Be Careful Out There - Getting Ripped Off Is a REAL Pain!
I have to say first of all that being ripped off online can happen to anyone and now I personally know the pleasure of it happening ..not once .. but twice. Oh, I have had refunds that I was not able to get from the seller but somehow that is a bit different from these last two instances that seemed somehow much more criminal.
The first time I was taken advantage of was this past July when I purchased an item from a seller on Ebay. I was not even thinking things would not go smoothly as I have made many Ebay purchases in the past and also sold a few items myself. I thought of Ebay as this friendly community of sellers and buyers helping the economy by using internet commerce. The funny thing is I have in the past couple of years bought items from all over the world - Asia, Britain, Africa, China, and the United States and every time things have gone quite smoothly. I have a 100% rating as an ebay buyer and seller - with no complaints. So, when I bought something from a seller in Ontario, Canada ( which happens to be the next province to where I live in Manitoba, Canada - your geography lesson for today ) why would I not ever receive the item ?
I sent personal messages about the shipping costs to the seller and they responded with the cost and how things would be shipped, but that was the last I ever heard. Unfortunately, for me, I had faith and gave the seller over a month to send the item only to learn later that if I wanted to take any action against the seller ..too much time had past and I lost my 50 bucks! O.K. Lesson learned.
As I proceeded along my Internet buying way another strange thing happened just last weekend. I received a message from Paypal that I had purchased an item and the seller had received $97 US dollars from me. But the strange thing was I had never heard of the seller or the website or the product and I know for sure that I did not make the purchase. This was almost like Identity Theft, in my mind, so I immediately contacted Paypal to find out what and how this happened. I changed my password and security questions and was told they would investigate the matter. Then I spent the next day checking my Paypal account every hour to see if anyone else was spending MY MONEY! This whole experience was scary. Then a really wonderful thing happened - Paypal froze my account .. So I could not spend money through Paypal either. Problem solved, except now I could not buy the things that I wanted to buy using Paypal either. The result was a pain in my wallet the first time and now this last time the pain was also where I carry my wallet !
Being an avid Internet Marketer I tend to be buying products to re-sell and software programs to make my marketing tasks easier almost everyday so when my Paypal account is frozen online buying becomes almost impossible and not a pleasure at all. I now understand the problems online sellers have when they sell too much, too quickly and then are rewarded by having their Paypal account frozen.
Buying online is easy, convenient and great for taking advantage of time sensitive offers. But this marvel of modern technology can also have drawbacks - so as the Sargent on Hill Street Blues used to say to the police everyday .. '' be careful out there!''
The truth is not everyone online is as nice and honest a person as you are so I am now telling everyone to be careful, especially when buying or selling online .. because you are putting yourself out there!
The first time I was taken advantage of was this past July when I purchased an item from a seller on Ebay. I was not even thinking things would not go smoothly as I have made many Ebay purchases in the past and also sold a few items myself. I thought of Ebay as this friendly community of sellers and buyers helping the economy by using internet commerce. The funny thing is I have in the past couple of years bought items from all over the world - Asia, Britain, Africa, China, and the United States and every time things have gone quite smoothly. I have a 100% rating as an ebay buyer and seller - with no complaints. So, when I bought something from a seller in Ontario, Canada ( which happens to be the next province to where I live in Manitoba, Canada - your geography lesson for today ) why would I not ever receive the item ?
I sent personal messages about the shipping costs to the seller and they responded with the cost and how things would be shipped, but that was the last I ever heard. Unfortunately, for me, I had faith and gave the seller over a month to send the item only to learn later that if I wanted to take any action against the seller ..too much time had past and I lost my 50 bucks! O.K. Lesson learned.
As I proceeded along my Internet buying way another strange thing happened just last weekend. I received a message from Paypal that I had purchased an item and the seller had received $97 US dollars from me. But the strange thing was I had never heard of the seller or the website or the product and I know for sure that I did not make the purchase. This was almost like Identity Theft, in my mind, so I immediately contacted Paypal to find out what and how this happened. I changed my password and security questions and was told they would investigate the matter. Then I spent the next day checking my Paypal account every hour to see if anyone else was spending MY MONEY! This whole experience was scary. Then a really wonderful thing happened - Paypal froze my account .. So I could not spend money through Paypal either. Problem solved, except now I could not buy the things that I wanted to buy using Paypal either. The result was a pain in my wallet the first time and now this last time the pain was also where I carry my wallet !
Being an avid Internet Marketer I tend to be buying products to re-sell and software programs to make my marketing tasks easier almost everyday so when my Paypal account is frozen online buying becomes almost impossible and not a pleasure at all. I now understand the problems online sellers have when they sell too much, too quickly and then are rewarded by having their Paypal account frozen.
Buying online is easy, convenient and great for taking advantage of time sensitive offers. But this marvel of modern technology can also have drawbacks - so as the Sargent on Hill Street Blues used to say to the police everyday .. '' be careful out there!''
The truth is not everyone online is as nice and honest a person as you are so I am now telling everyone to be careful, especially when buying or selling online .. because you are putting yourself out there!
posted by BigHarryBlog .. and More @ 7:47 PM
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