Scams Against Buyers
Part 1:
Intro - Scams against Buyers
Part 2: The Empty Box Shipping
Scam
Part 3: The "Expensive
Phone Book Scam" or "Reach Out & Rob Someone"
Part 4: Shill Bidding
Part 5:
Wrong Descriptions: The Old Bait and
Switch routine
Part 6: Bid Siphoning
Part 7:
The
Overpriced Shipping Scam
Wrong
Descriptions: The old bait and switch routine
You've heard of bait and switch
before: you see a great price on a car in a newspaper or TV ad, you go down to
the dealership, and whaddaya know? They just sold their last model to
another customer 10 minutes before you got there. But hey, they DO have
this slightly different car, at a slightly higher price...
The preceding example is common in
the auto industry- unfortunately, the online auction world is not safe from this
practice either, but it's worse- it happens after you've already paid for the
item, and you only discover it after receiving your package in the mail.
All too often, sellers will use
one picture of a perfect item, and the one you get is banged up or different in
some way. This is a blatant example of a dealer acting in bad faith-
auction pictures should always match the actual item for sale, unless clearly
stated in the description right next to the photo. For instance, some
dealers who sell hundreds of multiples of the same item might show a
picture as an example of what the buyer should expect to receive- this practice
is legitimate as long as they mention this to the buyer in the auction.
After all, no one is going to take a brand new DVD player out of the box and run
each auction individually.
But in some cases, a seller may
use image enhancing techniques
to unrealistically touch up the item's photo and hide defects. If you
suspect a seller of this, report them to the auction house and return the item.
If your vase has several obvious cracks and stains, and they don't appear in the
auction photo, someone has more than likely been taken for a ride.
Another version of the auction
bait and switch is when the item is inaccurately described. Sometimes the
condition of an antique or collectible is exaggerated by a seller, who either
does not know how to grade it or worse: the seller intentionally overstates the
item's condition.
Let's look at a few examples:
Suppose a seller describes an old comic book as Mint, and you receive it in Very
Good. In this case, a mint comic is 10.0 and the 'VG' comic is only a 4.0
(according to the Overstreet Comic Grading scale). This means it's only
worth 40% or less of the mint version, and the buying demand is far different
for a VG copy than a mint copy, regardless of age. New comics in 'very
good' condition are actually almost worthless, except as a 'reading copy'.
In the above situation, the comic
seller is probably new, and doesn't understand that professional comic buyers
have a very strict grading system and a whole lingo unto themselves. Their
item will probably be returned, and they may have some explaining to do to avoid
negative feedback.
Now suppose an auction description
advertises that they have a real, actual Stradivarius violin. Of course,
everyone thinks they may have found a Stradivarius in their grandmother's attic,
but there are millions of copies and even copies of copies floating around, and
only a handful of actual authentic instruments exist out there.
In the preceding examples, to
avoid being burned, an auction buyer should look for clues in the auction
description that would indicate the seller is a rookie in that collecting area-
anyone who knows comics understands that the term 'mint' is rarely if ever used.
Most comics right off the shelf wouldn't even rate a 'near mint' but would
actually be several grades down. Anyone who knows anything about musical
instruments, knows the actual odds of finding a 'Strad' are astronomically low,
especially when it has a label in the violin identifying it as such- many older
violin labels are fakes.
A new seller should not be
intimidated by all this, and should still attempt to describe the item, using
simple and clear language. Expert buyers are much more likely to bid on an
item if it is accurately and fully described by a seller, even if that seller is
using an untrained eye. However, a new seller should only use specific
terms like 'very fine' or 'C-2' etc, if they know exactly what these terms mean-
otherwise the bidder may feel they've been misled when they receive the goods.
Most instances of inaccurate
auction descriptions are due to seller error, and not actual fraudulent intent.
For both buyers and sellers, It helps to fully understand the collecting area in
which an item will be sold. Sellers should educate themselves to the terms
and grading methods of that particular collectible, and buyers should be equally
educated before bidding. If a seller does not know how to grade an item,
they should mention this to the buyer in the description, rather than try to
pass themselves off as experts.
Back to Auction Fraud Part 4:
Shill Bidding
Read Auction Fraud Part 6:
Auction Fraud: Bid Siphoning
