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eCRATER review: Awful experience 110

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9:48 am EST
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In the span of 5 days, I ordered two different Wii systems from two different sellers/stores from ecrater.com I never received any product and when I contacted ecrater to file a complaint, they told me that neither seller nor store was an ecrater seller/store. However, I can still go to one of the sellers on ecrater. Instead of backing the sellers/stores, they pass the buck. So by saying that the seller is no longer there, they are allowing anyone to post a sale, take the money, and walk away from ecrater with no accountability. I will NEVER shop ecrater again and I will pass on my fraudulent transactions everywhere I can.

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110 comments
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wtwtf
, US
Mar 06, 2011 3:08 am EST

Wow, im glad I read this. There's no way I would buy from Ecrater, sounds like a big collaborative scam to me.

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Tsj2
, US
Feb 25, 2011 12:54 pm EST

I will never never never use ecrater again! I ordered a lipgloss two weeks ago and have yet to receive it! In addition, I emailed the seller..no response! At least with ebay you could read the seller's feedbacks. Never again!

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James111h
Jesferd, US
Feb 19, 2011 9:57 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I have bought many things from ecrater, and I never got scamed. The key to such a good experience? Vigilance. When buying online, no matter if it is ecrater, or ebay, or amazon, you need to do your homework. First check the the product online, on different websites, read some reviews on it, than check the seller from which you are buying. Check their rating and their store info, like the contact us page and the about us page. If those are written in a proffesional way, than it is ok to buy, since most scamers do not bother to write an about us page or a contact us page.

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Power Sports Dealer
Shelbyville, US
Jan 14, 2011 10:30 pm EST
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What a bunch of cry babies. We have a store on ecrater as well as eBay. The only major difference we have found is that we sell the same merchandise on ecrater for 10% less due to the HIGH COST of eBay fees to store owners.

We use BOTH Google checkout and PayPal. Over the many years, I have had to go to PayPal a couple times when I did not receive the merchandise (from Hong Kong) and each time PP contacted the seller, explained the problem the seller had, and refunded my money. GOOGLE thoroughly check the merchant's bank account and WILL NOT even transfer money until is account is of a certain age.

IF you use a DEBIT CARD for online payments neither your bank or CC issuer will back you up...PERIOD. This is not Google or PP's fault, it is YOURS since you do not understand how the world turns.

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JustMeTwo
Denver, US
Jan 10, 2011 11:19 pm EST

All of you say "you called AFTER ordering"... "you emailed AFTER ordering"... did you not check the individual sellers BEFORE ordering? There are MANY legit sellers there HOWEVER if I were buying a high ticket item... I would never buy from ANY VENUE that had individual sellers. I need a high ticket item & I am off to a reputable STORE where I can simply go in & look or complain. I have ordered many things from sellers at ecrater as well as ebay, & others. I have never had a problem "knock on wood"

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jake sharkey
Bridgeton, US
Jan 02, 2011 2:15 pm EST
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never mind, everything worked out.

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jake sharkey
Bridgeton, US
Dec 29, 2010 2:30 pm EST
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I have purchased a used xbox 360 from a seller on ecrater called jct gaming. i sent them 2 emails and have not seen a response. i sent the emails before 12-27-10, but when i went on their page it said last updated on 12-27-10. so, i know they were on after i sent the emails, but now i think they have just taken my $92 and in the end, i don't think i will be getting my 360. but before i make any complaints, i just want to ask if jct gaming is at least a reliable seller. after reading all of these complaints, i feel i might have been scammed.

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wizkidtoys
Bloomfield Hills, US
Dec 20, 2010 11:39 am EST
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well, I just moved my store from ebay to ecrater - as ebay is too expensive for me. I have 100% reputation on ebay - and I had a few sales on ecrater - but NOBODY leaves feedback. Maybe feedback email gets into the spam folder, I don't know - but it is frustrating that I can't get good reviews - I provide tracking for all orders - and all of them were delivered. I ship same or next day. By anyway, this would not be happening if people would leave reviews. So people, instead of complaining - please review your seller.

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RealRecognize
, US
Dec 08, 2010 8:30 am EST

I brought two items from ecrater and never got either one of them. This is a scam people!

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Seraph123
PG County, US
Nov 05, 2010 7:32 pm EDT
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Just like Ebay, There are a lot of successful and honest sellers on ecrater and I am sure they too have their share of dishonest ones as well. Aligaterr, I agree with you, if the item was already sold why was it available for you to check out. I recommend you always check out seller credentials before buying, whether on ebay or ecrater. What happened to you has happened on ebay also. Both sites have feedback reports. If a seller has a low rating stay clear of them. I always contact a seller before buying to see if they respond to my questions about the item. I read their feedback. Aligaterr, I am so sorry this happened to you. Did you loose money on this deal? If you did not, you're very fortunate.

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aligaterr
Pulaski, US
Nov 03, 2010 4:16 pm EDT

I will never shop at ecrater again also. This was my experience:
I bought a pair of shoes from a seller - completed checkout through google and thought all was good. The google checkout charge posted as pending to my bank account. A week after the transaction, and not receiving any correspondence, I contacted the seller. They informed me that I had not purchased the shoes and that someone else had purchased them the day before I "tried" to purchase them. Huh? How the heck are you allowed to purchase something that has already been sold? I think it's a crock! I'm not sure what the heck is going on but it seems to me that if I went through the buying process the shoes should be mine. How can someone else buy them and the item still be available to purchase. I'm just hoping there is no additional backlash from this transaction and that by using google checkout I've protected myself. Unfortunately this site is not going to do very well if they just allow every tom, dick, and harry to sell stuff on the internet. I feel like I've been cheated in some way. Don't trust ecrater.

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Seraph123
PG County, US
Oct 30, 2010 8:34 pm EDT
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Enchanted_Hearth,

thank you for your post. You can have a bad experience on ecrater and ebay. As I stated in my earlier post. You simply have to do your homework before dealing with sellers at auction sites like ebay and ecrater.

Both offer feedback and ratings. Thanks for your statement that Google and Paypal offer a safe way to shop on the web.

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Enchanted_Hearth
, US
Oct 30, 2010 8:04 pm EDT

QUOTE: "Why all ecrater Posts supporting them show poor english skills? I'm sure they are overseas rippers who would ripp off your wallets in no time.

Best thing to do, do not use ecrater. I was about to buy something, but went i went online it remind me of those fake chinese sites who sell eveeything from ps3 to motorcycles, but are just a scam to steal your accounts and credit cards.

Only use recognized websites to shop, it's a shame that illegitime sites like that receive web propagation."

Wow, Markie! You couldn't be further form the truth. I have read through these posts and not all the posts supporting ecrater use poor english. don't mistake typos for poor english. There are so many legit ecrater sellers. I am one of them, so I can assure you mine is NOT a "fake Chinese site". The ecrater stores can in NO WAY shape or form steal a person's account or credit card number. When a person uses Google Checkout and Paypal, the seller never sees the customer's credit card number, so that is a very safe way to shop.

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Seraph123
PG County, US
Oct 25, 2010 3:10 pm EDT
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I contacted 2 different sellers on eCrater to see if I'd get a response. I wanted to know how their business was doing on ecrater. Both responded and both offered advice on using the site as a seller. One seller says 60% of his sales are on ebay and 20% on ecrater. He is happy with both, but items sell a lot faster on eBay. Ecrater got started around 2004. It is free. Unlike Ebay, Ecrater Sellers get 100% of their profits; there are no fees. I have been reading the complaints at this message board. One person made a very important point, NO MATTER WHERE YOU SHOP ONLINE, you must do your homework. CHeck feedback, contact sellers before you buy to see if they respond. Even Ebay has crooks and theives and Ebay has very reputable sellers. I am finding out that ecrater also has good and bad sellers. Ecrater allows you to filter out the feedback rating you wish to deal with, meaning you can choose to only deal with sellers with 100% positive rating. Again, you have to be very careful at ANY ONLINE store. Online Fraud has been committed on even well known sites! Even Amazon.com has bad and good sellers. You have better recourse (buyer protection) on Ebay, not sure about Amazon, but I'm sure they can help if a seller does not keep their end of the transaction. I feel very sorry for those who've lost money to dishonest sellers. Paypal is owned by Ebay...FYI. I've used Paypal for over 8 years and never had any problems. Sellers have to be wary of dishonest buyers too! So its a 2 way street. Good Luck and remember to do your homeword before dealing with any online shopping website.

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Katydidnot
, US
Oct 04, 2010 1:00 pm EDT

Markie Mark, I find your comments about "poor English skills" so ironic. I'm an ecrater seller, and I'm not "illegitime" or even illegitimate.

Ecrater is a free marketplace available to anyone, with hundreds of individual stores. It's like a flea market, everyone has their individual booths; as the poster above me stated, it's up to you to see who is who. There should be contact information in each legitimate store. Mine has an email contact and my phone number for anyone to check me out.

Don't blame hundreds of honest sellers for your failure to do research.

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MaddScientist419
Winchester, US
Sep 26, 2010 10:16 am EDT
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I think most of the problems with this website stem from lack of research on the consumers' part. Do you go out and just buy a used car off of any car dealer? I would hope not, if you are smart you actually do research for hours, days, even weeks on pricing, reliability, etc. Basically EVERYONE should no that there is a risk when you are purchasing items online. If it isn't someone with a fake store it's someone pulling your credit info out of thin air and charging 800 dollar cell phones or stupid things like that. Long story short--- Do some research and don't blame an entire website for your shortcomings.
And those of you who don't want to do the research...fly out to VA and come give me your money and I'll kick you in the nuts so you'll get the same sensation as getting ripped off online.

If it sounds too good to be true...IT IS!

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Markie Mark
1722 nw 87 ave, US
Sep 19, 2010 6:28 am EDT
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Why all ecrater Posts supporting them show poor english skills? I'm sure they are overseas rippers who would ripp off your wallets in no time.

Best thing to do, do not use ecrater. I was about to buy something, but went i went online it remind me of those fake chinese sites who sell eveeything from ps3 to motorcycles, but are just a scam to steal your accounts and credit cards.

Only use recognized websites to shop, it's a shame that illegitime sites like that receive web propagation.

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AnotAmouse
Providence, US
Aug 24, 2010 4:07 pm EDT
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OK, to bring some closure to my illustration... After purchasing a product off an eCrater vendor I never knew about before using eCrater that day, I received the item ordered from the vendor's drop shipper and sure enough it was postmarked the day he said he would have it mailed.

The item was new as represented and worked right out of the box. It was a perfect transaction, and I liked Google Check Out which provided the following updates:

Receipt - vendorname, Aug 15, 2010
Your order has been shipped!

vendorname shipped your order. Have questions? Contact vendorname link
Aug 18 Vendorname shipped your order.

Aug 17 Vendorname charged your CRED xxx-xxxx for $19.95. "GOOGLE *Vendorname" will appear on your billing statement.
Aug 15 Vendorname received your order.
Aug 15 You placed an order with vendorname on Aug 15. Google Checkout sent a copy of this receipt to your@email.com
Order date: Aug 15, 2010 7:17 PM PDT

I ordered the night of August 15. There was a problem but the Vendor bent over backwards to fix it and had it shipped to me on Aug 19 anyway. It arrived on Aug 21 and all was well. Happily I don't need to put the vendor's name here because there was absolutely nothing to complain about. Now it is time to give feedback on the eCrater site. Ha! I see why only 20-25% of the customers this guy had leave feedback. I have to go back in my email and find the eCrater email requesting feedback sent a week earlier and click on the link. Maybe later ... this typing here is enough for now LOL. I will be using eCrater again. The original poster sounds like he just bought something that was too suspicious or too cheap to be true and probably obviously not authentic. I could be wrong, but eCrater was much better than eBay and even better than Amazon (eCrater gave me a phone number to call the vendor when there was a problem). Great job eCrater & as always Caveat Emptor...

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AnotAmouse
Providence, US
Aug 17, 2010 4:29 pm EDT
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OK, I called the vendor back. He is in California and apologized profusely for no having sold out the product and advertised it. He also confirmed that he hoped it would be drop shipped to me today, but if not it was promised to him by the drop shipper to be shipped to me by tomorrow - from Ohio. That is actually better for me since it is closer and will arrive faster. Not bad for the $3 postage I was charged (Included in the $20). On the guy's eCrater purchase confirmation his number is listed but he says he prefers email. On researching his company, in other formats he mentions that the company only does email and not phone support due to the low margins. Never a word of complaint to me - super courteous and great attitude all the way, and both times answered the phone personally.

FEEDBACK: eBay vs. eCrater:
One mistake I made interpreting feedback in this test case- here is the real situation: it was about 5000, not 8000 (which was his feedback where I found him also on eBay) as I said above. Careful: eCrater feedback is ionterpreted differently from eBay. The score is just the total number of feedbacks positive, neutral and negative. In my case the vendor had 5000, but 4000 NEVER responded for good or bad. From this you can see that eCrater buyers feel less need to leave feedback - though I am sure if it is negative they would. In any case he had less than 15 negatives, over 1000 positives and 4000 who did not leave feedback. To get his feedback rating of 98.9% it looks like the 10-15 negatives are divided by the feedbacks left and subtracted from 100%. This clearly looks to be an established vendor.

So, things are looking up. Now I just need to receive the item. Just because I am all over this and wasting time, it is only to learn about eCrater and compare with my eBay experience. So far there has been absolutely no benefit to eBay vs. this. I did have to research the seller and convince myself he was legit - and in this case he is in several places on the Internet. This sort of approach is required when buying anything over the Internet from an unknown vendor. I feel it is time well spent and a good learning experience to share an eCrater/Google check out experience for anyone who is curious to follow one case.

STATUS OF ORDER:
I asked the vendor about Google Checkout and why it still just showed the order was passed on to him, instead of processing, etc. He gave me some insight. He spoke equally of Google Check Out and PayPal - had no preference he would express to me and says he does a ton of business in PayPal and some with Google Check Out (which made my order easier to find since there were fewer). He said "with those payment systems (PP & GCO), it is up to the merchant to update them after they get the order and many merchants are slow at that if they have a large business and sometimes updating slips through the cracks. Obviously this is important to us sellers. He said the situation in my case was since he didn't have it he didn't update anything until he gets confirmation that the drop shipper has in effect shipped. OK, so in eBay it is the same. The only added benefit is when the seller at their option uses PayPal to print the postage, then an automatic message is generated and sent to the buyer that the order is being shipped. But that message in PayPal can be confusing since it has happened to me several times that it was not shipped until 2-3 days later (though the USPS doesn't approve - they allow it). So when you think about it and separate all the hype ... I am having a great transaction off eCrater at the moment and there is no way eBay or PayPal could have made anything better, except take $4 extra from the seller - who would just pass it on to me in a higher price.

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AnotAmouse
Providence, US
Aug 17, 2010 1:16 pm EDT
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Update on the eCrater/Google Check Out test. Two days later, GCO shows only the vendor was given the order. OK ... looked at my invoice from GCO and got the phone number of the company ... called them and gave them the order number. They were very friendly and explained they sold me something that was temporarily out of stock. Will try to get the supplier to drop ship. I said no problem ... as long as it comes.

Drop-shipping (selling something you don't have and having a third party you pay ship it out and basically you take a commission) is not something I am fond about. But ... it really depends how definite and how soon it gets shipped.

So I have mixed feelings at this point. Unhappy my order is being drop shipped under the best conditions and wondering what is next if he isn't able to follow through for some reason. All indicates it is a reputable company - though we should frown on selling stuff out of stock.

On eBay, it is against policy to sell something out of stock. But legions of people are in the drop shipping business there, too - the same thing has happened. And I have ordered in the past from many great customer service companies like Lands End and Victorias Secret and they pull the same stuff.

Interestingly, my credit card company still only has a temporary authorization on the charge - so I really haven't been charged yet. Could it be that GCO requires the vendor to ship in order to process the authorization into a charge? I'm not holding my breath but if true - that is a great advantage over PayPal which requires a cleared payment before shipping - thus the onus is on the buyer before the seller does anything.

So far I have a good feeling about this eCrater order - since I could talk to the seller (and he doesn't even have my email - but can contact me through Google Check Out whenever he wants. At this point if I wanted to cancel the order, I think the merchant would cooperate in my case, but this would be an advantage in that you probably would not depend on the vendor if you were using eBay and PayPal together since to be listed on eBay you need to have the item in stock - supposedly.

But in the real world, in my experience, eBay sellers circumvent this rule easily and some even drop ship everything (sometimes the location of the item reflects this and is different from the area code of their phone numbers - and sometimes they hide the truth and don't say a thing.

In conclusion - so far - we need to keep in mind when using eCrater that the auctions (ads) are not time sensitive and this might not have been advertised with this particular seller until he physically had it - if he ever planned to. It is less work for sellers on eCrater since they "set it and forget it" vs. eBay where you have up to 10 days on auctions and 30 on store items if I recall right.

An interesting anecdote - the Amazon.com party that had it for $22 PPD (17+5 postage) would mail two of them for the same postage - I just found that out by fooling with their website. It would have been better for me to buy two I eventually want from them for $39 (17+17+5) rather than test eCrater/vendor with one for $20, which is actually $0.50 more for one from the eCrater vendor than the average price of $19.50 ea. when buying two from the Amazon vendor. But since that is off Amazon's site it is not covered by the A-Z guarantee, it would be the same risk as doing the eCrater deal I am doing - so it is probably better insurance to do it one at a time and eventually pay an extra dollar for two identical items.

Hope this discussion/experiment is useful to point out the benefits and negatives of eCrater/GCO and eBay/PayPal in "real" time.

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AnotAmouse
Providence, US
Aug 16, 2010 3:44 pm EDT
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Oops, it should have read that the fees for the identical item on eCrater/Google Checkout were $0.60. So the comparison from the seller's point of view is:

$0.60 (eCrater/PayPal)
$4.21 (eBay/PayPal)

I could have paid with PayPal, but since eBay outlawed sellers offering Google Checkout on theuir site, fair is fair - take that eBay! And shove your inept PayPal in San Francisco Bay. It is a great idea in the hands of a greedy bunch and Google Checkout was simpler and less intrusive with my private information and did not make me sign my disputing rights away...

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AnotAmouse
Providence, US
Aug 16, 2010 3:17 pm EDT
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Well, after saying so much on this thread I decided to buy something off eCrater (a first time eCrater buy for me) and put my money where my keyboard is. The seller has a 98.9% feedback rating with over 8, 000 feedbacks on eCrater. It's a $20 item. I researched them and found that the BBB holds them in good esteem for a company their side and most of the complaints have been resolved. I used Google Checkout for the first time which in turn charges my credit card and doesn't even give the seller my email by my choice (we can contact each other through GCO). I feel safer since if I don't get it or some other serious shennagans I will just dispute it with my credit card. Plus GCO on eCrater takes only (2% + 0.20) vs. PayPal's (2.9% +0.30 + eBay fees up to 15%) from the seller.

The identical item and condition (new) is listed on both venues, cheapest eBay PPD price is $26.50 and eCrater PPD is $20. In my test case, I calculated the eBay/PayPal combination = $3.14+ $1.07 = $4.21. So the Seller has to pay $4.21 to eBay. In comparison, the eCrater case I am buying, the Seller will have to pay $0.40 for the eCrater/GCO combination.

eBay costs $3.79 more to the Seller over and abocve what I am paying the Seller on eCrater. Plus, I prefer the Google Checkout (first-timer) since it does not even give my email address to the seller and allows me to dispute through my credit card in case of a problem. For PayPal, you sign that right away and have to deal with eBay's arbitration which caters to Power Sellers in my experience.

It will remain to be seen whether I get my item in a timely fasion and in good order (new & working). I have already purchased this item from eBay once before, but along with eBay's fees the price has gone up and the Seller was just an [censor] (never bothered to answer emails checking whether it was compatible with my use). The eCrater Seller, according to his feedback and auction description is very responsive to check compatibilities is you just ask, but I did not need to this time around. I'll follow up on how it went. The Seller is not only giving me the $3.79 he saved by selling on eCrater/GCO, but also over $2.50 more I guess to cover the perceived risk of an eCrater transaction. For me it is well worth this risk to save the $6.50 and not deal with the low cost eBay seller who has a broom up his [censor] when he finally does decide to answer (after I received the product he said he was sorry for never getting back to me but to leave him good feedback which I did and shows how good eBay feedback can be).

I'll post the results with the understanding that a statistic of one is only proof of concept - not a substitute for Caveat Emptor...

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AnotAmouse
Providence, US
Aug 13, 2010 5:30 pm EDT
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geoff binder, you are right and eCrater will not get involved either way with good products or scams. But they have feedback to deal with both and it is helpful to a person with half a brain.

I think you are not understanding that eCrater is just a software and has minimum or no income, and cannot play footsie go-between with people any more than your local newspaper will get involved after someone places a classified and rips you off. eBay is a multibillion dollar company that milks everyone and still is dubious on protection.

If you buy with PayPal on eCrater you are just as protected as eBay (yes eBay's monopoly owns PayPal, what can we do). eBay employs monopolistic agressive policies to prevent competition and the bottom line hurts all buyers and enriches eBay pockets and has created billionaires.

The billion$ don't come from nowhere. To stimulate a free market, go after the fraudulent buyers by paying with PayPal or a credit card. If we play it safe, eBay will just be like another Microsoft in a place where a monopoly serves no ones interests - Google could even do a better job for free ...

If you want hassle free returns, dump both eCrater and eBay and just buy from Amazon.com. If you enjoy playing the auctions more power to you ... just understand all auctioneers are equally useless.

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geoff binder
, US
Aug 13, 2010 4:08 pm EDT
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eCrater is being criticized because when eCrater is told about one of their seller's is ripping buyer's off
they claim they have no control over it.
That makes them as guilty as their seller's.
Why? Because they will not get involved and allow to sell them fraudulent merchandise.

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Dee711
Utica, US
Jul 30, 2010 5:38 pm EDT

Why are all you people crying about ecrater? So there may be some problems; just like there was when ebay got going. I'm sure the owners will get it together in time. The real culprits are the people selling (or should I say not selling, but just ripping people off). I'm more concerned with those people. I think you complainer's should name those who have cheated you. You're not helping anyone by bashing ecrater. Who are the the real culprits? Let's see some names, not just your generalized complaint. Yes, I am defending ecrater; I sell on various formats not because I can not afford my own site, but because of the exposure it gives my products and I have 100% satisfaction from buyers. However, the truth needs to be revealed. You have a right to be mad for getting ripped off. I just hope you will use that anger with more constructive purpose. Expose the real culprits.

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Nicole L. Vergara
Reading, US
Jun 20, 2010 1:48 pm EDT

I am a seller on both Ebay and eCrater and I utilize both PayPal and Google Checkout, I am quite abhorred and beyond furious that sellers such as those you are all speaking of are giving the rest of us a bad name! The economy is already awful and then complaints like those of you here who have them make it even worse for those of us who do nothin wrong, are legitimate and so forth! I only hope that no one listens to the stay away part as that does hurt the rest of us who have done nothing to deserve being ignored, boycotted and etc.

I will say this though...
1. Do your research before buying! Does seller have more than an email available such as a phone number and is it valid. Is the price comparable or just to good to be true which generally means it is hoaky!
2. Look for PayPal and Google Verifications such as address, name and so forth. Obviously if nothing can be verified or even one thing can not, hmmm sounds fishy!

Yes there is more to be said but the best sense is USE COMMON SENSE!

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Daniel Ho
Los Angeles, US
May 27, 2010 12:56 pm EDT
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Thanks for this board. I was thinking about buying an iPod motherboard from top-iphone-ipod.ecrater.com, but he gave me inaccurate information about the motherboard I was after. I emailed him and he said that his motherboard was a 5.5 generation model that can fit a 30/60/80gb motherboard, but everywhere I looked, only a 5th generation is compatible with 30/60gb, and only 5.5 generation can fit the 80gb. Nowhere does it fit all three.

BTW, I've been scammed over $800 from alibaba.com trying to buy PS3 and Xbox consoles (never came) and Wii videogames (turned out to be bootlegs) and iPods (that were pathetic mp3 players that didn't even work).

Look at my two posts here under Daniel Ho:

http://ask.alibaba.com/Q/800064801-about-China-Customs-and-their-NO-PERFUME-POLICY.html
http://ask.alibaba.com/Q/800126922-i-have-had-my-money-stolen-with-no-goods-sent.html

All Chinese are crooks. And I can personally vouch that. ;)

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geoff binder
, US
May 25, 2010 8:59 am EDT
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eCrater is turning out to be just another scam site.
Stay away from eCraater.
eBay is also loaded with scam artistes also so be careful.

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Proudmommy2
, US
May 24, 2010 9:27 am EDT

I recently purchased from Toylady1967... did not receive my product either. I didn't have the money for a potty chair for my son so I found one on there and my mom bought it for me... :( And I gues it too, was a scam. I always use ebay and NEVER have a problem. Definitely BEWARE!

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geoff binder
, US
May 19, 2010 10:11 am EDT
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"If you purchase something on ecrater and pay for it with Paypal you do have protection. If the item you purchased isn't mailed or if you do receive it and it is significantly different than described you can file a complaint with paypal. " PayPal does no such thing! I was sold an item that is a clone.
Shouldn't that be Significantly different enough for their protection? Pay Fraud says NO.

Don't shop at eCrater. They don't stand behind their dealers. I was sold a cloned game cartridge and neither they nor PayPal which supposedly offer's a buyer protection plan back you up.
Pay frauds excuse is that I was shipped something so their not responsible for the seller committing fraud.

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AnotAmouse
Providence, US
May 18, 2010 4:16 pm EDT
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The most interesting arguments to analyze here seem to be between Tiburcio and CapitolVideo. I think both of you are intelligent people and my gut as well as mind tells me that Tiburcio is wrong to blame eCrater in all the ways he does. But I think he is right in asking CapitolVideo not to apply a double standard to eBay and eCrater, and that is where Capitol video should not start playing a blame the platform game if he wants to hold eCrater as fine. Frankly I've had it with eBay and will try to migrate what I can over to eCrater.

Don't get me wrong: EBay is an ok system but just a business decision I would like to not be a customer of. I cannot continue to support the eBay fees gone beyond control and unholy monopoly eBay/PayPal as for all the supposed protections eBay offers, I don't think they lift a finger when it counts for goodwill and they have become far too focused on their bottom line. EBay is simply sucking its cash cow at the expense of doing commerce on its site and not lifting a finger to add value beyond the unique place that they have with traffic as a first mover in the business. EBay screams a lot but does nothing except frustrate if you are in a bind. OK. They offer the unpaid complaint. I have news: on eCrater there is no need for it because there is no fee that the seller pays in the first place. So besides exposure, the only benefit of eBay is feedback since eCrater's sounds pretty lousy (though I haven't been burned by doing a token amount of homework before buying. If you use PayPal, Google Checkout, or your credit Card you have the same protections as eBay: eBay does nothing more than send you to them anyway, and with PayPal gives a drop in the bucket more to preserve their monopoly. Here is a tip - if someone looks fishy, don't buy from them anywhere. If they are too stupid not to look fishy, better not to buy from them anyway. If you want to gamble, either play with all the auction site and the too good to be true stuff, or just go to Las Vegas - but take it offline so you don't confuse people that are looking for an honest bit of advise in the online commerce mess.

On eCrater, I will gladly advertise my eBay feedback of 100% since 1998. And I will not tell you who I am, even though the folks that have invited us to buy from seem to have caused some people indigestion for some [censor]ed reason. I am much more influenced by checking out these people to see if they pass the online bogus test. So now you can't do that with me. So I probably wouldn't even take my own post seriously. Way to go Tiburcio. Some of the best comments are people we can't check out thanks to your complaint that if they identify themselves as eCrater sellers, then their comment has no value. That is where your logic is really screwed up. BTW, I have no interest in buying anything from anyone here - and a post giving some identity has zero impact on me changing my mind. As a buyer I'm not [censor]ed in running to buy from the first link I see posted - who is your intended audience when you make these comments? Please eCrater sellers, post your links and give us confidence in your platform as well as store. Just don't expect any sales from it. But do expect getting researched by those of us that waste time on doing homework and pointing you out as bogus if you are...

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NoraJean
Clarksville, US
May 04, 2010 7:25 pm EDT

I have sold on both Ebay and Ecrater. I have also bought on both of them. Ecrater is a very good site to sell on. I sell vintage glass and that is kind of hard to fake. I personally do NOT believe any of these fake stories about Ecrater. What I believe is that someone is going on a "SMEAR CAMPAIGN" to smear Ecrater. If you buy something through Paypal or Google Checkout..you are REFUNDED if you don't get the item, period! When I sell something and someone pays with Google checkout, there are checks in place to insure that I do what merchants do..ship the item. If the person doesn't get it, they notify Google and are refunded with no questions asked. Maybe some of these supposed "buyers" were actually scammers who wanted the merchandise and didn't want to pay and found out they weren't dealing with dummies. I love Google checkout and ECRATER! As for Ecrater, the site is easy to navigate, the product pictures are large and tasteful, and the community works very hard policing itself. If someone is selling items that are questionable, their store is suspended immediately; unlike Ebay that will let the person sell their junk until they run out.

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WALLTER
Richmond, US
Apr 22, 2010 12:53 pm EDT
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I just found a store on eCrater that is selling counterfeit copies of my products. This company has gone as far as using my photos to sell the items! Don't buy from HELLOPROMO!
THIS IS A SCAM!

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Tibursio
Denver, US
Apr 01, 2010 4:12 am EDT

Haha wow, well, there are so many flaws in your last message it's not even funny.

First: Judging by your English, I'm guessing that you misread the auction where you bought the so called "Sony" camera bag, it was probably a camera bag meant to fit a Sony camera, not a camera bag made by Sony.

Second: If this was the case, the camera bag was most likely made in Hong Kong, you yourself said the package came from Hong Kong, and you also said that you are an international seller in an indirect way, almost every international seller I encounter on eBay is from Hong Kong or Australia, and going off your English and the words you do and don't use, I'm guessing you are from Hong Kong. Anyways, That's besides the point... You state that you simply "left negative feedback for the seller" and that she is still selling the same item... You never said you filed for a dispute or tried to get your money back, you also know as a power seller, (I was one as well) that you don't just get shut down for one negative feedback. But none of that even matters, because you didn't report them or file a dispute with eBay for the issue, so they didn't even get a chance to look into it.

Third: You say you have issues with buyers, purchasing and not paying... You lose all of what... 10 seconds of your time, to go and file a dispute to get your what $0.40 listing fee back. But, regardless, as a powerseller, you also know that you can just require immediate payment upon purchase and prevent this problem altogether.

Fourth: You state that "you can't blame anything on eCrater", you are so wrong there, I can blame so much on eCrater... I do find it very ironic how you blame eBay for all your problems as a seller and buyer, when you can easily have fixed those problems yourself, with the tools eBay has provided for you!

As for saying I'm blind, I believe you were naive in stating that to begin with. The whole point of argument is each party stating their opinion in the matter, that is what we are doing, if you want to call names, go for it, but it will only make me think less of you and eCrater.

Last note, I do agree with one thing you said, the one buyer is threatening you with negative feedback if you don't do what he said... I personally agree that ebay screwed up by not allowing sellers to leave buyers negative feedback anymore...

On that note, I'm sorry to hear about your one bad buying experience, in which you most likely misread what the auction said, and I'm sorry you blamed it on eBay when you yourself said that you can't blame anything on eCrater for similar situations...

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capitolvideo
, US
Mar 31, 2010 2:59 pm EDT

I can not agree with Tibursio comments. He must be blind. Like I stated few days ago on my comment ebay is the rip off place. I am most the time seller not buyer, but I do buy things occasionally. I bought on ebay camera bag (Sony). It was described as original Sony and item is located in California. I am getting package from Hong Kong with very bad replica of Sony bag. Did not even fit the camera, lens cover was on opposite side of it. Just junk made by same guy in garage. Left the negative feedback for seller. Guess what, she still selling the same item. On another hand since I am ebay power seller and preferred seller I have buyers not paying for items they purchased. I had buyer doing it for three times. Every time to get item back on stock takes 8 days. Guess what? I had to block him from purchasing in my store. He still on ebay and doing the same thing to others. Is this fair? No. He should be sanctioned and restricted by ebay to purchase items with immediate payment only. He does not. So, what is great about ebay? Bunch of drop shippers. On the other hand I did never had problem with international buyers. I had buyer in US which purchased item in mid of December last year and send me email in end of February stating he never use the item and he does not like something about it. He is treating me with negative feedback at this point. The funny thing about it before he bought the item he try to bargain the price few times. More ebay seller will go to ecrater and bonanzle. You can not blame anything on ecrater. I think there is a wonderful site and owners of it a keeping hand on it. If they will find you are using copy rated images or sale fake merchandise they will shuts you down immedietly. And they do that.
I can tell you only is not ebay is ebafia. I am glad you happy with your 2000 purchases on ebay. Bad the bad news ebay is going down the hill so you will have to look for another place to shop.
Bedebe you left wonderful comments. Great job.

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Tibursio
Denver, US
Mar 31, 2010 1:06 pm EDT

I'm don't know if I said it in my past messages, I don't believe eCrater is only theifs. I will agree with you, there are good sellers on it, what I don't agree with, is the fact that eCrater has more scammers then eBay and Amazon and probably any other major marketing site, combined! Why would we want to shop somewhere, where we constantly have to worry about being scammed.

Of the probably, [protected]+ things I have purchased off eBay, I have been scammed less then 5 times. I have had a bad experience with no more then 20 of those items, if that. Of those 20, eBay, and yes I mean eBay not PayPal or anyone else, fixed the issue personally (I buy a lot internationally). The majority of the issues, has been Internationally, and have mostly revolved around DOA products. The issues were not able to be solved by customer to seller contact mostly for the fact that we don't speak the same language (or they pretend they don't understand you)... But I have NEVER had an issue with eBay getting my money back on a product that didn't show up, or failed. Not to mention, I'm not afraid of buying from sellers with no feedback... On the other hand, I would NEVER buy on eCrater from a seller with little or no feedback. Then we have amazon, I have probably purchased 300+ items there, and I have NEVER had a single issue. I know of a few people who have had issues getting pirated software on amazon, but I have yet to run into that. I trust amazon so much, I don't even look at store feedback or customer responses most of the time.

I agree, there can be scammers on every site, but as I said eCrater does nothing to keep out the scammers, or so it seems by their high amount of scammers. As for ordering things from Hong Kong, what do you think, it takes 2 days to ship from all the way around the world? I order a lot internationally, and that's because I'm willing to wait the 2-4 weeks to get the item for 1/2 to 1/10th the price. With ordering from Hong Kong, I understand there's more chances items will be broken when they arrive (generally due to their lack of protecting the package, in which case I file a dispute). It also takes much longer for them to arrive (A lot of which is due to US Customs). If you have an issue, you can't understand the seller enough to fix it, and they always just tell you to "buy new one" or "I check before ship, not broken, you not using right.", you will always have to go through third party to get it fixed. And last but not least it's pretty much impossible to return the item if I don't like it. If you can't accept that, buy locally.

As for the guy above me, saying report the merchant to the BBB, you kind of people amaze me. Since when did "reporting someone to the BBB", become the answer to everything. The BBB is the Better Business Bureau, not the Better Scam Detection Bureau... I highly doubt the people scamming on eCrater have a business, and if they do, they aren't going to relate it with their scams, making that entirely pointless. They can just go create another store, even if the BBB managed to do something about it, which I HIGHLY believe they would.

Noting that, I had someone a few weeks ago threaten to report my website to the BBB because he thought he could lash out at me and cuss me out, and I would respond by doing whatever he wanted. This was all because of a little downtime on my site, something I can't control. I obviously didn't give him what I wanted, instead I lectured him about how he should treat fellow human beings, that obviously pushed his buttons, so he threatened to report me to the BBB. Boy'o'boy was that a laugh, now he is completely banned from my site. If you want to threaten reporting me to the BBB, to try and get your way, you're just going to get laughed at. I do agree the BBB can be helpful, but people try to abuse it by sending empty threats to get what they want. If that's the case, I say go for it, you send your bs report to the BBB and I'll make sure to supply them with your threats and reasoning for it. Regardless, this paragraph has nothing to do with the subject, just branching off to my views on the BBB... You can't just report every little thing to the BBB, what are you going to do, report the girl scouts if one of your cookies is broken? Maybe a lemonade stand, because some little girl accidentally gave you a dirty glass of lemonade? What a joke!

On an ending note, I appreciate that you guys have not posted links to your stores recently, as that tells me you truly want to change our views on eCrater and not just try to make a sale.

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bedebe
, US
Mar 31, 2010 11:27 am EDT

A friend of mine has an Ecrater store. She is a working mother of two and opened her business to provide a better hand made product than she was finding on the market. She is also trying to save money for her kids education. Ecrater has given her the opportunity to make a little extra money and offer a good product to everyone. Her Ecrater store has been open for over a year, has a facebook site, is listed in several online forums and comes up quickly with Google. She is a reputable seller and a conscientious business woman. I think Ecrater is a great vehicle for entrepreneurs, and allows them to promote their business and make a decent profit!

Any online selling site you deal with poses some risk. I have ordered eBay merchandise that was never delivered or not what I ordered! Even some individual websites are like that. When you say things like "ECracter? this is big lie!", or "Ecrater is a scam" you are making a broad sweeping judgment against hundreds of honest merchants. If you have a complaint against a specific MERCHANT, make it. Contact the BBB about the MERCHANT. If you want to make prejudicial statements against a large group of mostly honest people, like my friend, who are just trying to make an honest living, you should reflect on your own motives. Maybe you are just a prejudiced judgmental individual who feels the need to lash out at anyone around you.

My suggestion... grow up.

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john06
Falls Church, US
Mar 20, 2010 10:05 am EDT

ECracter? this is big lie! Stay away from them. I don not know if some sellers want to do business but I recently bought a Iphone cover for $20. It took about 20 days for shipping and the iem was shipped from Hongkhong shown on its website only at $2.99. I thought the seller create a Ghost website accepted order and then made order from somewhere cheaper like Hongkong then shipped to the customers. Please be careful as buying products from this website .

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Capitoltv
Clearlake Oaks, US
Mar 17, 2010 10:49 am EDT

I am a seller on eCrater and I have been with eCrater for about a year, I also have store on ebay and I have status of "top rated seller and power seller" with 100% positive feedback. My seller rating on eCrater is 100% positive too. I am not going to post links to my stores since some of you guys are so sensitive about it. Only I can tell you I deal with OEM remote controls. I do as much business on eCrater as on ebay. I am very happy with eCrater and I did never run to any problems with buyers. It happend, that the buyer purchased item and send me email to cancel transaction and I do if item has not been shipped yet. On the other hand I had not paying buyers on ebay and had to open unpeid item dispute. Anyway there is no perfect marketplace, not all sellers are perfect and not all buyers are perfect. Do not blame on eCrater. Ecrater is wonderfull place for honest sellers, which do not wone to to get ripped off by ebay fees. I am thinking to close my ebay store since they make more profit on my marchandise then I do. Advice for you buyers. Do not thing ebay or Amazon is the best place for all your shopping and you protected by them. You are not. You only protected by payment procesors like PayPal or Google checkout etc.
Good luck to all of you.

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Tibursio
Denver, US
Mar 03, 2010 12:19 pm EST

Kelly, I appreciate that you actually took the time to address the problem rather then just promote your site.

I will agree that there are reputable sellers on eCrater, like yourself, who don't scam people. I however do believe that eBay takes many more precautions to prevent this, and therefor has less scammers.

I actually just had to set up an ebay store for my boss last week, and the amount of crap I had to go through to get it set up, was exhausting, but I'll tell you what, I wouldn't scam with all the information they have on me :|.

I do agree, scammers exist everywhere, I just think eCrater should do a better job preventing it, it seems they do almost nothing to prevent it, then you end up waisting money, time, and exhausting yourself just to get your $50 back...
-Tib

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