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Amazon let a fraudster keep my Sony A74 IV and refunded him

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Re: Amazon let a fraudster keep my Sony A74 IV and refunded him

#221
post #8
post #3

I can't imagine buying or selling most high-value items on Amazon: the buying side has already been covered in various places ( https://seliger.com/2017/01/09/tools-continued-careful-buy-a... ). I've sold cameras and lenses on Craigslist, which can have its own challenges, but never one as expensive as an A7R IV.

At least on Craigslist you can restrict the sales to meatspace. Asking to meet on the steps of a police station does a great job of filtering out scammers.

I haven't listed on CL in a while and was surprised they started charging flat rates for even listing small gigs. ( ~ $10 )

Are those local-selling apps any better in quality of transactions? Letgo, Offerup etc.?

Re: Amazon let a fraudster keep my Sony A74 IV and refunded him

#222

This is such a basic issue that I don't understand why USPS or some other shipper w/ bricks-n-mortar haven't stepped up to offer some sort of package shipping certification. If I was the seller it could work as simply as me bringing the item to a shipper who would take their own photos and weigh the items being packaged up as well as some check that the item is as being described to the recipient. In turn the shipper…

At least for camera equipment, this does exist. You can take your camera to B&H's used department, and they will buy it from you. You can also go to B&H's used department and buy a used camera from them. The advantage of this over Amazon is that as a seller, you know B&H isn't going to screw you over in any way, and if they do, you know where to serve your lawsuit. A trusted business with a physical location is the c…

> Of course, people like money, so Amazon is rolling in it while most people don't even know that they can sell their camera to B&H.

But people don't like risk, either. To choose one of very many examples: consumers will often pay more for "safe" brands they're sure will be good than take a risk on something new that's significantly cheaper.

Obviously, Amazon is doing better than B&H, but there's other explanations for that, and it's not like B&H is doing poorly.

Re: Amazon let a fraudster keep my Sony A74 IV and refunded him

#223
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keh ( https://www.keh.com/ ) is sort of like this, except that they function more like a second-hand shop--you sell them your gear, and they hold inventory that other people can buy, meaning you never actually interact with the eventual buyer. Because of this though, I imagine they take a larger cut than Reverb does (and certainly more than eBay). As a buyer I've had zero problems with Keh the couple of times I've us…

I've gotten quotes through a few of these sites in the past, and I was getting at best 50-70% of the value I would have gotten by selling in person through CL. I imagine it's in part because you ship it over to them, they have to inspect the items etc. I think those services can be useful for buyers, but sellers who want to get the most for their gear will avoid them. Like you said, something like Reverb could compet…

Yeah its a good concept and I would love an easy, secure way to sell items however they are quoting $965 USD for my Nikon Z6 which is out-of box new and retails for $1,996.95 USD. That's pretty hard to swallow. For that I'll put in the time to sell it locally, meet and try in person, cash only.

Re: Amazon let a fraudster keep my Sony A74 IV and refunded him

#224
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I sold a mint-in-box Sony a7R 4

RTA > "To this day, I have no idea what he claimed was “missing” from the package. I even included all the original plastic wrap!" He opened a factory box and unwrapped the product. How else would he photograph all the parts with the kit?

But "it was pre-opened" and "parts are missing" are not the same complaint, so there's still a bigger problem here.

Re: Amazon let a fraudster keep my Sony A74 IV and refunded him

#225
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? All they have from Amazon is a last initial.

And an address. That's probably enough. https://www.whitepages.com/reverse-address

Could just be a reshipper (or whatever they're called) address which then goes to the actual address out of the country?

Re: Amazon let a fraudster keep my Sony A74 IV and refunded him

#226
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's have some perspective on what "outright evil" really is. You didn't get hurt by this.

evil, adj.: morally bad, cruel, or very unpleasant

It only reaches 'evil' when you hit a certain threshold.

Google (ha) has a better definition: profoundly immoral and wicked

Re: Amazon let a fraudster keep my Sony A74 IV and refunded him

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now employees of these stores have to consent to being recorded on video and their videos shared with strangers?

You think retail employers aren't using security cameras already?

Yes, they are. The footage isn’t being shared with strangers as part of their job, however.

Re: Amazon let a fraudster keep my Sony A74 IV and refunded him

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am copy pasting my comment from the same thread here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22388197 The UPS or something can take a photo of the product or item they received. They are not verifying what's inside. They are just verifying the weight, a photo from few angles, available only in case of dispute. Seller can also do that, but a third party doing it with no horse in the race can act like a notary. We are…

Okay. Who is going to pay for this service? I'm not going to pay for it as a buyer. If I file a claim on eBay or Amazon, they'll almost always side with me.

Sellers already pay for insurance/signature/etc. when shipping high value items, this would be just an additional form of insurance that if a seller was going to use they'd roll the cost into the price of the item or shipping fee.

Re: Amazon let a fraudster keep my Sony A74 IV and refunded him

#229

This is such a basic issue that I don't understand why USPS or some other shipper w/ bricks-n-mortar haven't stepped up to offer some sort of package shipping certification. If I was the seller it could work as simply as me bringing the item to a shipper who would take their own photos and weigh the items being packaged up as well as some check that the item is as being described to the recipient. In turn the shipper…

That's called the eskrow process. It's highly complicated, expensive and it requires the 3rd party is verifiable trustworthy because they effectively have all the power.

Re: Amazon let a fraudster keep my Sony A74 IV and refunded him

#230

I had the same exact experience the last time I sold on ebay, in 2017. I sold an $800 item. One day before the claim window closed, the buyer filed a claim saying it had never arrived and claiming they emailed me several times and I never responded. I submitted proof of delivery from UPS and pointed out the simple fact that I had received no messages from the buyer through ebay messaging. Ebay gave them a full refund…

Stories like this are why I've never bought or sold anything on Ebay. They just seem like a genuinely shitty experience and I'd rather shell out extra cash to buy new or meet someone off craigslist as a bank.

Depends on what's being purchased.

Used hardware for Forensics use and Enterprise grade hardware (PCIe cards) have been pretty good to me.

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