Beware of this seller

sarahg1969

soolin wrote: »

3 photos have now been sold

Which is evidence that it's misleading. Because no rational person would pay £200 for a photo of an iPad, if they knew that's what was up for auction.

Why would the seller be selling these, if not to mislead? They aren't items of value, and they are not something that people would want to buy. There is no reason for selling them other than to scam people.

soolin

sarahg1969 wrote: »

Which is evidence that it's misleading. Because no rational person would pay £200 for a photo of an iPad, if they knew that's what was up for auction.

Why would the seller be selling these, if not to mislead? They aren't items of value, and they are not something that people would want to buy. There is no reason for selling them (and for listing them in the way that he has - particularly in the wrong section) other than to scam people.

People would know what they are buying though if they actually looked at the auction description and the listing category. However I am sure ebay will remove them if enough people report them- ebay don't remove things otherwise . As per above I believe the inducement of the BIN price to be clear proof that this is designed to mislead.

However, I still believe there is a counter argument- these are clearly being sold in the photo category, description says you are buying a photo and title says photo- yet people still buy them. I do truly believe that some people seriously need to log out of ebay and close their accounts.

freddysmith

In the buyers mind I'm sure they are not buying a photo, but a cheap Ipad/Mac
If anyone starts giving them positive feedback, I'm getting my camera out.
I've reported the auctions and Ebay have done nothing.

halibut2209

Don't get me wrong. I have no doubt that it's a scam. But that video link shows that as long as the description is accurate etc, then eBay won't do anything.

In THIS case, they state it's a photo, and it's in the correct category for a photo. So it's a scam, but not misleading. It's relying on people being stupid, it's not trying to trick people. A very subtle distinction.

soolin

I agree, whilst I think the seller is still a scum bag he has been quite clever in that he has listed this in the photo section. There is nothing inherently wrong in selling photos of an Ipad to a gullible buyer.

It needs volume reporting using several criteria to get removed- usually of course ti is easy to get them removed as they are greedy and list them as Ipads (or whatever) so you can get them as being in the wrong category.

soolin

Another discussion point to ponder is the business V private seller one.

If this person was correctly registered as a business (either selling photos or actual items) buyers would have 100% protection as they could return their £150 photo under the Distance selling regs with no quiblle at all. Whereas from a private seller they would have to argue it was significantly not as described- and they stand a chance of losing that as this is a photo with £2 shipping clearly stated.

So when we have our discussions on here where people think it is a bit harsh that some of us go on about reporting business sellers pretending to be private sellers- maybe this shows why it is so important? It also shows that business sellers should be th eonly people selling anything of value, as that is the only way a buyer can be assured they won't fall for a scam like this and have to pay the consequences.

halibut2209

eBay could just ban the selling of boxes and photos.

soolin

halibut2209 wrote: »

eBay could just ban the selling of boxes and photos.

All boxes, all photos? I'm sure there are a number of professional photographers who would be very unhappy to find they cannot legitimately sell their work on ebay.

halibut2209

What can I say? Sometimes you CAN smash a nut with a sledgehammer

Jen_Jen1985

Item 230712003616

Cheeky enough to sell a photo of a license plate (although listing is very clear on this) but also wants the buyer to collect! That's just asking for trouble.