EEVblog #1248 - INSANE A 0.02% Process Meter for $9? WTF

[maxwell3e10]

There have been a few scams like this on E-bay. If the tracking information shows delivery location that is wrong, then at least it can be disputed. A more advanced version of this scam is to send an empty envelope to a nearby address in the same town. But these scams are usually perpetrated by new users who suddenly list a lot of items at too good to be true prices. It maybe the sellers of the meters are getting desperate and trying all possible tricks at once.

[ludzinc]

The version I got:

Dear buyer,
sorry .we just got the information the parcel will been returned to us due to Crucial Defectives of the elements and function .
we need to return all of these items back to theirs factory for a Security Inspection until the issue solved.
in order to protect your right ,could you please tell us your paypal to get the refund back
or would you like to choose other item as replace in our store ?
sorry for the trouble again and waiting for quickly reply ,
nice day

I opened the dispute and got this reply:



No deal.  Escalating!  My Cozy Life Store is going to suffer the consequences.

[Electro Detective]

Dear buyer,
sorry .we just got the information the parcel will been returned to us due to Crucial Defectives of the elements and function 

we need to return all of these items back to theirs factory for a Security Inspection until the issue solved...

I would reply to that email and ask what level of fool from one to ten is expected to believe such lame reasons ? 


I've changed my previous view on this,
these slimy dirtbags need to be taught a lesson and pony up a working blue process meter ASAP

or EXCELLENT compensation/s

with an email 'velly solly for bad BS, is not heppen agian we making promises for this,
plz not be angrys and posts bad feedbacks '

 

[ogden]

Seems like I received money in PayPal from them, yet they purposefully or not, miscalculated PayPal commissions. In result I got roughly 98% of my back. Those who actually care about loss of few quarters - beware when accepting PayPal refund.

[ebclr]

Attention

Does not accept PayPal refund, Let's Aliexpress do the Job, you will get the full money, and will be allowed to give 0 stars, and tell the truth on the comments. Also, the Paypal refund can be charged back

After you open the dispute, do not reply to any message, just reject the offer they will do on the dispute system, that will be something just to get you out of the dispute system and go to the Paypal way.

Aliespress will evaluate and for sure give you a full refund, and also the right to comment on sellers feedback, Don't be fool

[Kjelt]

and also the right to comment on sellers feedback.

How ? 
I won the dispute but can not give any feedback.

[alouko]

 Magical Tools Store did it for me. Attached a totally unrelated tracking number which went to Turku.  Finnish Post customer service reached the package and it was for a different person.  So I disputed and they tried to get me to withdraw the dispute.  I rejected that, and instead attached an image of the tracking info and my statement:

================
The shipment is in Turku and my address is in Espoo.

I called Finnish Post to find out what is going on.  They told me, and
I have the phone call recorded (in Finnish, sorry), that the shipment
is addressed to a different person and my name is nowhere in the
package.  So it is apparent that the seller has attached in his sale
the tracking code of another shipment.

I want to know the correct tracking number of my shipment and I also
want Aliexpress to investigate possible tracking document forgery
here.

I also find seller's proposal shameful.  The dispute is valid and it
should be investigated and I expect to be refunded unless my shipment
arrives me soon.  I also want to be compensated for my efforts finding
out that the tracking number was indeed invalid.

Best Regards,

   my name
================

Eat That, Magical Tools Store !!!

[Mortymore]

Yesterday decided to stop quarrelling with the seller  and open a dispute, that was attended and now I'm waiting for a refund. Left negative feedback for the seller. 

Curious thing though. When I go to "My Cozy Life Store", the seller in question, and try to check the store feedback, when click over the negative (1-2 stars) amount of votes I should see listed only the feedback with 1 or 2 stars evaluation. But no! I keep seeing only listed the 5star feedback. Tried with Firefox and Chrome, just to check if this wasn't a browser issue. It seems more like an Aliexpress favour to the seller reputation that the user can't check the low feedback reports to the seller.

[sokoloff]

It’s possible that Ali caches the calculation and feedback for some period of time for performance reasons. (I’m guessing Ali’s site is optimized to handle a little more traffic and prioritize that over up to the instant discussion as might be typical for a forum.)
Also possible that there’s a review process for feedback (this is the case at Amazon for sure and I think for google reviews as well).
Give it until end of week before concluding it’s rigged.

[madires]

A clash of cultures

Westener about Chinese seller:
- sells product not in stock
- lists tracking ID for other delivery (must be fraud)
- lies about product not being in stock
- offers other product or refund via PayPal preventing negative feedback (yeah, scammer)
- tries to gain a few cents by miscalculating PayPal fees (200% sure he's a dirty little scammer)

Chinese seller:
- can't deliver (warehouse out of stock, maybe warehouse also overstated stock)
- tries to keep customer and market platform happy
- enters tracking ID of another delivery to simulate normal processing (meant for the platform)
- asks customer to choose some other product and also offers refund via PayPal (invisible to platform)
- platform sees standard processing and customer gets refund or other product
- no harm done and not losing face
- no minus points for the social score?

[ebclr]

Another scammer history

Dear buyer,
Sorry to make you wait so long,
we just got the information from the logistics company
and your parcel was returned to us due to failed security check.
We apologize for that,in this case,here is the solutions for you, please advice.
1)refund: do you have PayPal account to get the money?
2)replace: you choose other goods as the same price we send instead of refund?
3）discount:we can reduce the money as compensation in your next order?                                                                                                                                which is better for you? we hope we can try our best to make you satisfied.
Could you please help to cancel the dispute?
You know we can solve this for your without dispute
waiting for reply
Have a nice day


Does not matter the history no merci, refund only via dispute, and terrible feedback, This is all the means of feedback, get out scammers, one buyer supporting another, not scammers sellers   

[Mortymore]

It’s possible that Ali caches the calculation and feedback for some period of time for performance reasons. (I’m guessing Ali’s site is optimized to handle a little more traffic and prioritize that over up to the instant discussion as might be typical for a forum.)
Also possible that there’s a review process for feedback (this is the case at Amazon for sure and I think for google reviews as well).
Give it until end of week before concluding it’s rigged.

I'm not talking about not being able to see my feedback report. It has yet to be reviewed.
What I'm saying is that Aliexpress don't show only the feedback you select to be shown when click over the number of votes.

For instance, if you take a look on the image I attached in my previous post, when click over "58", that should list only the Negative (1-2 Stars) votes over the last month. It doesn't.
That's how it works on Amazon, Ebay...

I believe you can try this exercise with any sellers feedback on Aliexpress. That feature isn't working. And so, it's easy that a buyer give up searching for negative feedback only, because it will have to search through the entire feedback list. If this is a non working feature or Aliexpres strategy... I can't tell. But it's odd. 

[Kjelt]

Chinese seller:
1- can't deliver (warehouse out of stock, maybe warehouse also overstated stock)
2- tries to keep customer and market platform happy
3- enters tracking ID of another delivery to simulate normal processing (meant for the platform)
4- asks customer to choose some other product and also offers refund via PayPal (invisible to platform)
5- platform sees standard processing and customer gets refund or other product
6- no harm done and not losing face
7- no minus points for the social score?

There is no clash here, just a seller who does not know his customer.
At step 0 there is the mistake that he lists items he has no possesion of and can not guarantee that he can get possesion of, so the logistic amount should be extremely conservative, lets say 3 items instead of 50.
Then from step 1 to 2 he makes the huge mistake in that he assumes and "thinks" for the customer.

Then from step 2 to 3 he makes the biggest mistake that already lets the customer loose all trust in him and his enterprise.

At point 4 the customers thinks about a scam since he does not get his original product but some replacement he did not ask for.

[Macbeth]

Hrm, that looks suspiciously familiar, and while I was composing the message the tracking was updated to delivered. Which of course it hasn't been.

Does yours track on Australia Posts website? Mine still doesn't show on Royal Mails. Normally international tracked post will track on your postal systems website after it gets into the country. I've never had a problem with this before.

Unfortunately Royal Mails answer is to contact the seller if the tracking number doesn't work! 

AliExpress tracking has finally updated with the "POD" message, however its status is still In transit at country of origin. Strange.

[PA0PBZ]

A clash of cultures

Westener about Chinese seller:
- sells product not in stock
- lists tracking ID for other delivery (must be fraud)
- lies about product not being in stock
- offers other product or refund via PayPal preventing negative feedback (yeah, scammer)
- tries to gain a few cents by miscalculating PayPal fees (200% sure he's a dirty little scammer)

Chinese seller:
- can't deliver (warehouse out of stock, maybe warehouse also overstated stock)
- tries to keep customer and market platform happy
- enters tracking ID of another delivery to simulate normal processing (meant for the platform)
- asks customer to choose some other product and also offers refund via PayPal (invisible to platform)
- platform sees standard processing and customer gets refund or other product
- no harm done and not losing face
- no minus points for the social score?

 - Order placed at Manbo store (Sept 28)
 - Seller did not respond to message sent (Oct 08)
 - Seller marked the order as shipped a few hours before the deadline (Oct. 12)
 - tracking ID on 17track shows "2019-09-30 15:30  Shipment information received"
 - Seller reponds to message on October 14 saying that the package was lost (Oct. 14)
 - I asked seller to send the item or to be honest and that I would accept a refund if he did (Oct. 14)
 - Seller responded Item out of stock (Oct. 17)

Conclusion: Maybe Tracking ID was created for the item, maybe it was a recycled ID but nothing was ever sent, see the discrepancy in the dates from AliExpress and 17track.
That is not a clash of cultures, that is fraud.

[darrellg]

I got the "failed security check" BS reason the the shipment was cancelled. They had listed AliExpress Standard Shipping, so when I opened a dispute with AliExpress, it was decided in my favor within 5 minutes. I had my refund credited (I paid with PayPal) in less than an hour. I left this review:

[Nusa]

Proof is easy. Aliexpress can see everything sent through their system if a dispute gives them a reason to do so. They do it every day, so they're way better at detecting bullshit than you are. No translation issues, either, if the original is in Chinese.

[BravoV]

As norm, the reply ...

Dear friend,
Sorry to make you wait for so long, we are informed by the logistics company that your parcel was returned to us,maybe there is something wrong with your address or other reasons we don't know .
We feel so sorry for the inconvenience.and the solution is as below
（1）refund: we will refund to your PayPal account，plz provide your Paypal account.
（2）discount:we can reduce the money as compensation in your next order?
we will try our best to solve this trouble . waiting for reply nice day

My reply ...

I'm expecting twice the compensation value, take it of leave it.

Don't lie, if you can't afford to refund with twice the number I paid, just send the meter without any excuse, or I will gather ALL BUYERS that are experiencing this similar treatment, to file mass disputes and negative feedbacks against you.

Lets see ... and I have time & patience to play ...

[Smokey]

Well shit.  Manbo life store:

Dear friend,
sorry to make you wait so long, we just got the information from the logistics company and your parcel was lost,maybe there is something wrong with your address or other reason we don't know .Even though,we still apologize for that.we want to resend,but we have no stock now ,how about we refund you ?

refund:do you have PayPal account to get the money?
OR you can choose other items from us ,ok?
if you don't have paypal account,please contact us first.

which is better for you? we hope we can try our best to make you satisfied .
waiting for reply
nice day"

I also kindly reminded them that I am a part of a group who purchased this item and it would be a shame if we all had to open disputes.  As a ps. I asked a question about how many disputes for sending fake shipping numbers and lying about lost packages he thought it would take before aliexpress would ban a store (asking for a friend).

[Kjelt]

My reply ...
I'm expecting twice the compensation value, take it of leave it.

IMO that equals almost blackmail.
Just open the dispute get the refund from Ali and leave bad feedback.

I can confirm that after the dispute is closed you can leave feedback.
I gave 4 stars for the product description with very bad comment I never saw it and it was never shipped but promised with fake shipping nrs,  and 1 star for the other store related scores.

[Electro Detective]

There's no culture clash at work here,

"business is business" and it's a universal trading 'culture' that has no culture boundaries,

it rolls the same in any culture, well up till this fiasco began

These opportunist BS vendors refuse to admit they stuffed up,
and believe saving face is more important that SIMPLY admitting a stuff up
on an unexpected huge demand for a limited stock clearance item

WHATEVER the real reason/s, this could have been resolved, and over before it got anywhere close to where it is now,
with BELIEVABLE reasons, refunds and apologies sent and finito!

Come on, we all know that sometimes bargains can fall through, and there's no point in crucifying the seller,
or nudging on Ebay, Ali and others to punish them. 


But no, a few of these sellers have to be on top..   


i.e. don't feel too sorry for them, it's clear by their attitude they'd stick the boots in twice as hard if they were in the buyers position.

[jancumps]

I got the "failed security check" BS reason the the shipment was cancelled. They had listed AliExpress Standard Shipping, so when I opened a dispute with AliExpress, it was decided in my favor within 5 minutes. I had my refund credited (I paid with PayPal) in less than an hour....

For some reason I can’t choose PayPal when purchasing at AliExpress. They give a decent number of options here, but for Belgian customers seem to exclude PP.

[amspire]

For some reason I can’t choose PayPal when purchasing at AliExpress. They give a decent number of options here, but for Belgian customers seem to exclude PP.

AliExpress used to offer PayPal, but PayPal became an eBay subsidary 2002 to 2014. AliExpress is eBay's biggest competitor, and eBay decided to ban AliExpress from using PayPal.

I do not know if AliExpress could go back to PayPal now if it wanted to, but they had to develop their own alternatives and perhaps they do not want to let PayPal back in. eBay still has a very close contractual relationship to PayPal and that expires in 2020. After this, eBay will still support PayPal, but eBay will cease to give PayPal preference over other credit cards, and PayPal will no longer process credit card purchases for eBay.

[thinkfat]

For some reason I can’t choose PayPal when purchasing at AliExpress. They give a decent number of options here, but for Belgian customers seem to exclude PP.

AliExpress used to offer PayPal, but PayPal became an eBay subsidary 2002 to 2014. AliExpress is eBay's biggest competitor, and eBay decided to ban AliExpress from using PayPal.

I do not know if AliExpress could go back to PayPal now if it wanted to, but they had to develop their own alternatives and perhaps they do not want to let PayPal back in. eBay still has a very close contractual relationship to PayPal and that expires in 2020. After this, eBay will still support PayPal, but eBay will cease to give PayPal preference over other credit cards, and PayPal will no longer process credit card purchases for eBay.

I pay all my purchases on Aliexpress through PayPal.

[amspire]

For some reason I can’t choose PayPal when purchasing at AliExpress. They give a decent number of options here, but for Belgian customers seem to exclude PP.

AliExpress used to offer PayPal, but PayPal became an eBay subsidary 2002 to 2014. AliExpress is eBay's biggest competitor, and eBay decided to ban AliExpress from using PayPal.

I do not know if AliExpress could go back to PayPal now if it wanted to, but they had to develop their own alternatives and perhaps they do not want to let PayPal back in. eBay still has a very close contractual relationship to PayPal and that expires in 2020. After this, eBay will still support PayPal, but eBay will cease to give PayPal preference over other credit cards, and PayPal will no longer process credit card purchases for eBay.

I pay all my purchases on Aliexpress through PayPal.

It does look like there is limited support for PayPal on AliExpress, although I do not see it available in Australia buying from Chinese suppliers.

Apparently in my history above, I wasn't quite accurate. eBay didn't actually ban AliExpress from PayPal - they asked AliAxpress to pay a 7% "processing fee" on PayPal sales which AliExpress declined.