Is This Even Possible !?

[Chrissy]

The seller is in the USA! But they will not ship to Australia.

Bah-humbug.

Glenn.

 

Not Canada, either!

Boo-hoo!

Ah yes, I just checked. You're right they don't ship to Australia. On the other hand, they probably aren't in the US. They just say they are.

[Karmabim]

I've just read through these posts with some disappointment, I bought a Sailor 1911 GT 14K Gold Music Nib Pen from Amazon yesterday. I must admit I thought it too good to be true but like others I reckoned it worth a try, expecting maybe a cheap Chinese copy.

I compared the seller and low and behold it's the same one, Darlene Eva, listed as 'Just Launched'.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01IQEXT7C/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=

 

Well, it was nice while it lasted. Back on with the searches.

I checked some of the other items this seller has to offer on Amazon, I looked at some of the pens and other items which had some feedback. The general feeling I got was that the items were probably not the quality that was expected. Yet on some everything seemed OK, maybe some customers are less discerning? Remarkably everything is the same price £9.99, even items that don't seem worth that much.

The problem with Amazon listings, as I have found before, is that they seem to mix up the same products from different vendors and different products from the same vendor. This means you can't always be sure the review you are reading is relevant to the product.

 

In the end I decided to leave the purchase alone and see what turns up, if nothing then I hope Amazon will refund.

Edited July 22, 2017 by Karmabim

[Flounder]

Amazon are supposed to have algorithms that prevent this kind of obvious price discrepancy scam, I'm surprised pricing hovering around 10% of market rate wasn't detected in a nanosecond.

[RocketRyan]

I will wait and see what comes.

I almost bought a pen I already have because it was £9.99. I stopped myself but it was close. Fyi it was the delta federico in tortoise. A truly beautiful pen in the flesh.

[Chrissy]

Amazon are supposed to have algorithms that prevent this kind of obvious price discrepancy scam, I'm surprised pricing hovering around 10% of market rate wasn't detected in a nanosecond.

 

I didn't know that they had an algorithms that prevented this kind of obvious price discrepancy scam

[Flounder]

 

I didn't know that they had an algorithms that prevented this kind of obvious price discrepancy scam

 

Pretty sure I read something somewhere (very helpful eh?), I thought it was supposed to be all automatic.

 

If anyone's actually got their nose pressed up against the window waiting for the delivery van, Forbes has a couple of good articles on the nature of the beast, here's one:

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/01/02/amazon-scams-on-the-rise-in-2017-as-fraudulent-sellers-run-amok-and-profit-big/#c23529b3ea6d

[Chrissy]

 

Pretty sure I read something somewhere (very helpful eh?), I thought it was supposed to be all automatic.

 

If anyone's actually got their nose pressed up against the window waiting for the delivery van, Forbes has a couple of good articles on the nature of the beast, here's one:

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/01/02/amazon-scams-on-the-rise-in-2017-as-fraudulent-sellers-run-amok-and-profit-big/#c23529b3ea6d

 

Wow. So that's how it works! I wondered how these scammer sellers ever made any money out of this. It never even occurred to me that they sent fake dispatch notices and collected their money from Amazon two weeks later, before the three week delivery period kicked in and they started receiving negative feedback. Why haven't Amazon cottoned on to it?

[Flounder]

Yep, you have the long and the short of it. As soon as the bad feedback gathers, it's on to the next storefront.

[Chrissy]

Yep, you have the long and the short of it. As soon as the bad feedback gathers, it's on to the next storefront.

 

[FordPrefect8]

Can't wait for those $2 marker pe... I mean totally legit, original, fractionally priced, attractive market opportunities

[Chrissy]

Can't wait for those $2 marker pe... I mean totally legit, original, fractionally priced, attractive market opportunities

 

I want Amazon to close these sellers down.

[BillH]

There were some Pelikans on a scam like this about 6 weeks ago. Total fraud and yes, Amazon should be ashamed of themselves for not working harder to shut these down. I do not believe there is any algorithm because these have been popping up like mushrooms for months.

 

If you ordered something from these kind of ads, ask for your refund now. Many of these scams string you out for weeks, then email the "factory problem" excuse, or the "not deliverable address" excuse. Read the terms Amazon uses for the Buyer to be covered and get their refund... there are time limits and the crooks know it.

[RocketRyan]

One pen is apparently shipping, tracking number and all... The plot thickens lol

[Chrissy]

One pen is apparently shipping, tracking number and all... The plot thickens lol

 

If there is anything shipping, it is not the pen that you ordered.

[Chrissy]

There were some Pelikans on a scam like this about 6 weeks ago. Total fraud and yes, Amazon should be ashamed of themselves for not working harder to shut these down. I do not believe there is any algorithm because these have been popping up like mushrooms for months.

 

If you ordered something from these kind of ads, ask for your refund now. Many of these scams string you out for weeks, then email the "factory problem" excuse, or the "not deliverable address" excuse. Read the terms Amazon uses for the Buyer to be covered and get their refund... there are time limits and the crooks know it.

The problem is that these buyers don't ask for refunds. They expect to get what they ordered. Amazon need to shut the sellers down and refund the buyers before the sellers withdraw the funds.

[Flounder]

:wallbash: Okay, now I am REALLY steamed.

 

 

 

So, the pen arrives today, hand delivered by Jeff Bezos himself descending from the heavens on a deckchair tied to some drones. "OI, BEZOS!" I fumed. "I've only just swept those leaves!", pointing to the mess the imbecile made of the front garden.

 

"Oh dear" Bezos whimpers at me, "I sincerely apologise. I flew all night to get your CH92 here quickly, and I'm simply exhausted from fatigue." I led him to the rake & binbags by his ear, and opened the parcel while he got to work on those leaves.

 

WELL. the picture speaks for itself . The £5 note included as a sheet of blotting paper is the new polymer type.

 

ERR, HELLO??? What use is a PLASTIC banknote for blotting ink?????

Not impressed Amazon - not impressed AT ALL.

Edited July 23, 2017 by Flounder

[RocketRyan]

Curious to see what arrives

[Chrissy]

Curious to see what arrives

 

I hope you get your money refunded within the first two weeks of payment, otherwise it would appear that the scammer seller might get it and Amazon will have to pay you.

[Karmabim]

Since yesterday, when there seemed to be a great deal of fun in seeing if and when the Sailor pen would arrive, I had a look at how many items this ‘seller’ had listed on Amazon. Over 17,000 were listed; mostly pen related but not all, I saw some 3D pens as well.

The one thing they all had in common was they were all listed at a fraction of the proper price.

 

Now I’m always up for a bargain but there has to be a limit, this seller’s activity will do no good at all to the general health of pen trade or whatever else falls into their grubby little hands.

I called the Amazon help line and spoke to a very helpful chap who checked my story with the listings and he agreed there was something very dodgy looking about them. He cancelled my order and sent an email to the seller informing them. He was then handing over the information to Amazon’s investigating team for a closer look.

 

It seems these scams work like this; the seller gets a bunch of orders and quotes long delivery times (usually 3 weeks or so). After a few days they mark the items as dispatched and Amazon pay them. Of course the items never arrive because they were never sent so the customer complains to Amazon and eventually gets a refund.

Meanwhile our greedy little friends make off with the cash.

If you consider 17,000 items at about £10 each, if they sold only one of each they would skim a nice lump of cash. The chap I spoke to said they are grateful for any information to stop these criminals and I for one was only too happy to help. After all, ultimately it will save us all from having to pay a higher price for our goods.

 

Stealing is never good; most of us have had to work hard to afford the little luxuries we enjoy. Then people like this come along and take it away effectively without having to do any work at all. Quite apart from being illegal it’s very, very annoying to think they are getting away with it.

 

For anyone interested the seller’s name in question here is Darlene Eva. I thought I had found a couple of others but when I went back to check I could no longer find them.

 

Maybe those of us having this type of experience should pool our findings and present them to Amazon. If more people were more vigilant we might help wipe this out.

[Karmabim]

More I'm afraid...

 

While looking on Amazon again today for a present, I came across three new sellers who are quite obviously trying to pull the same scam. Two were identical to the one I encountered but the third was subtlety different. This seller had feedback from buyers as far back as 2010.

Now for a company listed as ‘Just Launched’ that seems a little odd, until you realise that Amazon don’t differentiate the feedback from different sellers. In fact the feedback even appears on this seller’s ‘Just Launched’ storefront listing. How?

So….… I called Amazon to let them in on what believe I had uncovered thinking they would jump at the opportunity of stopping fraudulent activity on their site. It was like having teeth pulled, the chap I spoke to really could not have been less interested. He offered to email the seller to tell them that I thought there was something wrong, what an idiot (like saying ‘look out I think you’ve been sussed’). I asked if I could speak to a supervisor, he went away to get one. 7 minutes later he came back without a supervisor and started to ask me all over again what was the problem. I asked if they were interested in preventing illegal activity on Amazon he said that they were and he would send an email to the team to investigate and they would contact me if any more information was needed.

 

I think that about sums it up, they have policies and algorithms and rules and guidelines but if nobody is bothered to use or invoke them they are pointless and nobody seems to really care.

 

We just have to look out for ourselves and remember, if it looks dodgy and smells dodgy it’s probably dodgy.

 

Oh yes I nearly forgot the sellers I found

 

Swdc Qfcv
Kldc Rgdf
Rcdf Yht

 

Thy couldn't even be bothered to type proper names. Be warned!