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Let the buyer beware: ebay swindle warning. Posted by vtsnaab [Email]  (#26)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from vtsnaab) on Tue, 9 Dec 2008 11:58:25
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Yes - I personally wrote this, it happened to me, this is NOT
some garbage found on the internet and merely forwarded.
(It is a sincere attempt to warn, and I do hope that it does not
break any rules here.)
mark
**********************
Ebay Swindle Warning.
This actually happened to me - this is NOT some 3rd or 100th party urban legend sent around to annoy people, and at a cost of $20 or more I don't consider it to be a funny joke either.
There is an ebay seller who has learned how to swindle folks out of money and to also completely beat the ebay feedback mechanism which exists to help buyers avoid bad sellers.
This guy has effectively killed off the one serious protection mechanism buyers have at all, and sadly other dishonest sellers may learn this 'secret' before the ebay 'authorities' learn of it and do anything about it in their usual unconcerned manner.
(If you've ever been mistreated by a seller you have likely found as I have that ebay/paypal is ALL about their assured profits, and their claims of 'buyer protection' are almost 100% hogwash - that has been my experience.)
I have to say that I do admire the seller's cleverness - but NOT his lack of honesty, so I am telling other folks in hopes that this info will somehow reach the ebay/paypal big shots someday so they can (hopefully...) patch up this 'leak'.
But until they take action (if they ever do) I think this warning needs to get around to as many ebay users as possible.
Here's the scam:
I found an item that looks appealing, functional, useful, and even environmentally friendly - so I bid a few different times until I 'won' one at the lowest possible price - about $20.
I paid, and most of a week later the item arrived - I looked it over, and saw that it looks like it really is junk after all - but I tried using it as described anyway.
Not too surprisingly, on the 2nd attempted use it disintegrated to useless bits.
I immediately contacted the seller - who was (than) VERY apologetic, nice, and assured me that this had NEVER happened before, and he promised me an immediate replacement which would be carefully inspected, personally...
Almost 2 weeks passes and nothing ever comes - I email the seller twice and get no reply - but the 3rd email brings an apologetic email citing a mere 'oversight' which he says that he'll correct immediately.
He soon emails me again, saying he's decided instead to just refund my money and will do it very soon.
Now - here's his secret, and the heart of the swindle:
Instead of sending a refund outright and being honest, he tricks the buyer into accepting a little-known ebay tool which allows the seller to 'cancel' a transaction - ONLY if the buyer accepts, however - and in so doing, the buyer is NOT guaranteed a refund, AND completely forfeits his/her right to submit ANY feedback at all about this swindle - so this dishonest seller's feedback stays perfectly clean and there is no warning of the swindle to other victims at $20+ a pop.
Neat, right ?
I detected the swindle when presented with the cancellation - so I refused it - and he immediately became threatening and very nasty, and he PROMISED me I'd NEVER get a refund because he can PROVE I missed his 7-day refund policy deadline - which in truth I did not miss at all.
My personal bottom line:
I intend to spread this info as far and as widely as I am able, and urge others to pass it along as well to help buyers to avoid the loss of any more $20 chunks to this swindler - so I lost $20 already - but I am going to spread the truth and be at peace with that loss instead of fighting over the $20 I already lost.
Some helpful facts for potential buyers:
This seller has multiple ebay IDs all offering this same item using an identical listing - it is a device which supposedly allows users of Keurig coffee brewers to rinse out and reuse K-cups and also to get a better cup of coffee out of the Keurig machines.
I will concede that it might be a wonderful idea IF it met these standards:
1 - IF it did not fall apart
2 - IF it actually performed as advertised
3 - it would have to be made from food-grade, and food-safe materials, which it strongly appears not to be.
The gadget is called 'Injected!' and is easily found on ebay by searching for the terms injected! and k-cups in a search of both titles and descriptions (a check box which the ebay user must find and check to get more results).
The seller seems to currently going by the user IDs of 'rhcapricorn', 'omgshops', and 'forever_chaw'; there may be others, but those are the only ones I've found right now and they have 6 identical listings between them.
The titles read:
'Reuse Keurig K-cup STRONG COFFEE for My K-cup also!
Not a simple Kap but a tech-advanced injecting aide!!!'
Here is the auction for one with a $25 buy-it-now->
Item number: 220326956385
At $20 - $25 a pop for sending out junk made from junk with some labor and postage as their only expense I can easily imagine that with constant re-listings and ebay not paying attention that these folks can make a tidy living.
Let the buyer beware !
Just a bit more info for anyone curious:
My workshop is in an office building which happens to have a Keurig brewer in the kitchen.
It is a very fast way to make coffee, but it has some flaws...
The biggest one in my opinion is that every single time it brews it generates too much waste which is plastic, metal foil and some paper.
The K-cup product also assures that the coffee grounds more or less permanently stay sealed inside these little tombs instead of breaking down as food wastes do in natural surroundings.
The above is what I object to, and why I got a 'My K-cup' which is specifically made for re-use and also why I was willing to try the gadget which lead to discovery of this swindle - it is hard to regulate the strength of coffee brewed this way.
Other than it's wastefulness and goofy coffee strengths though, I do think that the Keurig brewer is a very good idea because it is a quick, easy way to get really fresh coffee a cup at a time without having to make a pot - but I will likely not buy one for myself because my living space is just too small and if I make room for an appliance it'll be my breadmaker instead, which is in storage right now....
, Tue, 9 Dec 2008 11:58:25 <-- Viewing This Message
, Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:16:02, Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:02:54, Tue, 9 Dec 2008 12:39:53
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