e-bay private deals

[aeonf242]

Hello

Just wondering what people thought of 'Private deals' off e-bay....

you know where you ask a question and they say "I'll sell it privately for £XX cheaper"

Would you trust them?

Personally I'd only trust it if it was under £10 of if I could go and collect it. (and it was exceptional circumstances!)

JUst thought of this as I was offered something that I know must be a rip off, payment via Western Union etc......

So be careful out there!

[ReDOcToBeR]

I'd have a close look at their feedback and if it were 200+ with a 98% good rating might be tempted but not if it's over £10-£15.
Just too risky otherwise.

[aeonf242]

How plausible is this:

"I need urgently the money because i need for another business,and this
is the reason that i can sell you to a cheaper price.
How much can you offer me right now?
These items comes with full accesories!
For delivere i use UPS service,DHL or FEDEX.
This package will arive to you in max. 2 days.
For payment i use only Western Union.
I accept only payment in advance!!!
I'm an honest man,i have an word on Ebay(check my feedback and you will
see).
If you are interested and if you are an honest man I'll wait your
reply."

I'd rate that as about 3/10, sound like an employee of the e-bayer doing something on the side..........

I got this in response to a question asking about the dimensions!

[fondie]

i'd give it 0/10,

anyone taking up this 'offer' will get what they deserve ie. nothing!

[realityx]

tbh,
I,ve made quite afew end it now offers on ebay,
including one 2-3 weeks ago for a printer,
a hp deskjet 720c he even del it for £15 all in:O)
it,s like redoctober says, you got too trust
there feedback, exspcially if he has a high
rating with 100% feedback, there are alot
of rip off merchants/timewasters on ebay,
but the feedback ratings usually do hold true.

[Prodigy]

I'm a fairly big ebay user and I'd say that if they've got high feedback and they can answer all questions without any hint of suspiciousness AND they accept decent payment methods (i.e. not postal orders/western union only) then it's usually safe. I prefer to sell things outside of ebay (especially with expensive items) as you can avoid the massive ebay fees.

[aeonf242]

Well I'd agree about feedback.....this guy has 3,000+ but the Western Union things sounds way to dodgy....

Especially as the item was £110 on buy it now.

[Prodigy]

Western Union = instant worry. 9 out of 10 people who get conned will have paid using Western Union I bet.

[Capt Doufos]

As above. Western Union = Don't touch with a bardge poll. It's money going to anywhere in the world. No come backs.

Also people with stupidly large feedback is sometimes faked. Just be careful.

[aeonf242]

Very good point about the fake feedback.....
This one was a second division football club!

[realityx]

I agree with the payment via western union is dodgy,
but if the guys got alot of feedback accured over a number
of years, that feedback is usually safe.

[aeonf242]

Well I'm still not for it anyway............

Good point about the western union account though...

[Sinizter]

If he has 100% positive feedback or if he has no negative feedback recently that I can see and loads of positives, then I might go through with it.

But I would probably just pay the £10 extra to make sure that I fo get the item.

[aeonf242]

if someone says they need money for another business, alarm bells should ring!
Especially if you pay into the accounts of the failing business, if it goes belly up you've got no comeback...
e-bay, so simple and yet not?

[Saracen]

Originally posted by aeonf242
Especially if you pay into the accounts of the failing business, if it goes belly up you've got no comeback...
e-bay, so simple and yet not?

It's not QUITE that simle. You COULD have a come-back.

If a business fails, and that business has property in it's possession that BELONGS TO YOU, then the receiver will hand it over to you. You WILL, however, be expected to demonstrate, convincingly, to them that SPECFIC items are your property.

For instance, you send your PC back for repair, and while it's at the compnay, the company goes under. You have an invoice showing that a given PC is YOUR property, and it can be identified by Serial Number. You get your goods back.

On the other hand, you buy a new PC from a company, pay for it and they fold before they ship. There is no way to identify which specific goods are yours and title has not yet passed to you. Result, you are an unsecured trade creditor and will likely not get all of our money back, and quite possibly none of it. The moral of that situation .... when buying expensive items USE A CREDIT CARD.

If the transaction is in the UK, and as a private consumer, and is over £100 (and under £30,000 if memory serves) then the Credit Card company is jointly liable with the trader, and if you can't get your money from the receiver, you'll get it from the CCard company.

In the situation where you are buying a SPECIFIC item from a company, however, and they have RECEIVED your money, then if you can identify the SPECIFIC goods to the receiver, you should still get them. Get documentary evidence (like an invoice) specifying exactly what you're buying (including, as I said, serial number). Then, if the company folds, you still have a claim on the goods.

Bear in mind that the receiver has to follow a very stringent set of rules (laws) prescribing in some detail what they can and can't do for you. Most receivers will do everything they possibly can to help members of the public in this situation, but there are statutory limits on what they CAN do.

[aeonf242]

Sorry I was just passing an e-bay type comment.
I doubt £90 passed into a Western Union account on the strength of a private e-mail would hold up anywhere.
But excellent general comments nontheless!