The Rip-Off of Mercado

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chico bill

Guest
I am sure at one point most of us have browsed the web sides of Mercado Libre or Corotos.
There are legitimate sellers on those pages but as a word of caution many are not, and on certain products almost all are scammers.
Take cell phones for instance. If you see someone advertising an iPhone (new or used) for half what it costs new on eBay or in the local shop - it is fake.
They may show photos with 3 or 4 in their hands or on what looks like a cell phone store counter. (Those are meant to make you think they actually exist). They may even say they have 2,645 to sell, and there will be tons of fake reviews, many by the same user name and on the same day.
They may even claim to have a store and post an location.
Think about this - if a cell phone (iPhone or Samsung primarily) were listed for $12,000 pesos and sells in the shop for 24,000 the online seller's inventory would be sold out immediately and purchased by the shops.

It is all fake. They will ask you to communicate by WhatsApp and ask for you to send the money to his bank. Then they will send you the phone by bus via Carribe Tours or Metro.
Your money will be lost and poof you will never hear from them again.
There are those who claim to be located in Montecristi, many in Santiago and SD.

As a test (more of a lesson to my pareja and my own curiosity) I communicated with one in Montecristi, as I happened to be going there the following week. He said his location was shown on WhatsApp and there was a street and a pharmacy nearby he listed. I punched that in my phone's GPS and not only is he not there, there is no store there, and no pharmacy by that name in Montecristi -only some modest homes. I then tried to call him to just see how far the scammer would take it but he didn't answer - they never do.

If you do try to communicate with them via WhatsApp messaging you will see they are poorly educated and can not even hold a normal conversation. I think this could be avoided if all postings were charged a fee to list something by the week. Say $200 pesos per week per listing.

Buy your products in a store for safety. Avoid the items that 'seem to good to be true" - because they are just that.
 
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the gorgon

Guest
chico bill said:
I am sure at one point most of us have browsed the web sides of Mercado Libre or Corotos.
There are legitimate sellers on those pages but as a word of caution many are not, and on certain products almost all are scammers.
Take cell phones for instance. If you see someone advertising an iPhone (new or used) for half what it costs new on eBay or in the local shop - it is fake.
They may show photos with 3 or 4 in their hands or on what looks like a cell phone store counter. (Those are meant to make you think they actually exist). They may even say they have 2,645 to sell, and there will be tons of fake reviews, many by the same user name and on the same day.
They may even claim to have a store and post an location.
Think about this - if a cell phone (iPhone or Samsung primarily) were listed for $12,000 pesos and sells in the shop for 24,000 the online seller's inventory would be sold out immediately and purchased by the shops.

It is all fake. They will ask you to communicate by WhatsApp and ask for you to send the money to his bank. Then they will send you the phone by bus via Carribe Tours or Metro.
Your money will be lost and poof you will never hear from them again.
There are those who claim to be located in Montecristi, many in Santiago and SD.

As a test (more of a lesson to my pareja and my own curiosity) I communicated with one in Montecristi, as I happened to be going there the following week. He said his location was shown on WhatsApp and there was a street and a pharmacy nearby he listed. I punched that in my phone's GPS and not only is he not there, there is no store there, and no pharmacy by that name in Montecristi -only some modest homes. I then tried to call him to just see how far the scammer would take it but he didn't answer - they never do.

If you do try to communicate with them via WhatsApp messaging you will see they are poorly educated and can not even hold a normal conversation. I think this could be avoided if all postings were charged a fee to list something by the week. Say $200 pesos per week per listing.

Buy your products in a store for safety. Avoid the items that 'seem to good to be true" - because they are just that.
Click to expand...

it is good that you have posted this warning about fake cellphones on facebook..true word.

however, that is no different than buying on Ebay. if you are buying a high end cellphone, it is a crap shoot. half of that stuff is fake, and, for that reason, there are tutorials on youtube which show you how to recognize the fakes. the good thing is that you have paypal on your side with ebay...not so much with a guy from Gurabo selling a Galasi 10 for 9k...

the tax on a cellphone over 200 dollars is something like 68%. a Galaxy 10 plus is something like 40k. add 68%, plus shipping, plus shipper commission, you are at 70k. if the guy advertises it for 30k, you are about to get hosed.
 
C

chico bill

Guest
the gorgon said:
it is good that you have posted this warning about fake cellphones on facebook..true word.

however, that is no different than buying on Ebay. if you are buying a high end cellphone, it is a crap shoot. half of that stuff is fake, and, for that reason, there are tutorials on youtube which show you how to recognize the fakes. the good thing is that you have paypal on your side with ebay...not so much with a guy from Gurabo selling a Galasi 10 for 9k...

the tax on a cellphone over 200 dollars is something like 68%. a Galaxy 10 plus is something like 40k. add 68%, plus shipping, plus shipper commission, you are at 70k. if the guy advertises it for 30k, you are about to get hosed.
Click to expand...

I have had good luck on eBay and Payapl will get your money back if you wait the appropriate time. There are a lot of Asian Scammers on eBay now. I order nothing from China, India and even now Hong Kong. Korea and Tawain are reliable.

The old caveat emptor should be liberally followed when thinking about buying anything online in the DR. If you can't see it an touch it first - don't bother.
 
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william webster

Guest
Corotos & Mercado Libre

I bought 2 dogs last October from a guy in STI...8000 each

The same dogs were listed on the other site for double that

So some people act as 'agents/representatives' for a seller - unauthorized , I assume

I just went for the lower price
Owner showed up as requested , on time and I was done

Not his fault some sharpshooter on another sale site was fishing
 
J

josh2203

Guest
chico bill said:
It is all fake. They will ask you to communicate by WhatsApp and ask for you to send the money to his bank. Then they will send you the phone by bus via Carribe Tours or Metro.
Your money will be lost and poof you will never hear from them again.
There are those who claim to be located in Montecristi, many in Santiago and SD.

As a test (more of a lesson to my pareja and my own curiosity) I communicated with one in Montecristi, as I happened to be going there the following week. He said his location was shown on WhatsApp and there was a street and a pharmacy nearby he listed. I punched that in my phone's GPS and not only is he not there, there is no store there, and no pharmacy by that name in Montecristi -only some modest homes. I then tried to call him to just see how far the scammer would take it but he didn't answer - they never do.

If you do try to communicate with them via WhatsApp messaging you will see they are poorly educated and can not even hold a normal conversation. I think this could be avoided if all postings were charged a fee to list something by the week. Say $200 pesos per week per listing.

Buy your products in a store for safety. Avoid the items that 'seem to good to be true" - because they are just that.
Click to expand...

For the exact reason above:

https://sch-corotos.zendesk.com/hc/es-419/articles/115005629529-Consejos-para-compradores

chico bill said:
I have had good luck on eBay and Payapl will get your money back if you wait the appropriate time. There are a lot of Asian Scammers on eBay now. I order nothing from China, India and even now Hong Kong. Korea and Tawain are reliable.

The old caveat emptor should be liberally followed when thinking about buying anything online in the DR. If you can't see it an touch it first - don't bother.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with CB above. Corotos and Mercado Libre, nor the DR market in general, cannot be directly compared with Ebay. On Ebay, vendors/sellers have reputation (yes, there might be fake reviews), reviews, you have PayPal, you can choose where the seller is located, you can complain if something goes wrong (not guaranteed to work, but anyway). With Corotos or Mercado Libre, you have none of that, nor is payment facilitated in any way. Sending/receiving can be a hassle...
 
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the gorgon

Guest
in Corotos, there are some guys who do not give their phone numbers...they want to engage you with the chatea crap. no thanks. i want to hear your voice on the phone. i want to hear your instant response to probing questions. if your voice and way of speaking suggests to me that you cannot tie your laces, i am not buying something high tech from you...
 
C

cobraboy

Guest
chico bill said:
I have had good luck on eBay and Payapl will get your money back if you wait the appropriate time. There are a lot of Asian Scammers on eBay now. I order nothing from China, India and even now Hong Kong. Korea and Tawain are reliable.

The old caveat emptor should be liberally followed when thinking about buying anything online in the DR. If you can't see it an touch it first - don't bother.
Click to expand...
PayPal are consumer advocates.

I have has excellent experience on ebay and some Chinese sites. I had an experience with a fake of a clone of an old iPhoine4 from a Chinese site, and PayPal got it fixed quickly.

I'm a big believer in PayPal.
 
C

chico bill

Guest
cobraboy said:
PayPal are consumer advocates.

I have has excellent experience on ebay and some Chinese sites. I had an experience with a fake of a clone of an old iPhoine4 from a Chinese site, and PayPal got it fixed quickly.

I'm a big believer in PayPal.
Click to expand...

I had a guy who send me a damaged hard drive, claiming it was working. PayPal refunded my money.
Also had a scammer selling Milwaukee M18 batteries, and eBay actually alerted me that the purchase I made was suspicious and the seller was a hacker from China posing as a US based seller. They alerted PayPal who stopped the funds from going to him and they never left my account - also took down that users account.
Always look at the reviews on ebay and how many are negative.

And just don't order anything from Corotos or Mercado to be shipped - if you can't touch it, it doesn't exist
 
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william webster

Guest
As I posted earlier...
these are 'Garage Sale' type sites... not E-Bay/Amazon/PayPal

Craig's List is a direct comparison

No idiot would send $$ blindly and hope for a delivery

Face to Face is what Craig's List warns

Whew !!
we talk about local scams all the time....
this one is sooo obvious as to how to conduct yourself

I have done it -- successfully... more than once... w/o a problem
 
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