topic Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay? in Community Chat

Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

DooneyGal2 — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 13:08:52 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I recently lost out on something I badly wanted on a celebrity website (the one and only Tom Petty!), and keep hoping I'll find it online somewhere but so far, absolutely no luck which has me bumming - thought for sure with it being Holiday themed, someone would have snatched one or two up lol and put it up perhaps, on eBay, but again having no luck - Etsy doesn't seem to be working either- are there any other social media platforms to check out?
Thanks so much for any help!

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

CalminHeart — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 13:15:46 GMT

Be careful. There are a lot of fake sites out there who are happy to take your money, send you a virus, steal your credit/debit card info, or obtain personal information.

Every so often, I'll do a google search to see if I can find something but I never click on or buy from a site I don't personally know. When I'm done, I always delete history, cookies, and cache.

I investigated fraud for 20 years. The odds that one will hit a fraudulent site is greater than hitting a legitimate site these days.

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

LindaSal — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 13:42:09 GMT

Not sure what you were looking for but there is a lot of Petty merchandise on Amazon.

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

jackthebear — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 13:50:15 GMT

ebay, poshmark, mercari

what is it you are looking for? did you try google lens

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

beckyb1012 — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 14:19:34 GMT

I just google and sometimes in long sentences. Last Christmas I discovered a new site looking for a Red Panda watch for my granddaughter. I was even able to have her name put on the face of the watch.

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

cheriere — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 14:42:24 GMT

Please be careful if you use Mercari. I'd purchased several items on there without incident. Then, I started looking at iPhones. The seller had terrific reviews and nearly a hundred people were watching this item. I asked multiple questions about it & took screenshots of the answers, as well as the original listing. So, I took the plunge and purchased for $650. I received the phone on a Friday,, so I didn't go to have it turned on until the following week. Well, the phone couldn't be turned on as it had been reported Stolen through AT&T. Now, I'm stuck with the most expensive alarm clock of all time lol. When I reached out to Mercari to let them know what happened they informed me that they have a 3 day policy. After 3 days there's NOTHING you can do. By the way, he's now considered a verified top notch seller on there!!! 😡

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

SaveTheTurtles — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 17:21:03 GMT

Just remember, if it sounds too good to be true it is too good to be true. There are many warnings on the news during the holiday season about scammers. I guess you have to weigh how badly you want something against how badly you'll feel when you're duped.

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

beckyb1012 — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 17:24:40 GMT

@cheriere wrote:
Please be careful if you use Mercari. I'd purchased several items on there without incident. Then, I started looking at iPhones. The seller had terrific reviews and nearly a hundred people were watching this item. I asked multiple questions about it & took screenshots of the answers, as well as the original listing. So, I took the plunge and purchased for $650. I received the phone on a Friday,, so I didn't go to have it turned on until the following week. Well, the phone couldn't be turned on as it had been reported Stolen through AT&T. Now, I'm stuck with the most expensive alarm clock of all time lol. When I reached out to Mercari to let them know what happened they informed me that they have a 3 day policy. After 3 days there's NOTHING you can do. By the way, he's now considered a verified top notch seller on there!!! 😡

Can you deny the charge to your cc?

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

cheriere — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 18:29:49 GMT

@beckyb1012 I tried to do that because I used my bank card to pay for it. I really thought Mercari was going to reverse the charge at first, because we corresponded about this for a few weeks. Unfortunately, I now know they were just stringing me along so enough time would pass that the bank wouldn't reverse it!

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

beckyb1012 — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 18:59:20 GMT

@cheriere wrote:
@beckyb1012 I tried to do that because I used my bank card to pay for it. I really thought Mercari was going to reverse the charge at first, because we corresponded about this for a few weeks. Unfortunately, I now know they were just stringing me along so enough time would pass that the bank wouldn't reverse it!

I am so sorry. Maybe Santa will be good to you, you deserve it.

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

cheriere — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 19:04:01 GMT

@beckyb1012 Thank you 😊 I sure hope so. It can be used with WiFi, so when kids come over I let them play games or watch YouTube on it lol

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

Ronettes — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 20:17:34 GMT

Try Poshmark, they are easier to work with than mercari.

Ebay listings change every day, and they usually have the most and the best choices. Whenever I'm looking for something, sooner or later it will show up on ebay!

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

Mindy D — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 21:44:37 GMT

@cheriere wrote:
Please be careful if you use Mercari. I'd purchased several items on there without incident. Then, I started looking at iPhones. The seller had terrific reviews and nearly a hundred people were watching this item. I asked multiple questions about it & took screenshots of the answers, as well as the original listing. So, I took the plunge and purchased for $650. I received the phone on a Friday,, so I didn't go to have it turned on until the following week. Well, the phone couldn't be turned on as it had been reported Stolen through AT&T. Now, I'm stuck with the most expensive alarm clock of all time lol. When I reached out to Mercari to let them know what happened they informed me that they have a 3 day policy. After 3 days there's NOTHING you can do. By the way, he's now considered a verified top notch seller on there!!! 😡

@cheriere They could be a party to trafficking in stolen goods and possibly mail fraud. That is up to law enforcement to determine. If you bought with a credit card, contact them first. Then, you might need to file some reports with different law enforcement agencies. They supposedly sold you stolen merchandise, according to what you wrote. If you contacted them by email or text, save it. Save everything. Make some notes while your conversations are fresh in your mind.

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

Mindy D — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 22:29:55 GMT

@cheriere Mercari's site has a way to report stolen goods as well as a fifteen day time to get credit for the goods with supporting papers. Go to their site and look. Make sure you file a police report and have some evidence the phones as stolen...The site has two different pages with instructions about this. I just looked there.

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

cheriere — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 21:32:38 GMT

@Mindy D wrote:
@cheriere Mercari's site has a way to report stolen goods as well as a fifteen day time to get credit for the goods with supporting papers. Go to their site and look. Make sure you file a police report and have some evidence the phones as stolen...The site has two different pages with instructions about this.

@Mindy D Thank you, I didn't know the site had that. I have saved all of my email correspondence with them. I also mentioned that it was mail fraud in one of my messages. I really thought I was covering all my bases when I purchased this phone too because he even provided a picture of the serial number so I could see if the phone had been "black listed". It checked out at the time of purchase. The guy at Verizon said the seller probably owned the phone himself, sold it to you and then reported it stolen so he could get a new phone. He acted like they see this all the time in the store. It truly made me sick. But I was also humiliated because I didn't want them to think I had stolen the phone! He did suggest I go over to AT&T and tell them what happened and they'd be able to look up who owned the phone.

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

Mindy D — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 21:47:19 GMT

@cheriere @I didn't say it's mail fraud. I said possible. Do not accuse anyone of a crime, that is the job of law enforcement. I am not in law enforcement. I do not know how anyone you spoke to knew it was a stolen phone. That's important. Right now, possession of the phone could be a legal problem for you, I don't know. I'm not giving any legal advice either. I'm not a lawyer.

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

cheriere — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 22:31:08 GMT

The guy at Verizon showed me the website where you can check to see if a phone has been black listed...sure enough it was. But when I purchased it, it was not on the list. Mercari wouldn't even give me the real name of the man I bought it from or send a message to him. I saved the packaging and everything though. No doubt the name is probably fake & it had a post office box return address. What really got me is when I asked the Verizon guy what I could do with the phone he told me I could always try to sell it!!! I'd never do this to somebody else!!! Losing that kind of money really hurts!!!

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

cheriere — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 21:56:30 GMT

@Mindy D Needless to say, I ended up just going to the Apple Store and purchasing a new phone outright. I told the salesman about this too, he said unfortunately they see this happen to people all the time! I'm just really aggravated at Mercari because they didn't try to help me at all! I used to buy things from there all the time, but I'll never buy anything from that site again!

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

Mindy D — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 22:28:28 GMT

@cheriere @I had never heard of Mercari before this thread but now I know that I will not shop there. I was just looking online about these phone reselling scams and there are many of them.

Re: Where Do You Search Online For Items Other Than eBay?

Mindy D — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 22:32:15 GMT

@DooneyGal2 wrote:
Hi Everyone,

I recently lost out on something I badly wanted on a celebrity website (the one and only Tom Petty!), and keep hoping I'll find it online somewhere but so far, absolutely no luck which has me bumming - thought for sure with it being Holiday themed, someone would have snatched one or two up lol and put it up perhaps, on eBay, but again having no luck - Etsy doesn't seem to be working either- are there any other social media platforms to check out?
Thanks so much for any help!

@DooneyGal2 @Be careful, there are many signature forgeries out there.