Buyer Beware—Are You Really Getting a Good Deal?

The following is a guest post from the author of Power Spending: Getting More For Less (Volume 1).

A lot of us have ventured online to do some shopping. Naturally, we want to know that the site we are shopping on is safe. That explains why I shop at Amazon. I trust that the products are good, the service is reliable and my personal information will be kept safe.

When you go to the Amazon website you do have the option of buying directly from Amazon or you can buy from a seller that has products listed on the site. Generally, the sellers are ranked by price— lowest to highest for each item. Quite often the price is lower than Amazon’s. The items are listed as new or used (including the condition of the item) and there is a seller rating based on previous buyers’ feedback. You take all these factors into consideration before you make your buying selection.

If you purchase from a seller you will pay Amazon but the seller ships the item directly to you. Amazon acts as a consignment store for these sellers. You feel confident that you are buying on a safe site, you have recourse through Amazon if there is a problem and you have some input on the buyer’s rating (up to 5 stars) as you can leave feedback on the item you purchased and the service that you received. However, when you buy from these sellers are you really getting a good deal?

Let me explain. My oldest son is a collector—mainly CDs. He has a never ending list of music that he wants to buy and he’s always on the lookout for a deal. He’s also very particular about the condition of anything he buys. He carefully examines any merchandise he receives to make sure that it is in the advertised condition he was promised. To tell you the truth, the rest of the family think he is a little obsessive.

Anyway, last week he ordered and received a DVD in the mail from an Amazon seller. Upon close scrutiny, he discovered that it was a fake—a very convincing copy of the actual product. He didn’t even have to open the plastic wrap and of course is not going to keep it. He contacted Amazon. He was told to contact the seller. He did but there was no response, so back to Amazon. He’ll get his money back but it’s a very frustrating and time consuming process.

This is not an isolated case. Actually, it’s happened to our family before—and looking at some of the feedback on the website there have been other cases of the same thing. Here are some comments left as feedback for just one of the sellers on Amazon (each paragraph is a separate comment):

Disc#1 Last 5 mins.(or so) of episode freezes and we don't see the
ending. Disc#2 Only 1st episode on disc is viewable, last three
episodes are unviewable!

WARNING! DO NOT USE THIS SELLER. My product was an obvious BOOTLEG. I
paid good money, and was SCREWED by this seller. Do NOT under any
circumstances BUY ANYTHING from ----. They will not even
reply to your email when you COMPLAIN to them about the USELESS
garbage that they have shipped to you. WARNING! DO NOT USE THIS
SELLER.

COUNTERFEIT! A very good counterfeit but a counterfeit nonetheless.
The real House Season 5 DVD set is the same as the other seasons, slim
plastic DVD cases inside a sleeve box. This seller sent me a
three-part fold up case with a cardboard back using the images from
the real thing. Return service was fine, got my money back, but avoid
this seller at all costs. Commercial piracy really hurts.

Arrived fairly quickly, seems to be in good condition...however the
disc freezes at one point in the movie every time I play it. Otherwise,
satisfactory."

I am very disappointed. I bought a DVD from them for $49 and it turned
out to be a copied version and not the original. I even found the DVD
cover image on Google with the exact same code bar. I will not
purchase from them again.

Beware of seller! They sold me a counterfeit, albeit a very good one. I
tried contacting them and they haven't replied. I should have read
their customer feedback before I ordered the item because this is not
the first time they have sold another customer a counterfeit DVD.

Despite these comments that reveal that the seller is dealing in fake merchandise, he still has a rating of 91%.

Whose fault is it that sellers are getting away with selling illegal copies of CDs and DVDs on Amazon? Certainly, if Amazon was aware that a seller was selling illegal copyrighted items they would be at fault. We trust them and expect that they are providing trustworthy sellers on their site. However, if we, the buyers, don’t let Amazon know about these sellers then we are to blame. Amazon is counting on us to reflect the quality of the product and service by our feedback.

So what is the problem? Are we just so worried about getting a good price that we are willing to accept fake and illegal products? Are we just oblivious to the fact that the merchandise is fake? Maybe we just can’t be bothered.

I say that we make Amazon and other online sites a safer place to shop. Let’s protect ourselves and others from these fraudulent products. It takes a little effort and some time but we can do it! Here are some suggestions:

1) You know what they say…if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. You are looking for the best price but if the asking price is really out of line with other products of similar quality, this may be a warning sign that the item is fake.

2) Read the feedback before placing an order. You may decide that it’s not worth the risk.

3) It’s important to check the item over when you receive it—before you leave your feedback.
4) Once you examine the item if it looks suspicious email the seller. If the seller offers to refund your money and tells you to keep your purchase, there’s a good chance your suspicions are correct and the item is a fake. The seller doesn’t want you to make a stink about it. It would be tempting to just let it go but this only keeps the criminals in business. 

5) Report the crime to Amazon and warn other people by giving negative feedback.

6) When you find good, reliable and honest sellers then support them with future purchases—even if their prices aren’t the lowest.

Remember—only you can prevent crime! Do your part to make sure that you and others really are getting a good deal.

Comments

[Eric]

I received an obviously pirated DVD from a foreign ebay seller once. Though disappointed, I didn't act on it since I felt it would have taken a lot of time with no effect.
However, I now purchase locally from a corner store person whom I know is honest.

[jim]

This is not normal, its the exception. The vast majority of sellers are legit people selling legit product. But there are bad apples out there. But lets not assume anyone selling on Amazon or Ebay is a crook. I pulled up one DVD I bought recently on Amazon and looked at the first 10 sellers and I didn't see any feedback about any forgeries.

If a seller has lots of negative feedback then you should avoid them.

Honestly sometimes the buyer is wrong. Sell 100 items online and you'll run into a crackpot who gives you negative feedback for no reason. Feedback like : "the disc freezes at one point in the movie every time I play it." doesn't really mean "forgery". DVDs can easily be defective.

Theres always some risk of getting fake merchandise. Its higher risk when youre buying on the Intenernet but this kind of thing could happen at local merchants too. My first experience with fakes was at a flea market.

[StL Pastor]

Also, 91% is a really bad level of feedback-anything under 98% is pretty low. Would you buy from a store where 1 out of 10 customers were dissatisfied?

[Peter]

I bought a relatively rare DVD of an old movie on eBay recently for my wife, only to find it was a pirated forgery. I gave negative feedback, but was one of the first to do so. Buyer beware I guess when buying online, especially from sellers with little feedback - or more than 2-3% negative feedback.

[billyjobob]

I've bought through Amazon before also. I've never had any problems. For CDs and DVDs though... I love cduniverse.com. Price's are good and its the real deal. Only new stuff though .. so may cost more than some Amazon listings.

[jim]

"91% is a really bad level of feedback-anything under 98% is pretty low"

I think it depends on the volume of sales. Most of the sellers on Amazon seem to have 1000's of sales. For them I think anything under 98% is probably bad. But for some individuals they may only have 10-50 sales and with lower volume a rating closer to 95% may not be that bad. I'd look closer at the actual feedback in that case. Sometimes you'll see a unreasonable negative comment is why they have the less than perfect score.

[Funny about Money]

?? I don't think you're a "crackpot" when you point out that a disk freezes a fourth of the way through the content, leaving you unable to view three out of four episodes that you paid for. Nor does Carolyn say that this person's complaint suggested the disk in question was a forgery.

If 91% of customers returned positive reviews, then nine out of ten customers liked the product or service. You can't please all the people all the time. On the other hand, I tend to be suspicious of positive online reviews -- it's too easy to have the employees or your all your cousins, nieces, and nephews send in glowing accolades. I'm sure some businesses hire people to go around the Web writing positive reviews.

I look at the negative reviews first. Specific details like "sent me a three-part fold-up case with a cardboard back using the images from the real thing" and "even found the DVD cover image on Google with the exact same code bar" will guarantee that I don't order the product, no matter how great the four- and five-star reviews make it sound.