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lightningtiger

Ebay seller gets busted for switching price labels

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Wow, I expected the guy from CA that was caught a couple months back. That's crazy, especially given the fact that she's a female AND a non-native American citizen.

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Geez...another one?! If she changed labels for other items, how did the cashier not spot it?

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Geez...another one?! If she changed labels for other items, how did the cashier not spot it?

I suppose minimum wages and stressfull working conditions creates apathy.

I wonder just how widespred this phenomenen is.

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Wow, I expected the guy from CA that was caught a couple months back. That's crazy, especially given the fact that she's a female AND a non-native American citizen.

True that is crazy! The things some people will do.

But, i always thought Chile was in America albeit the Southern part?

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True that is crazy! The things some people will do.

But, i always thought Chile was in America albeit the Southern part?

Really?

27gb.jpg

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Yes, stealing is wrong. Very very wrong. However, this Lego UPC swapping happens mostly in the US, where Lego is at its cheapest. This creates a very tempting scenario for their eBay sellers to sell items retail price (or more) to customers outside the country.

Should we blame TLG for their uneven pricing schemes around the world for this behavior?

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Really?

27gb.jpg

Well technically, Chile is a part of The Americas much the same as USA is.

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Geez...another one?! If she changed labels for other items, how did the cashier not spot it?

We have so automated the retail process that the cashier no longer even looks at the actual product. Businesses have spent the last generation purging initiative and product knowledge from their sales staff in favor of more trustworthy machines and fewer cheaper less skilled humans. This is the end result.

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I bought a Hogwarts Castle about 6 weeks ago from an ebay seller in California. They had it for $104 shipped. It didn't even occur to me at the time that it could be something they scammed from a store. I got the item and everything seemed fine. About 3 weeks later I noticed the completed listing was taken down and I got a message saying that the listig was taken down

occasionally we need to remove listings. In some cases, the item itself is fine, but was listed in a way that didn't follow eBay's guidelines.

Then they gave me these options

-- If you already paid, received your item, and you're satisfied, please disregard this notice.

-- If you won the item but haven't paid, don't pay. Since eBay removed the listing, you're no longer obligated to go through with the transaction.

-- If you already paid for this item through eBay, and it's past the estimated delivery time, you can open a case in our Resolution Center.

Never did really know what the issue was, but I wonder if this was someone doing something like price switching.

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I bought a Hogwarts Castle about 6 weeks ago from an ebay seller in California. They had it for $104 shipped. It didn't even occur to me at the time that it could be something they scammed from a store. I got the item and everything seemed fine. About 3 weeks later I noticed the completed listing was taken down and I got a message saying that the listig was taken down

Then they gave me these options

Never did really know what the issue was, but I wonder if this was someone doing something like price switching.

Did you notice where the box was actually shipped from? You have to be very careful on e-bay with sets that are still available through Lego s@h or TRU or Walmart online. Especially the more expensive ones. It's called the drop ship scam. The seller lists the set at slightly below Msrp so it seems like a llegit deal. You buy it from the seller via cc (heaven forbid) or PayPal. The seller than buys the set from the online merchant such as s@h using a stolen credit card number, and has it drop shipped to you. It may be weeks before the actual owner of the card discovers the fraudulent charge and has it reversed. At that point the legit online merchant is out the money and the merchandise, and you are technically holding stolen goods, while the scammer walks off with your money. And Lego s@h will no longer take your orders, since your address is in their database as a scammer.

Fun isn't it?

Edited by Faefrost

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I've only ever bought new sets from either S@H and brick-and-mortar stores. I think you're safe from this scam if you only buy complete, new-in-box sets from those sources, or only use Ebay to pick up those large mixed boxes that people tend to get rid of after they "grow out" of Lego [how sad!].

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That is just a crazy story! :wink: But wouldn't the staff at the cash register see that when the Lego was scanned it says "Pan $7" or something?

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That is just a crazy story! :wink: But wouldn't the staff at the cash register see that when the Lego was scanned it says "Pan $7" or something?

Not if the cashier is not paying attention.

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Or if you use a self service check out!

That shouldn't be feasible to do at all. If it is, your "self service check out" station is extremely poorly constructed. In Denmark, such stations measure weight of the goods when you scan them - meaning that to cheat like this, you'd have to find a label that weighs exactly the same as the LEGO you want to steal. Not saying it's impossible, but you'd have to put a lot of work into it.

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I found another similar story....this time a 44 year old man who put $15.99 price tags on Millennium Falcons ! :laugh:

Another Ebay'er busted !

He's obviously some sort of genius:

Detectives eventually linked him to 14 separate trips to Target stores between Feb. 20 and April 14 — six in San Bruno, four in San Mateo, three in Redwood City and one in Daly City. In all but one, Morales allegedly put a $15.99 price tag on Millennium Falcon Lego sets and purchased them with his own credit card. He then sold the sets on eBay using PayPal.

:laugh::hmpf:

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Another criminal genius. He just couldn't resist getting those $5 rewards back.

I still want to know how they pulled this off. Open a huge box and remove the contents (not always an easy task to get some of toys out of their boxes), wheel a cart full of high value toys to the spot in the store where you are doing this, load all of it into the box (again, not an easy task to get everything to fit right), then tape the box back up.

The cashiers must have been willing to leave it in the cart and scan the barcode, because you'd think they would notice a box that weighed quite a bit more than it should, not to mention one that rattles like LEGO bricks when it shouldn't.

Can you imagine this scam working anywhere other than TRU? Where were the staff? The store must have been fairly empty for nobody to see this, but then why weren't their staff around to catch them in the act?

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I still want to know how they pulled this off.

My guess is they go in one day, and prep a box for their scam. Then they go back another day to actually purchase it. Just recently, I was at a Target and saw a clone tank with a forged barcode sticker on it. I just left it on the shelf. I know I should have told the store, but didn't want to get involved.

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Really?

There's more than one America. America is not the name of our country. Travelling abroad, I always say I'm from The States. I never say America, I try to avoid saying American, because we actually take up the Western Hemisphere. Grab a globe, buddy. South America is where Chile resides.

There's even a Central America... :look:

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Best way to avoid being caught I would think is, buy 2-3 expensive products for 7 dollars, but then buy a game or two at full price that you want, or something else, the average will come out higher, so harder to spot then if you buy 5 huge boxes and leave the store with only paying 35$'s or such. That might be how it be hard unless they spotted it as it went through, the price wouldn't bring any red flags.

Truth be told, I'm too cowardly tobe a crook :> I be too concerned about being caught, or such plus what fun is having money and stuff if your in jail.

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