University student Sabina Anne Co wants to share her story to warn others to take extra care when making online transactions.
“A few weeks ago, I posted my phone [for sale] on OLX [formerly sulit.com]. I was amazed when an e-mail came five hours after posting. The guy was asking about the quality of my phone… He said he [wanted] to buy the item for his cousin’s birthday but due to the nature of his job, he wanted me to take care of the shipping.”
Co says she agreed but was shocked to find out the “buyer” wanted her to send the phone to South Africa.
The buyer said he had paid her in dollars through PayPal. But Co says when she checked her PayPal account, there was no money transfer.
Later she got an e-mail purportedly from PayPal telling her “to send the tracking number of the item to a particular e-mail address before the money gets transferred to my account.” Co says that although she had some doubts about the e-mail’s legitimacy, being new to PayPal, she decided to send the item through DHL.
Fortunately for her, the DHL clerk who handled the transaction told her, when he found out where the item was going, that there had been a lot of complaints from people sending their gadgets to South Africa.
Co held on to her phone and did some research on the Internet. She found out that many people from South Africa had been involved in the “buy” scams, not just on OLX but also on eBay.
I asked OLX to comment on Co’s experience and to provide additional tips for online sellers.
Face-to-face
Jean Magboo, OLX corporate communications and public relations supervisor, says the online buy-and-sell site urges clients “to transact with sellers or buyers who are near or within their vicinity so that payment and handling of item/s are done in person. There is definitely a much higher risk of getting scammed when you send your payment or, as in Co’s story, the item you are selling in advance.”
She stresses that legitimate buyers of used or secondhand items will rarely ask for them to be shipped sight unseen, as most would like to inspect the products’ condition first before paying.
Knowing that Filipinos are just starting to learn the ropes of selling online, Magboo says “we display selling and buying tips that can serve as reference on our website, or they (clients) can also speak to our OLX Support Team through our hotline at 5769591 or e-mail them at [email protected].”
Relatively new
According to newspaper reports, Undersecretary Victorio Mario Dimagiba, who oversees consumer welfare, admits the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has difficulty dealing with e-commerce complaints as online transactions are relatively new, having started to pick up only about three years ago.
He says the 22-year-old Consumer Act of the Philippines does not address technical issues involved in online trading. Dimagiba says DTI is working with the Digital Commerce Association of the Philippines to draw up stricter rules on e-commerce.
In another report, Dimagiba advises consumers to “deal only with trusted online sites” and to be wary of “very cheap offers.” He says consumers should “understand the delivery commitment and the penalty retailers agree to pay in case of delayed, failed or defective delivery.”
Dimagiba says records of transactions should be kept and consumers should call the DTI hotline, 7513330, for complaints or assistance.
Send letters to The Consumer, Lifestyle Section, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1098 Chino Roces Ave. cor. Mascardo and Yague Sts., 1204 Makati City; fax 8974793/94; or e-mail [email protected]
