Hints on Purchasing Diabetic
Supplies on EBay.com
Note: This Page is organized to assist people without insurance in purchasing BG
sticks and meters.
Take everything on this web page with a grain of salt. Use your own judgement.
Before you consider selling/buyig on EBay, keep in mind that Fraud on intenet auction sites are one
of the largest consumer complaints today. Internet auction sites are also the largest source of Identity
Theft today. Internet auction sites naturally draw the most unscrupulous people imaginable. The vast majority of ebay sellers/buyers are good people with high
morals. The few miscreants create the trouble for everybody else. Think of ebay as the wild wild west
where few rules apply.
Learn, learn, learn as much as you can before selling/buying on ebay. It may save you a lot of grief.
1. Before bidding on any diabetic supplies, get a good picture of the retail cost of what
you desire. It is very easy to end up paying more for something on EBay than you would pay locally.
Example - Let's say you want BG sticks.
Walmart says their Relion meter for $8.88 and 100 sticks for $42.
Walmart sells 100 One Touch Ultra sticks for $84.
Walmart sells 100 Accu Chek Comfort Curve sticks for $79.
www.hocks.com sells 50 Accu Chek Comfort Curve sticks for about $25.
Walmart and Hocks.com are the cheapest retail outlets to purchase BG Sticks.
2. Sellers are the revenue stream for EBay. All practices and rules that EBay has implemented have one
thing in common - They Support the Seller. Period. Most complaints you read anywhere concerns Seller
Fraud. You will soon conclude EBay does very little or nothing at all to protect the Buyer from the
unscrupulous Seller.
3. When you sign up with EBay, use a throwaway email address like Hotmail, Yahoo, or Sneakemail. Use
this address only for EBay. I like sneakemail since you can attach a Label to the From address. Each
time someone from ebay sends you an email, you will know where the source of the email. When you
initally setup the ebay account, you will automatically be set up to receive spam from ebay and their
associates. All businesses do this, so this is nothing new. Change your preferences immediately to
not receive spam. Since I changed the preferences not to receive spam, ebay has not sent me any spam.
A lot of unscrupulous people use ebay. Any ebay registered seller/buyer has access to your ebay email
address. Sometimes these unscrupulous people will send you commerical spam. This is definitely a
violation of ebay rules. If you receive spam from a fellow ebayer, send the spam (be sure to include
the headers) to SPOOF@EBAY.COM. I have heard that
ebay terminates the spammer's ebay account. So far I have received only one spam from a fellow ebayer, which
I just deleted, as I do with all spam.
4. Do not bid on BG sticks where the Expiration Date has already past. I've seen Sellers offering
sticks that Expired in 2001 and 2002. Very dangerous to use. I think it is against Federal law for any
retailer to sell diabetic supplies after the expiration date. If you see expired sticks being listed
on EBay, email a complaint to SPOOF@EBAY.COM to get the listing removed.
Be sure to include the URL address of the listing.
If a listing does not state the expiration date for the sticks, ask the Seller the question. Do not
blindly bid on BG sticks where the Expiration Date is not listed. Who knows what you may get.
5. Some ebay sellers charge sales tax on the diabetic supplies you purchase from them. Most states do
not charge sales tax on diabetic supplies from retail outlets. This can get expensive. Be wary of this
little gem.
6. Never buy anything from a seller who asks for payment to be mailed to a P.O. box.
7. Use a credit card. Credit card payment protects the buyer because you can dispute the charges if
the goods are misrepresented or never delivered. Cancel the card immediately if you suspect fraud.
8. Ask sellers for a phone number, and then verify it.
9. Be wary of sellers outside the United States. In fact, it's a good idea to avoid them altogether.
10. To report Internet fraud, you can contact the Federal Trade Commission: (877) FTC-HELP
(877-382-4357 or www.ftc.gov). You can also contact Internet Fraud Watch (www.fraud.org).
11. FBI Advice
on Auction Fraud"
12. FTC Auction Guidelines
13. Auction Fraud Protection
14. Buyer Tips Avoiding Fraud and Scams
15. How eBay Fights Fraud
16. EBay lists all Feedback on an individual in one form. Look for Negative Feedback whether the
person was a Buyer or a Seller. If as a Seller, look for attempts to defraud the buyer. If as a
Buyer, look for attempts to defraud the Seller. If the Seller has several Negative comments
recently, it may be a good idea to keep a good distance from that unscrupulous Seller. A utility called
Gutcheck is very useful in separating Positive Feedback
from Neutral/Negative Feedback.
17. If you have the winning bid for an auction, remember you now have a legal contract with the Seller.
You are obligated to send the Seller the proper payment. This is where the transaction gets sticky. A
sizable number of buyers never send the payment. They probably bid just for the fun of it, and had no
intention to fullfil their obligations. This really screws up the process and angers many Sellers. The
sellers complain to EBay about all the non paying buyers (NPB). EBay is solving the NPB problem by
putting each NPB incident in the Buyer's profile. Seller's will be on the lookout for bidders with NPB in
their profiles. Buyer's who have NPB won't be able to bid on most Seller's auctions. Be wary of this
little jewel, it has a mean bite. The article EBay Seller
solves Fraud, EBay claims NPB is much higher than Seller Fraud. I disagree since Ebay protects the
scam Seller. If EBay started clamping down on Seller Fraud, the Sellers would just move to Yahoo or some
other auction site. Therefore EBay will protect the Seller at all costs.
The above will mostly solve the NPB problem. But, what is EBay doing to protect the Buyer from the scam
Seller? Answer is absolutely nothing. You are on your own if scammed. EBay is a market of Sellers.
Sellers pay all the Fees which are EBay's revenue stream. Without Sellers, EBay would not exist. So,
EBay will absolutely protect the Seller at all costs. Currently there are about 1.1 million Sellers on
EBay. The entire human population of the planet are the Buyers. If 100,000 Buyers get scammed this week
on EBay, you think EBay management gives a damn? Not on your life. If those 100,000 never purchase from
EBay again, so what? There are about 6 Billion people on the planet. Each is a potential EBay buyer.
Paypal is also protecting the Seller from fraudulent credit card chargebacks made by the buyer. See
Paypal solves Buyer Fraud
for a very interesting Paypal rule. The rules only say that the Seller must show proof that something
was sent to the Buyer. Nowhere does it state that the Seller must ship what was described in the
auction.
There is tremendous evidence that shows EBay/Paypal protects the Seller from Buyer Fraud. But, there is
little evidence to show that EBay/Paypal also protects the Buyer from Seller Fraud.
18. I just learned that Feedback is almost useless. A company called
Square Trade can get a Negative Feedback removed from a Seller. There is a Fee of $20 for the service.
I can't believe that this is possible. This service promotes fraudelent Sellers to scam even more
EBay buyers. If a Seller has 500 Positive Feedbacks, and no Negative Feedbacks, you have no way to know
whether any Negative Feedbacks were removed by Square Trade. This is dangerous for EBay buyers.
19. A guy says a Seller can remove Negative Feedback without any input of a Buyer.
Negative Feedback Removal.
20. Different Sellers look at Feedback differently. Sellers without much expeience usually have few
Feedbacks and will leave Feedback upon receipt of payment in hope the Buyer will also leave Feedback.
Remember, a novice Seller wants to accumulate Feedback numbers, the same as a Buyer wants to increase the
number of Feedbacks. Power Sellers have been around for some time and have accumulated hugh numbers of
Feedbacks. Some power sellers may feel that if a few buyers do not leave feedback, it won't make any
difference to the seller's numbers. This is a true statement. So some Power Sellers with lots of
experience will leave Feedback after the Buyer leaves Feedback. This is not a good thing for the Buyer.
The seller leaving feedback after the Buyer leaves feedback is like extortion or blackmail. Power
Sellers do this to prevent no recourse to Negative Feedback left by the Buyer.
Avoid purchasing from Power Sellers.
21. A story concerning
An EBay Thief.
22.How to leave Feedback after the ninety day period.
23. EBay News.
24. EBay Seller Fraud and EBay does
nothing about it.
EBay Seller Fraud and EBay does
nothing about it.
Online Fraud. The Sleazy side of internet
auctions.
Paypal Failures
Ebay Cracks Down, you be the judge.
Some Good EBay Geuidelines
25. EBay Announcements.
26. If you are ripped off on EBay then Complain To Online Fraud Resource Center
27. EBay Contact Information
Phone - 1-888-749-3229
EMail - SPOOF@EBAY.COM for any spam through EBay or scams through ebay.
28. I prefer to have answers for the following questions before I make a bid.
28.1 Is the winning bid price + shipping/handling cost less than what I would pay at hocks.com or Walmart?
Why risk being scammed on ebay if the same thing at a retailer is cheaper or just a few dollars more.
28.2 Does the seller have a lot of Negative Feedback?
This can be a red flag of a scam artist. A good Seller can go bad at anytime. Be sure to use Gutcheck
to break out the Neutral/Negative from the Feedback. Look out for signs of Fraud or a bad attitude
on part of the Seller. Sometimes you will see a Seller respond to a Negative with a smart-ass response.
This person has an attitude problem. Stay from that Seller. Remember the Seller sets the tone of the
transaction. If the Negatives cause you concern, don't bid. Trying to discern Feedback is an art.
With time and some experience, you will be able to separate the good sellers from the scam sellers.
There is no easy solution.
28.3 How will payment be handled?
Sellers typically accept money orders, cashiers check, and paypal. Some daring Sellers also accept
personal checks. Once the Seller has your money, you have very little leverage to hold the Seller
accountable. I used postal money orders and ran into trouble twice, so I now use credit card and
paypal. With money orders/cashiers check, the Seller can claim the money was never received. It is your
word against the word of the Seller. Using paypal removes that possibility. Never, Never send cash.
Remember, Seller scams on EBay mostly occur with amounts of less than $30.
29. Buyer sues eBay for alleged online slander
30. eBay Sued for Bogus Rolex Auctions
31. Stupidity
32. Analysis: eBay fraud lawsuit raises questions
33. Lawyers Bid for Exhibit A as Evidence Surfaces on EBay
34. ebaY on Fraud & Editorial A Humorous Read
35. Paypal on Fraud. An interesting read about Paypal and Fraud, but by who.
36. Paypal loses Arbitration Clause in Court Case. A good read.
37. EBay Motors.
How scams prosper when buying cars on Ebay.
38. Paypal Class Action Suit Settlement
39. No easy money on eBay
40. When eBay deal gets ugly, who pays?
41. Buyers Who Have a Problem Getting Delivery of a Paid-For Item from a Seller
42. 8 eBay Sellers Admit to Phony Bids
43. Be caution to buy items from an eBay seller with too many feedback
44. How scammers run rings round eBay
45. Big Brother is watching you - and documenting.
46. Fraud suit names eBay, others
47. VISA chargebacks against Paypal no longer possible?
48. eBay Announces Major News During 'eBay Live' Keynote Address
Ebay will no longer honor buyer credit card chargebacks. Whitman said beginning July 19th,
PayPal will begin protecting sellers from credit card chargebacks when they have been shown
to have fulfilled their obligation under the PayPal dispute resolution
process: "There will be no double jeopardy on buyer disputes," she said. In short, buyers WILL
experience more seller fraud as a result of this decision.
EBay Customer Support
E-mail Address(es): cswebhelp@ebay.com
Business Information:
Office: 1-800-322-9266
Phone: 1-888-749-3229
Fax: 1-408-558-7400
Pager: 1-408-558-6106/7
Customer Support: 1-800-322-9266
Ebay Tech Support: 1-888-749-3229
Time Sensitive Message: 1-408-558-7400
Safe Harbor Rep: 1-408-558-6106/7
Hours 7:30 AM - 5:30 PM PST M-F
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