Ebay Frauds?

Just like many other ebay users, i sell and i buy from ebay. But as much as we want to be a honest seller, to give a 100% true and full account of the item we are selling, we expect other sellers to be as honest as we are. However, we need to know that there are dishonest sellers around!

Having many unpleasant encounters with dishonest sellers, the thought of giving up on ebay crossed my mind. However, instead of withdrawing from my bad experiences, i decided to write them and advise other ebay users of how they can protect themselves!

Recently, i made a purchase on ebay for a bag. Looking through the photos almost 20 times to make sure that the item is not a imitation or a fake, i decided to buy it. When the item arrived, the alignment of the print is completely out and it is obvious an imitation, a fake! But because the seller indicated 'do not accept returns', i could not do anything or report this seller to ebay!

What can you do to prevent things like this from happening?
1) Make sure that you check through the photos and the materials used to be real before even bidding for the item or make a purchase
2) Check whether seller accept returns, it is ok if seller DO NOT accept returns
3) Make payment with paypal and only in a single payment. DO NOT accept oversea sellers offering you a discount to make payment via transfers at a discount, especially if item is expensive

If after you have done all the above, but still you encounter the same situation as me, what should you do?
1) Contact seller and communicate with seller
2) Indicate to the seller the reason why you think it may be an imitation or a fake
3) Try to come to an agreement with the seller that you will be satisfied with. Whether is it a full refund, a partial refund or other agreements
4) In the event if seller is not responsive to your messages and have indicated clearly that they DO NOT accept returns, try reporting to ebay
5) However, there maybe times where item is not under the ebay buyer protection. Do not be despair. You can go to paypal solution center and file a case against the seller via the transcation
6) If seller still does not response to paypal solution center, you may then escalate to a paypal claim where the money will be withheld from both the seller and the buyer till paypal review the situation and come out with a reasonable payout
7) Be patient to let paypal review the situation but at the meantime, try to keep record of as much evident as possible, as paypal might ask you for some information

Unless seller tell you personally and guarantees that item is authentic, do not assume that it is authentic. There are many replica nowadays that comes even with the authentic card, so even if the seller has an authentic card, it no longer guarantees that the item is authentic anymore. So unless you get a personal response from seller that item is authentic, do not buy.

My 2nd case is as such. i asked the seller whether item comes with authentic card and seller replies yes. However after the first case, i wrote to the 2nd seller immediately to ask whether item is 100% authentic and his reply was that it is from a private seller and it comes with the authentic card. After prompting further, he could not give a 100% yes and say that if i receive the item and still do not like it then i can send it back but i will have to pay for postage and bear the cost of sending the item back.

SO BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN YOU ARE PURCHASING ONLINE. Make sure the seller could tell you and assure that it is a 100% authentic even before you make the purchase so that it will save you all the postage fees and the trouble of sending the items back. Postage fees can easily cost up to $100 per time, so be wise!

However, there are some items that you can live with even if they are not authentic, just like those i mentioned in my previous post on Real or Fake.

M.A.C Brush Sets

Lately i have been seeing a lot of post on how people identify whether their M.A.C brush sets are authentic or not. Looking through some of them i realized a few interesting points stated by some of these blogs, which i think is not so true!

Before i begin, let's look through some of the M.A.C Brush sets available in the market!

All of these brushes are produced by M.A.C for a different season of different years and some are exclusive to make up schools at different years. Some maybe many years ago and some are the really recent ones.

Some of the facts mentioned that are not so true:
1) They only come in silver tips
Looking through the photos, i think you can be very sure that it does not apply all the time.
In fact, they come in silver, black and even gold depending on the series they are being produced for.

2) They only come in black glossy body
Again, you can see that they DO NOT only come in black glossy, they come in matt black, blue, transparent and others not stated here!

3) All brushes comes with the number
This only apply to the more recent series of brushes

Remember i mentioned of the M.A.C brush set i got?
They come in black tip and matt black body. They may not belong to the latter series but the quality is so good.

No so long ago, a friend was telling me about the M.A.C brush she bought from the M.A.C shop itself and the brush is dropping hair every single time she uses it. I believe all items may experiences factory faultiness. It does not determine the authenticity of the item.

The fact remains, if you are afraid and insistent on getting authentic items, my advise to you is to purchase them from the original store itself instead of online stores. So that even if the item does not function well, you will not doubt its authenticity.

Caught Online Again?

Trying your best to stay out of the malls over the weekends? But yet, unknowingly got caught online by some online shopping sites and sales or advertisements sent to your email? With the updating of online security, people are now less worried, instead beginning to feel really safe to purchase things online.

Online shopping can be very tempting and addictive! Especially auction sites or sites where items are selling really fast! As the clock is ticking... your hearts are pounding... items are selling... it end up causing you to make decisions without really thinking through them. Unlike shopping where you can hold on to an item you spotted and walk around the shop till you finally decides to buy it, online shopping can cause impulsive purchases of things you do not need or are not even you size! At the click of your fingers, money are leaving your pocket faster then when you actually shop in the malls!

There is no way to 'stop' yourself from online shopping all together. But if you really want to stop it all, you can try canceling your credit cards, banning all online transactions or even pay engines like paypal accounts. However, if you know you cannot do the above then the next best thing is to prevent impulsive purchase or buying things that does not even suit you or your size!

Here are 7 tips to online shopping with WISDOM!!
1) Stay away
From auction sites, if you really have to, do not view items that are 'ending soon' first. This will prevent the first gate of impulsive buying just because the item is 'ending soon'. There maybe better deals out there for consideration, then just jumping into the purchase of that item. Also, stay away from 'bidding' for an item above its cost or what you are willing to pay for just because someone else is increasing the 'bid'.

2) Take your time
Make sure you take your time to look around before deciding. One way is to add items to 'wish list' or 'shopping bag', WITHOUT making the payment immediately. Continue shopping till you are sure that there is nothing else better than all those you have selected.

3) Know your size
Especially when it comes to shopping for clothes or shoes, know your sizes very well before your purchase. Just like in the malls, you never know whether it fits till you try them and they often look different from how it looks on the rack. Be sure that the item will fit you and ensure that the materials and fabric of the item stated is the same as how it looks. Items can look very different on photos due to lightings and color calibrating of the individual computers.

4) Count the cost
Look through all the items you have chosen to remove those you don't really think you need or like. Calculate the total expenses and check if the amount is within your shopping budget for the month.

5) Shipping cost discounts or free shipping
Make sure you check out the shipping cost before making payment. You need to know if you will be entitled to free shipping or other promotions available. However, DO NOT fall into the trick of purchasing like '$20' more just so that you can save '$10' off the shipping price! Buy only what you need and what you can afford! If shipping cost is too high, then you might want to reconsider if the item is worth the price you are paying altogether.

6) Inconvenient yourself
Lastly, just before you make the payment, make yourself walk a distance to take your credit card so that while walking the distance or getting away from the computer a little, can give you time to make sure that is really what you want!

7) Keep records
After making the payment, you should now keep a record of the things you have purchased, color and sizes, so that you can be sure that what you receive is what you have paid for. At the same time, this record will also serve as a reminder to the budget you have spent and have left for shopping the rest of the month!

This is just the beginning half of the month, so spend and shop wisely!