ON-LINE PURCHASES ~ Buyer be ware....

E-COMMERCE ADS & PURCHASES ~ The Do’s & Don’ts ~ Facebook, EBAY, Amazon, PayPal and ???…. (Please note that Google’s BlogSpot, the provider we use to publish this monthly column, has changed the allowable format style. So, if the column’s format looks a bit strange it’s due to Google and BlogSpot, not THE GADGETEER.) BOB SKIDMORE CORRESPONDENT © 2022 BOB SKIDMORE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Shopping on line can be fun, easy and many times rewarding in terms of the things you find available and perhaps didn’t even know existed. The downfall is how honest is the description, the merchant and how easy is it to return the item and obtain a full refund. Sound familiar? Let me give you some personal experiences and how they were, or better yet, not easily resolved. My first advise is to stay away from social media sites such as Facebook unless the ad is posted by a reputable and well-known source. This can still be a problem with sites like Amazon as experienced by a buyer who thought he was buying from a third-party Amazon merchant. The transaction never appeared later as an Amazon transaction and thus Amazon refused to make good on the payment. This seller redirected the buyer to their site and wanted payment via Amazon gift cards. Legitimate sellers do not insist on payment via gift cards of any sort. Be especially wary if a third-party Amazon seller asks you to contact them via email, or text prior to making the purchase. It’s probably a ploy to shift the sale off the Amazon website and then leaving you with no legitimate recourse if there is an issue. My experience with EBAY has been flawless as most vendors are domestic and may even be dealers. The Facebook questionable ads usually represent Chinese merchants and are accompanied by very well produced videos to lure you in. Quite often these videos aren’t even the actual item they claim to sell, but rather a video that was hacked from another site and placed in their ad. They do not state the county of origin. I have responded to such ads only to receive totally incorrect merchandise worth much less than the item I thought I purchased. In my first experience there was no contact, or return shipping information provided. In another, a multi-unit commercial building site, with a California shipping address was shown on the shipping label. It listed only a unit number and not the merchant’s name. It too was from a Chinese source. Contacting the first one was impossible since the shipping information was lacking. In the second scenario my letters remain unanswered to this date. So, what’s your recourse? Most online sales other than Amazon only use PayPal as a form of payment. PayPal typically uses third party payment sources that you have previously set up with them such as a checking account, credit, or debit card. That being the case you must deal with PayPal directly (402.935.7733). In this day of Covid most reps that work for PayPal work from home, a method that could remain long after Covid resinds. Their resources are somewhat limited. You’ll need to complete paperwork and pay the return shipping charges so you have a receipt to prove it was returned. The USPS shipping charges quite often will be much more than the item you’re returning is worth. PayPal will credit you up to $30 per shipment for such charges upon receipt of proper documentation after the item was returned. This credit could be separate from a credit they might issue for the actual purchase price you paid for the item. Such a credit is given only after PayPal has communicated with the merchant. This delay can be weeks since PayPal unfortunately is inundated by these issues. Yes, the finality of this after everything is said and done could result in the merchant being dropped as a PayPal vendor. This can take months based on communications with the vendor and the shear volume of such incidents at PayPal. PayPal does want satisfied clients, but they have to protect their own interests in the process. (PayPal: I’m not degrading PayPal as a good payment source. What I like about dealing with them is that it provides another layer to protect your money as well as financial information, and help you with situations as discussed above. Just be aware that resolution of purchasing issues can be a lengthy and time-consuming process.) Buyer be ware!!! Graphic credits: Freerange Stock Bob Skidmore is a freelance writer, who may be contacted at bob.thegadgeteer.skidmore@gmail.com, or followed at twitter.com/bskidmore for the latest gadget industry news. He does not represent, or endorse any of the products he reviews and his opinions are solely his points of view and not those of the manufacturer, or any legal resource. The manufacturer generally supplies products and press releases at no cost for the articles and no other compensation is received. THE GADGETEER is highly selective as to products he feels worthy of review so as not to waste the reader’s time, thus the reason for many superior ratings. ## Check out Bob’s Twitter page for up to the minute gadget news. Available at: https://twitter.com/bskidmore