that at least 5% of all on-line auction activities are fraudulent. At eBay the number is, more likely, much higher. Buyers are fooled by scam artists into sending money, but those buyers never receive their products.

2. OVERPAYING: Many items on eBay are actually selling for more than the manufacturer's suggested retail price. Often items that sell for a set retail price at larger stores and on-line retailers will cost 20% or higher on eBay. Many eBay sellers rely on the fact that buyers do not do any comparison shopping.

3. RETURN POLICY: If a buyer receives a defective or broken item, then that buyer may be stuck with it. Many sellers do not offer any assistance with returns or refunds.

4. HANDLING FEES: Some sellers charge extravagant handling fees to make additional profits.

5. SHILLS: A number of instances have arisen where unscrupulous sellers have used shills (bidders who work for the seller) to jack up the price of an item during the bidding process.

6. DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING: Some sellers use deceptive pictures to advertise their items. Pictures may be blurry or slightly overexposed to hide defects. Or pictures may be taken deceptively to make a product look larger than its actual size. The written descriptions may also be misleading.

7. SELLERS' ATTITUDES: Although many sellers are friendly and legitimate, there are some who view their buyers as victims rather than customers. Read some of the eBay Community forums to see how some sellers talk negatively about their customers. They often describe their buyers as lazy or stupid (and they often express their contempt in much stronger language).

8. PAYMENT POLICIES: Some the sellers do not use PayPal. Instead, they ask buyers to use Western Union/BidPay. This will cost the buyer an additional $5 or $10 or possibly even more (the amount being a percentage on the cost of the item).

9. EBAY'S ATTITUDE: If a buyer runs into a problem on eBay, eBay will not lend any help or assistance in the matter.

10. BETTER DEALS AVAILABLE ELSEWHERE: Most items on eBay are available for less elsewhere. Many sellers buy from local retail outfits or other on-line sellers, and then sell those items at substantially higher prices. Buyers can often save up to 25% or more on their purchases if they take the time to comparison shop.

ALTERNATIVES TO EBAY

1. Local Retailers: Check the prices at Target, Walmart, Sears, J C Penney, Circuit City, Best Buy, Toys R Us, or some other local retailer before you buy an item on eBay. The deals you find locally may be far better than what you find on eBay. In addition, with large retailers such as these, the return policy is usually guaranteed and much easier and faster.

2. On-line Retailers: The big retailers like Amazon have become big for a reason: better service, better attitude, greater security, easier return policies.

(a) A good and simple way to comparison shop on-line is by using Froogle.

http://www.google.com/

Froogle is an additional service at Google that is free for the user.

Simply type in the item you are looking for, hit the "SEARCH FROOGLE" button,

and you will find dozens of places where you can purchase that item.

The price of the item also appears in the list.

(b) Yahoo also provides a similar method for comparison shopping.

http://shopping.yahoo.com/

Although Yahoo is more limited than Froogle, all of the participating retailers at Yahoo

accept Yahoo Wallet to make the purchasing experience faster and easier.

Spending five or ten minutes at sites such as these often allows buyers to save tremendous amounts of money. And buyers will find that shopping by methods such as these is actually less time-consuming than shopping on eBay.

LINKS TO OTHER ANTI-EBAY SITES

ABIKA: "According to Fortune Magazine, fraud and theft could represent as much as 5% of all auctions online, specifically in the computer and consumer electronics category. Last year the Federal Trade Commission logged 51,000 auction-fraud complaints which is double the number in 2001. Feedback rating on ebay is very easy to manipulate and generally does not give a true picture of the user and con-artists are constantly devising new ways to manipulate it. It is also not uncommon for someone to hijack an ebay users identity. "

http://www.abika.com/Reports/ebayusercheck.htm

EBAY EXODUS: "73% of Tiffany items sold on ebay are fakes! So Tiffany is suing ebay. No Doubt issues a counterfeit warning for guitars being sold on ebay as autographed by band members."

http://ebayexodus.com/

EBAY OYVEY: "EBAY CAN BE A FUN PLACE FOR BUYING AND SELLING BUT... IT'S ALSO FULL OF CONS, CRUMBS and KOOKS."

http://www.geocities.com/ebayoyvey/

EBAY PROTECTS THIEVES: "I can't tell you how many times I have been bitten by them and now since they won't let you post the truth in the feedback section, I've wiped my hands clean of them."

http://www.webdeals.net/ebayscam.htm

EBAYERS THAT SUCK: " We know what it's like to get screwed at on-line auctions. Once screwed you are limited to 80 characters, basically one sentence to tell your story. At Ebayers That Suck we provide you with up to one full page of web space plus pictures to tell your tale. "

http://www.ebayersthatsuck.com/main/

FIGHT FOR ME: "E-Bay/Internet Auction Fraud Defense: E-Bay/Internet auction fraud is a crime that may carry a lasting social stigma as well as serious legal consequences. In some states, the laws governing E-Bay/Internet auction fraud have become more rigid, and the punishment for a conviction can often be quite severe. Because of this, it is extremely important that you entrust your case to an attorney with a strong history of winning E-Bay/Internet auction fraud cases."

http://www.fightforme.com/auctionfraud.html

FRAUDDOC.COM: "We started FraudDoc.Com in response to our growing awareness of the huge problem of internet fraud. Many victims feel rage and then helplessness as to what to do. They are often unsure where to turn for help. ... We have found ways to get refunds the average individual would probably never find."

www.frauddoc.com/

FREEDOM BY FAITH: "In fact, the problem of shill bidding is so bad on ebay that there are people writing software for the users to use to try and find shill bidders. The FBI has, in a few high profile, high dollar cases, not only found shill bidding but prosecuted people. All the time, ebay is turning a blind eye."

http://www.freedombyfaith.com/MARKET/Sabotaged.html

INVESTMENT FRAUD: "The risk-reward game associated with ebay auction fraud becomes more perilous to the consumer when the product values begin to rise into the hundreds and thousands of dollars. For example, in a well publicized ebay internet fraud report in the summer of 2003, an Utah based business which had a modest record of auction business on ebay, perpetrated a million dollar fraud by offering laptop computers “at a discount” to $1,000. Over 1,000 consumers anted up money for these laptops, thinking that they were getting a “great deal”, which in fact turned out to be one of the largest auction ebay fraud cases in the history of ebay."

http://www.investment-fraud-us.gb.com/ebay-fraud.html

KOOKS AND CROOKS: Another anti-eBay site dedicated to helping buyers "avoid Bad Sellers, Scams, Overpriced Shipping, and Deadbeats."

www.kooksandcrooks.com

MANLEY LABORATORIES: "This is a general warning to everyone looking to buy high ticket Manley gear listed on eBay way cheap, too cheap. There have been many instances of people listing Manley 16x2 Mixers, SLAM!s and other high buck Manley gear repeatedly on eBay for ridiculously low prices. ... To best assure you aren't the victim of an ebay fraud, just buy the unit from your local dealer!"

http://www.manleylabs.com/containerpages/16x2FRAUD.html

MUSEUM OF HP CALCULATORS: "eBay Warnings: Prices Are Usually Very High: Calculators (both HP and otherwise), slide rules and many other collectable objects typically sell for far more on eBay than elsewhere often by factors of 5 to 20. (In a recent case the factor was more than 100.) Old calculators have sold used on eBay while national dealers offered new-in-the-box samples for a fraction of the price."

http://www.hpmuseum.org/ebaywarn.htm

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK.COM: "As a longtime eBay seller, I found eBay’s complaint process to be absurdly tipped against the very people who helped build eBay into an online success story. Despite my initial good faith attempts to abide by the letter and spirit of eBay selling policy, eBay’s “Trust and Safety Department” repeatedly shut down my auctions."

http://www.negative-feedback.com/nf_intro.html

NUMIS: "Coin fraud on eBay is common. Because eBay provides minimal protection against numismatic fraud, or other fraud, you're largely on your own. Avoid eBay auctions from sellers you don't know in which the seller keeps his own feedback private, in which he prevents you from contacting other bidders, or in which he has suddenly begun to sell expensive items when by looking at his feedback you see he has previously only bought items or sold inexpensive or unrelated items."

http://rg.ancients.info/guide/fraud.html

PAYPAL SUCKS: "PayPal Sucks, aka No PayPal, is an anti paypal site to expose the nightmare of doing business 'the paypal way.'"

http://www.paypalsucks.com/

PISS ON EBAY: "Do you feel that ebay's rules requiring a certain feedback score to use "buy it now" and "Dutch" auctions are just plain ridiculous? ... How about when you have a problem or need "Customer Service" and have to wait days to receive a pre-written form letter that has no bearing on your question what-so-ever? ... Are you aware that once you became an ebay member you WAIVED YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS TO PRIVACY AND DUE PROCESS? "

http://www.pissonebay.com/poe/default.asp

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES: "We've lost far more money on eBay, trying to get a "good deal", than we would have ever paid out by simply buying the merchandise in the store at full retail price."

http://www.truth-or-consequences.com/badder_business_bureau/daryl_norton/daryl_norton.shtml

2EBAY.COM: "The Anti-Ebay Site That Refuses To Die!"

http://www.jimshanklin.com/1default.htm