Too Good to be True Priced Item

[easysurfer]

I ran that site through a legit or scam website, https://www.islegitsite.com/

Shows, domain only been around for 4 months.

Seems pretty fishy, IMO.

Another scam checker has the site screaming SCAM ... https://www.scam-detector.com/validator/collpuu-com-review/

 

[rk911]

It might be a stolen item. I’d shy away from it.

IMO, the asking price is a huge red flag. seller is either a scam artist trolling for a gullible buyer, a thief trolling for a gullible buyer or an idiot that doesn't know what his item is worth. in any case i would not proceed.

 

[sengsational]

Or, ask here for someone in the area who could inspect the goods for you.
.

You don't really need someone in the area. You ask "where will the item ship from", and you'll get an answer to that one. Then say "oh, wow, my brother lives there. Can he come and take a look?" Then you hear excuses or crickets. Simple weed out technique, but expect lots of creative excuses. I played with a scammer for fun once or twice.

 

[street]

About 4 years ago I bought a trash pump from a company named Costway. The price i paid for the pump was 127$. The equivalent pump out there for sale at the time was around 350 to 500$.

I bought it and it took a long time (couple months) to receive the pump and I could not get in touch with them after the order. I tried even after I got the pump and never would return a response.

It wasn't long after that I tried to find that product with again and to this day, they don't have that item any more for sale.

I think looking back on it I may have dodged a bullet with them.

 

[jazz4cash]

My guess is scam. I placed an order recently for an item that was too good to be true ONLY because they accepted paypal (just like the site you are looking at). Ultimately the seller never provided any shipping details and Paypal refunded my money.

 

[street]

My guess is scam. I placed an order recently for an item that was too good to be true ONLY because they accepted paypal (just like the site you are looking at). Ultimately the seller never provided any shipping details and Paypal refunded my money.

I just can't imagine how people can live by stealing and being a thief outright. We need tougher laws for even this type of crime and a faster way to processes them through court. That is another topic, but I can't believe people can be scammers and treat people like that.

 

[ScoopKona]

I just can't imagine how people can live by stealing and being a thief outright. We need tougher laws for even this type of crime and a faster way to processes them through court. That is another topic, but I can't believe people can be scammers and treat people like that.

There's a nice article by an Italian economist that breaks people into four basic groups -- the helpless, the intelligent, the stupid and bandits.

Bandits help themselves by hurting others. But at least you can understand their motivations. These websites are basic banditry. And there's nothing that can be done because these websites are invariably in countries which lack the resources to go after internet scammers. Think of the "Nigerian prince" advance fee fraud emails. This is just the next step in fleecing people out of their money.

Google: The five basic laws of human stupidity

 

[Aerides]

You don't really need someone in the area. You ask "where will the item ship from", and you'll get an answer to that one. Then say "oh, wow, my brother lives there. Can he come and take a look?" Then you hear excuses or crickets. Simple weed out technique, but expect lots of creative excuses. I played with a scammer for fun once or twice.

While this might work for bigger businesses, for a lot of small home based businesses, this is a red flag to the business owner.

My usual answer is while I'm fully licensed as a business, I'm not zoned for in-person business out of my home. And in reality, there is zero chance I ever want to meet a random potential customer in person, let alone at my home. Not even at Starbucks - my answer is nope, I promised my husband I'd never do that. Safety, privacy, etc. Even if someone wants to buy locally to avoid me having to ship - a lot of online sites (amazon, etc.) offer you zero protection from a chargeback if you don't have verifiable tracked shipping info.

In the OP case, the "business" is setup in Delaware, with a small building but multiple businesses listed there. That's just a legal setup, there is no operation there. Delaware has a lot of business friendly rules for that sort of thing. South Dakota is another.

 

[jazz4cash]

Wow. This item is 44”x30”x31”, weighs >200 lbs, and the shipping is only 6.99. What a deal!
Another red flag is a site that offer a random collection of items like snow blowers and yard hammock swings.

 

[freedomatlast]

There are a couple of sellers on ebay that sell power tools, all brand name, that are store returns, for about 50% off retail. I've bought several items from them. One was a battery powered hedge trimmer, and when it arrived, the battery that was supposed to be included, was missing. I emailed them, they promptly refunded my money and said keep the hedge trimmer. The next two items I ordered were perfect when they arrived, all in original factory packaging, complete with owner's manual. As you might guess, people return all kinds of items to stores for all kinds of different reasons. Some will be fine and others, not. As long as they issue prompt refunds when the products aren't as advertised, I'm fine with that. In the case of the hedge trimmer referenced above, the next tool I bought used the exact same battery, so I just switch the battery between the two tools, so the working hedge trimmer was essentially free. There are good deals out there, but you must proceed with caution.

 

[CaptTom]

I've noticed there's been an explosion in the number of these scam sites over the past few months. It seems like I, everyone I know, and posters on every forum I visit have been running into them lately.

I think we all need to set our BS detectors on "high." Even a site that looks exactly like a legitimate site may be just a copy.

It's sad that this level of thievery is forcing us to question the legitimacy of every web site we visit. That can't be good for small businesses trying to compete.

 

[street]

I've noticed there's been an explosion in the number of these scam sites over the past few months. It seems like I, everyone I know, and posters on every forum I visit have been running into them lately.

I think we all need to set our BS detectors on "high." Even a site that looks exactly like a legitimate site may be just a copy.

It's sad that this level of thievery is forcing us to question the legitimacy of every web site we visit. That can't be good for small businesses trying to compete.

I agree with you totally! It has to be killing the honest businessman to their death. It is like sometimes I feel we live in a third world country.

 

[sengsational]

... And in reality, there is zero chance I ever want to meet a random potential customer in person, let alone at my home. Not even at Starbucks - my answer is nope, I promised my husband I'd never do that. Safety, privacy, etc.

I can see why someone might not want to meet someone at their house, but that's not me. I sell stuff on craiglist and facebook marketplace. If the buyer passes a basic sniff test, I give them my address and my phone number. Everyone in the world has my full name, address, and a whole lot of them have my phone number too (or could get it). I'm pretty certain anyone could call me or show-up at my door if they wanted to, hehe! The only thing a scammer has that everyone else doesn't have is the fact I'm selling a particular item (probably valued at less than $100). Then it becomes no different than answering the doorbell. I know, a lot of people don't answer the door unless they know who it is, and I often don't, but only because I don't want to say "no" to a pushy sales person.

Even if someone wants to buy locally to avoid me having to ship - a lot of online sites (amazon, etc.) offer you zero protection from a chargeback if you don't have verifiable tracked shipping info.

Thanks for a small business owner perspective. I think I remember that loss of protection. I wonder if you had them sign a bill of sale, if that would work.

But back to the scammers that say they're in Cincinnati when they're really across the world, the buyer could say "My brother lives in Cincinnati! I'll send him over to look at it" as the counter ploy, as opposed to a "My brother lives in Cincinnati! I'll send him over to buy it and pick it up".

 

[sengsational]

Here's a scam detection technique I just tried.

I went to the web site and looked for a string of words that should be unique across the internet. I didn't find anything real good, so I went with a long string out of the FAQ: ["similar replacement item as soon as possible"]

Hundreds of web sites use that exact same FAQ!

 

[street]

Here's a scam detection technique I just tried.

I went to the web site and looked for a string of words that should be unique across the internet. I didn't find anything real good, so I went with a long string out of the FAQ: ["similar replacement item as soon as possible"]

Hundreds of web sites use that exact same FAQ!

Interesting!!! Thanks

 

[COcheesehead]

These are the types of ads I am talking about. They are scams to get your credit card.

 

[street]

These are the types of ads I am talking about. They are scams to get your credit card.

Wow!
I can see where they can get people to bite on that type of advertising. Looks very professional and would attract people to buying.

 

[COcheesehead]

Wow!
I can see where they can get people to bite on that type of advertising. Looks very professional and would attract people to buying.

Read the text though. Big clue. It’s worded awkwardly. Bad English.

 

[street]

Lol! That is true if everyone would catch that. I do see your point and I know I will pay a lot more attention to detail if item is in question.
Thanks

 

[Koolau]

My very first thought upon hearing the story of the too-cheap snow blower was a memory from almost 50 years ago.

My BIL indicated he wanted an electric pencil sharpener for his desk at the family business. I don't recall the prices at the time (early 70s) but you can find them now for $20 to $75 depending on bells and whistles, I suppose.

DW and I decided we just HAD to get BIL the sharpener. So we got one of those little plastic sharpeners every kid gets to put in his pencil box on the way to school. We glued an old electric cord to the end of it and somehow found an electric pencil sharpener box (probably from my megacorp storage cabinet.) We weighted the box for believability and placed the box on BILs desk.

He took it pretty well, but I'm afraid street might not have been thrilled to open a big heavy box and only to find a snow shovel with a battery powered noisemaker attached going "Vrooooom!"

 

[street]

My very first thought upon hearing the story of the too-cheap snow blower was a memory from almost 50 years ago.

My BIL indicated he wanted an electric pencil sharpener for his desk at the family business. I don't recall the prices at the time (early 70s) but you can find them now for $20 to $75 depending on bells and whistles, I suppose.

DW and I decided we just HAD to get BIL the sharpener. So we got one of those little plastic sharpeners every kid gets to put in his pencil box on the way to school. We glued an old electric cord to the end of it and somehow found an electric pencil sharpener box (probably from my megacorp storage cabinet.) We weighted the box for believability and placed the box on BILs desk.

He took it pretty well, but I'm afraid street might not have been thrilled to open a big heavy box and only to find a snow shovel with a battery powered noisemaker attached going "Vrooooom!"

LOL!! I like that one a lot!
That is what a person could imagine for that price though.

That was a creative gift for your BIL. Lol

 

[Murph]

Can you say “Knock-off”?

 

[gooddog]

Bought a TV a few weeks ago of Amazon that was a 'great' deal, and of course it was a scam. If it is too good to be true, it ain't. Amazon refunds your $, and goes after the scammer so just some frustration is all it cost.

 

[street]

Bought a TV a few weeks ago of Amazon that was a 'great' deal, and of course it was a scam. If it is too good to be true, it ain't. Amazon refunds your $, and goes after the scammer so just some frustration is all it cost.

What is the process with Amazon if that happens? Do you communicate through emails or phone with Amazon etc.?

 

[dheb]

I will join the 'it's a scam' chorus. I looked up the company address listed on the web site (8 The Green Ste A, Dover,Kent, DELAWARE 19901) and found that it's the address of more than one shell company (The Delaware Company House LLC and A Registered Agent Inc) that offer to provide your business with a Delaware address. "Federal authorities investigating a potential billion-dollar investment fraud are demanding to know the identities of people behind more than 200 Delaware limited liability companies." "Most of those were registered by a company, called, A Registered Agent Inc., which advertises that it is “On the Green, in Dover, Delaware." https://www.delawareonline.com/stor...mand-know-who-behind-delaware-llcs/908586001/