A Tale Of Two Buyers

Even those of us who are normally reasonable can slip when shopping online. A long run of positive experiences can lull our defences. The wish to acquire a coveted gadget can make us throw caution to the wind.

The scene is easy to imagine. A buyer, happy to have won the bidding, is impatient to finalise the transaction. He is at his computer processing the payment. He had already entered the seller's details. His index finger is hovering above the "confirm payment" button.

At that moment his cell phone rings. The man hesitates. He wondered whether to answer the phone, or to ignore the ringing and press the button?

For a split second, his imminent peace of mind hangs in the balance. Then, prompted by an acquired habit, he glances at the cell phone screen and recognises the caller's number. It is the customer support division of the very auction site on which he is about to transact. He removes his finger from the computer mouse and answers the phone.

That day was this particular buyer's lucky day. Had he clicked on the "confirm payment" button", he would have lost a bundle and gained a lot of headaches.

As it happened, the man did answer his phone and he did follow the advice not to proceed with the payment.

How did the customer support staff member - let's call her Pamela - happen to take notice of this particular transaction, one of hundreds that are concluded on the site every day?

Well, a purely technical enquiry led Pamela to peek into the seller's account, and immediately the alarm bells started ringing. The warning signs were difficult to overlook: (1) the seller was brand-new, without any previous history; (2) he had listed ten items, all of them on one day auctions; (3) all the items were sought-after, expensive electronic gadgets.

The conversation with the almost-ill-fated buyer only confirmed Pamela's suspicions. The buyer had tried to contact the seller by phone. The seller did not answer the calls. But the seller did text his bank details to the buyer. With all that evidence laid before her, Pamela's verdict was firm: do not proceed.

Now for the tale of the second buyer.

A high-circulation South African daily recently ran a story of a man who got scammed to the tune of R5500 (about USD550) after responding to a "for sale" offer listed on a big online classifieds site. The author of the story lamented in some detail the unfortunate incident, subtly and not so subtly giving off the message that can be interpreted like this: see what happens to poor gullible souls who trust somebody they met on the Internet with their hard-earned money.

No one can dispute that people do get cheated out of their money on the Internet. No one can dispute that people get cheated out of their money offline too. The daily in question probably had an instance or two of scams that came about as the result of ads posted in their own classifieds section.

It goes without saying that people who transact with other people, online as well as offline, need to keep their eyes open. However, even those of us who are normally reasonable, perhaps even wary, can occasionally slip. A long run of positive experiences can lull our defences. The wish to acquire a coveted gadget can make us throw caution to the wind.

That is why it is a good idea to remind ourselves occasionally of the "dos" of shopping on consumer-to-consumer sites. Here are the five very basic ones:

1. Check the seller's ratings and view buyer feedback.

2. Read the item description fully before you place a bid or commit to a purchase on a fixed-price sale.

3. If you have doubts, ask the seller to answer any questions you may have before bidding on an item or buying it.

4. Report any problems to the auction site's customer support service.

5. Contact the seller by phone before completing the deal. You may even pick up a shifty note in the other party's voice! And if the seller does not reply to your calls... Well, it would not do to proceed with the payment, would it?!

Of course, it also helps to have a bit of luck, like the first buyer from our story.