Jul 28, 2015 03:28 PM
15570 Views
(Updated Jul 30, 2015 11:23 AM)
This is regarding fake online offers, a marketing stunt to lure in unsuspecting consumers to increase traffic on a certain portal. We all know, flipkart did it intentionally last year, later they apologized. This time it’s ebay.in, they are becoming more and more aggressive to increase traffic on their portal. One of such example is as follows:
The offer: A 16 GB Sandisk cruzer pen drive at an unbelievable price of Rs. 79 only, a prepaid order on a first cum first serve basis. The booking had to be done on 25-26th July, 2015, with a mobile number and delivery pin code, they would send discount code on 28th July via text message, subject to verification that the mobile user is using ebay.in for the first time.
I did book with a mobile number and pin code, got confirmation, got a discount coupon too on this day. I opened up url: https://bit.ly/1D43dFM, to visit the listing, it opened up right away on my 3G connection. Now comes the trivia, when you tru to go for BUY NOW, the page either opening up very slow or the page is getting expired automatically, I somehow succeeded, then another page as guest checkout, as per ebay guidance. Here also the page is not showing up, once it showed.
It is asking for delivery contact details, you fill in all that, now they will ask for a four digit verification code sent at the registered number via text message. Here also you will not get the code on time, a code may come up after half an hour. By this time, the least few ebay.in and it’s vendor, sankalpdeals_in(20618) states that the item/deal is blocked or it may show up as you already purchased it, although they won’t allow you to complete the transaction by making payment through debit/credit cards etc. and as I mentioned ealier it is not a casho on delivery deal. It’s simple, we, the Indian consumers are taken for granted, as almost nobody cares to complain, consumers are not aware of their rights often. Ebay.in also mentions ebay guarantee on certain products on the listing page, after you purchase they will say that the item is covered under manufacturer warranty, hence you can’t claim under ebay guarantee, then why is ebay.in mentioning that on the listing? just to win trust and deceive. I have evidence to prove this, have e-mails supporting my claim. These cheap marketing stunts are adopted by many, ebay.in is leading nowadays, so I request all consumers to beware of these false, deceptive marketing stunts, always prefer the following:
Always prefer to purchase on Cash on Delivery mode of payment, one of the major reason being, even if the vendor/portal sent, the logistics handlers may misplace it, it may not reach you. In case of Cash on Deliver(COD), payment is due, so it will surely reach.
These cheap deals like the above. Now, ebay.in may put up a lame excuse that their servers were slow due to increased traffic but trust me, in reality a portal can actually increase the bandwidth to accommodate increased traffic. What they do in reality, they deliberately reduce the access speeds, so that minimum orders are placed, they know in reality they would provide only a handful.
Always cross check the MRP of any branded product on their websites, as many portals are showing fake inflated MRP to show a huge discount. Like, a Fastrack sun-glass deal at a discounted price of Rs. 1295, actual MRP being Rs. 1695, few portals found the item on demand, they inflated the MRP to Rs. 1995, to show more discount than others, few even went up to Rs. 2295. Even mobiles are being sold at a price, higher than the MRP, like Yu Yuphoria, MRP is. Rs. 7990, amazon.in had a vendor who sold it for Rs. 6990, now you can check that the item is priced at Rs. 8990, portals like paytm and so on.
Be careful and be wise, to avoid getting cheated, especially from ebay.in
