How to avoid being ripped off when buying online
However, an online buyer's recent experience on ebay.com, the global online auction site, has left her R2000 short with no sign of the ordered parcel.
This buyer made the classic novice mistake of buying something too expensive and heavy for international postage. Seven months later, she has concluded that she won't see her money again.
This buyer ordered a collector's item sword as a gift and was promised delivery in 30 days. The month came and went and the seller, who had been rated very positively by other buyers, assured her that the sword, coming from the United States, was on its way.
Another month later, the seller let her know that the sword had been lost in Spain and that he had sent another one. He provided postage reference numbers but the South African Postal Services, which were extremely helpful, told her that neither of these swords had ever arrived in South Africa.
The buyer never filed a dispute with eBay after 60 days of non- receipt as she should have done. As a result the company refused to cover the cost of her loss, but it did send her very polite advice on a few occasions.
The buyer had used paypal.com to pay for the transaction, which is a secure payment site that verifies the buyer's credit card details and conducts the financial transaction without the seller ever coming into contact with the buyer's credit card details. Most sellers insist on it.
If the buyer had filed a dispute with Paypal 45 days after making the payment, Paypal would most likely have covered her financial loss. She didn't realise she had to do this and after 45 days, she was still expecting the sword to arrive.
She could still have filed a dispute with eBay after 60 days but she chose to trust the seller and didn't keep a close eye on the number of days that had lapsed since placing the order.
eBay subsequently suggested that she contact the United States seller personally, which she did again, after having been in regular contact with him since the start.
He told her that his niece's fiance had been killed in the Virginia shooting and that's why she hadn't heard from him. Taking pity on him, she decided to wait it out, and was promised again that the sword was on its way.
When nothing happened for another two weeks, she tried to contact him again but couldn't get hold of him for more than a month. When she did hear from him, he told her his aunt was sick and he had spent all his money on helping her.
The buyer lost her patience but the seller promised to reimburse her after a week if she hadn't yet received her sword.
After a week she asked him for her money back but he told her he had subsequently sent a third sword to Africa with a missionary called Dieter and that if she just supplied her address, Dieter would deliver the sword personally.
Having known for years that it is never a good idea to give a complete stranger her home address, she refused and became rude, demanding her money back.
She didn't hear from the seller for another month and then he replied saying he would not only pay her back but also send her yet another sword. She is still waiting.
She would have saved herself a lot of angst if she had simply opened the dispute on Paypal.
Paypal gives the seller and buyer time to resolve the dispute. If they don't, then the company would possibly still have covered her loss so it is worth filing a dispute just in case.
If the listing showed the Paypal shield logo under "Buy safely", she may have been eligible for up to R7295 under Papal Buyer Protection. If not, she may still have been able to receive up to R1532 reimbursement via Paypal under the eBay Standard Purchase Protection Programme.
Nevertheless it was too late for this so, eBay informed her that she could contact the police in her area and in the seller's area and file a case of theft. She has done this but it hasn't led to anything.
This case study proves how easily things can go wrong when trading with strangers and relying on foreign postal services, although in this instance, the South African Postal Services was not to blame.
It seems it is best to entrust the large and expensive purchases to those traders residing in the country as delivery is easier and the seller is more readily available.
If you do make an online purchase and receive poor treatment, you can file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Centre, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Centre.
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