What do you do to prevent buying a fake gamer on ebay?

[kneerat]

Hey guys,
I am doing a column for Tuff Stuff and wanted to get some of your opinions.

The focus of the article is ways to prevent getting scammed when buying game-worn jerseys on ebay.

Do any of you guys do anything in particular? Do you make sure the seller will refund your money if MEARS turns it down?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

chris

[skipcareyisfat]

Know who you're buying from is one thing. But copious amounts of research I'd say comes first (especially if there's a Lampson COA with it). Even the good guys aren't immune to occasionally and unknowingly making mistakes in what they're selling. See past Steiner discussions for more on that. Buying directly from teams isn't a slam dunk either all the time. Learning as much as you can about your area(s) of interest is, in most cases, worth more than any COA. I like MEARS, but I don't need them or anyone else to tell me that my stuff's good. I'd prefer to do that leg work myself.

[Eric]

Research of course comes first.

But here's something else. Very often when I buy game used pieces on and off ebay, I will ask the buyer if they will give me a certain window (say 5 days or a week) to look at the jersey and have a chance to return it for a refund.

It's hard to judge things by photos, and if the sellers are confident in their items, they are very often willing to do it.

If the seller refuses to do that, it's not a necessarily reflection on the item. It's just that when taking the leap buying an expensive item that you can't touch or see in person, it's nice to have that cushion.

Eric

[ham1963]

Here is what I do when buying a jersey from E-Bay and by no means is it 100% safe.
1. Check the sellers feedback. This tellls something about the sellers reputation.
2. How long has the seller been online and how many jerseys has this person sold.
3 Does the seller have a refund policy. This tells me does this seller stand behind what he/she sells.
4.Dop my reseach

Just my thoughts what are yous
John

[kneerat]

Thanks for the your thoughts... if you pay via Paypal and then the jersey turns out to be bad, can't you dispute the transaction and get a refund?

[staindsox]

Paypal is not a complete safeguard, but is far safer than cash, check, money order.

One problem is that not everyone takes Paypal. They almost always take the side of the buyer, which is why some sellers are reluctant to use Paypal. Secondly, they are expensive. If you sell an item for a few thousand dollars, you would lose a couple hundred from Paypal alone. It's understandable why sellers may not use Paypal.

If you pay with a credit card, you can get the refund. I am not sure if it is the same from your checking account or not. In theory you can have it withdrawn from the seller's account, but if they have nothing in their account, I don't know how Paypal handles it.

Most importantly, Paypal only covers a limit. I believe it is $1500? Anything over the limit is not covered.

Hope this helps.

Chris

[XPFO]

Paypal will only recoup you money though if the seller has money in their account...believe me, I found out the hard way.

[Canseco44]

When people say check feedback, I don't just see what percentage they have in feedback. I will go and read the actual feedback left by people. I find lots of times a person will go ahead and leave good feedback even when they have had a problem with the person. They will just leave the good feedback and write what they did wrong out beside it. So they still have 100% feedback but have had problems in the past. Just my opinion, I may be the only one who has seen this. Anyone else seen what I'm talking about?

[Swoboda4]

Only bid on items from established sellers. Sellers with a track record. That is the only safeguard. But if you see an item that has hallmarks that the seller doesn't describe.the one in a thousand,original that falls into the hands of a novice seller,that's the fun of E-bay.

[34swtns]

Paypal's "investigative team" probably only spends a few minutes at the most investigating any "item significantly not as described" claim. I found that out the hard way. You can't send them any photographic evidence to back your claim against a seller because they won't accept e-mails with attachments or even links to photos. Consequently, I phoned them several times during the course of their 45-day "investigation" to make sure they had all the necessary details of my claim. They still found in favor of the seller, stating that the item wasn't "significantly different from the description". Indeed, it was. It was sold as a game worn jersey but it turned out to be a pieced-together authentic replica that I'm now stuck with. Suffice to say, Paypal is nearly worthless when it comes to investigating an item's authenticity.