Topic Wiki

https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/dark-side-earning-credit-card-points-psa-dont-swipe-others/

https://www.mixcloud.com/zev-brenner/talkline-with-zev-brenner-on-credit-card-scams-affecting-the-orthodox-jewish-community/

http://podcast.headlinesbook.com/e/31616-credit-card-miles-and-points-swiping-for-rewards-buying-and-selling-miles-is-it-assur-and-a-chillul-hashem-or-a-great-way-for-a-side-parnassah/



BEFORE SWIPING FOR SOMEONE READ THIS: (first hand story)

https://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=36812.msg2062371#msg2062371
https://www.dansdeals.com/more/dans-commentary/dark-side-earning-credit-card-points-psa-dont-swipe-others/#comment-1399884


Dan's warning to DDF:
I hope people realize that any buying group or anyone else that gets merchandise in advance of payment can go south at any time. That's even if you get a check at the time of delivery.
X-posting as I don't want anyone to say that I never put a warning here.

A story that ended up in court - https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=iRcRHuyZUdOIx69D00a5XQ==&display=all&courtType=Kings%20County%20Supreme%20Court&resultsPageNum=1


I am one of the biggest buyers for buying groups, I have done millions in transactions and have sent to every group there is over the past 3 years. Most buying groups are okay, some scan in slower than others, some pay slower than others - most will lose a few packages over the year. You can research and find which are better for you.

However there is a bigger problem now with Amazon itself.  Amazon in the past has been great with any problems always ready with a refund for lost packages even if it was thousands of dollars. Lately Amazon has clamped down and has tagged these buying groups addresses  in their systems as "freight forwarder" and now no longer will fix any problem you have whatsoever. Doesn't matter what the problem is, even if it shows the package was never delivered, amazon will not help you in any way. Their copy and paste response will always be "this item was sent to a freight forwarder and we're unable to replace or refund the item. We recommend contacting your freight forwarder for more details, as we don't have any more insight or information regarding this matter, For more information about sending items via freight forwarders, please visit our Help Pages: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201117950." As well the amazon drivers either must know this or have been increasingly bad at delivering packages because the numbers of packages missing has gone up astronomically. Previously you would have very few packages missing, now the past 3 months I have had 59 "lost" packages. I now have over $15,000 of loses and some guy in Delaware is probably living the life with all the stuff he stole from me. I will survive, I have made a lot more than $15,000 over the years however just a warning to others here that things are not as they used to be and it really is no longer worth doing buring groups with all the loses piling up

« Last edited by Yo ssi on July 24, 2023, 06:47:26 PM »

Author Topic: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others  (Read 1182608 times)

Offline Onefishtwofish

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4520 on: January 09, 2022, 09:09:34 PM »
show me one group that does not have at least one of these issues...

Never had issues with PM.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4521 on: January 09, 2022, 09:19:00 PM »
show me one group that does not have at least one of these issues...

I was contrasting those with your described scenario of in person exchange of item for check. Obviously there’s a continuum and many BGs may be positioned somewhere along that continuum, with the riskiest ones flaking on most/all counts.
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Offline Euclid

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PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4522 on: January 09, 2022, 09:55:31 PM »
Never had issues with PM.
+1 - as I've mentioned many times in this thread have been dealing with PM for a looong time and have never had a single issue. I know the owners personally so that gives me a sense of security too.

In the beginning they used to pay on delivery (before they had a DE address). These days (especially now during holiday season) - payments can take upwards of 2-3 weeks. This is by design, and makes me slightly uneasy as 1) they're maybe having cash flow issues and/or dwindling cash reserves, or 2) they decided to branch out into some other type of financial business (cash advance etc) with the money they're holding onto. Neither option makes me comfortable.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4523 on: January 09, 2022, 10:20:03 PM »
Same here. Was always very comfortable with PM. Recently I have been annoyed at them changing commissions and then asking to create a ticket if it was purchased before the change, and also with the delays in payment. In general, I barely purchase for BGs at all these days. Just not worth the risk generally.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4524 on: January 09, 2022, 10:21:42 PM »
Fastest service Ime is closeoutnj

Offline LoLo

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4525 on: January 09, 2022, 10:28:59 PM »
Delays in payment and check-in happens every years around holiday season, gotta wait it out a bit to see if it's a permanent change.

Offline halluc1nati0n

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4526 on: January 10, 2022, 01:02:43 AM »
There were a few recent reports of MYS taking a long time to pay out, not sure if that implies cashflow issues.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4527 on: January 10, 2022, 07:17:00 AM »
There were a few recent reports of MYS taking a long time to pay out, not sure if that implies cashflow issues.

Or maybe just a policy that doesn’t pay until they get paid or sell downstream, which in theory shouldn’t have to be the case since the buyer held up their end of the arrangement.
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Offline Mo2

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4528 on: January 10, 2022, 12:15:14 PM »
Obviously there’s a continuum and many BGs may be positioned somewhere along that continuum, with the riskiest ones flaking on most/all counts.
Got it. but there's no perfect group. just some have a better and more honest and reliable process than others. I have never lost money on lost packages with MYS and PM. either Amz refunded or they took the hit. cannot say the same with USA which imo has an unorganized process set up for fail...
Never lost any packages with TBD, BFMR or EMB and I don't know how they'll deal with lost items.  I haven't used them all that much.
It does seem that TBD really put an emphasis on creating a process having buyers in mind. 

Is there even one group that guarantees responsibility if status is delivered and amz won't refund you?
I know some clearly say they're not responsible for any packages that have not been received, are missing or damaged in transit.
I think TBD had it on their site but I don't see it anymore now... I could be wrong. @Markmann20  care to comment?
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Because you have to deal with everyone who doesn't have it.

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4529 on: January 10, 2022, 12:36:34 PM »
Got it. but there's no perfect group. just some have a better and more honest and reliable process than others. I have never lost money on lost packages with MYS and PM. either Amz refunded or they took the hit. cannot say the same with USA which imo has an unorganized process set up for fail...
Never lost any packages with TBD, BFMR or EMB and I don't know how they'll deal with lost items.  I haven't used them all that much.
It does seem that TBD really put an emphasis on creating a process having buyers in mind. 

Is there even one group that guarantees responsibility if status is delivered and amz won't refund you?
I know some clearly say they're not responsible for any packages that have not been received, are missing or damaged in transit.
I think TBD had it on their site but I don't see it anymore now... I could be wrong. @Markmann20  care to comment?
We cover lost packages that are signed by our team that amazon won't cover to give that comfort that the user isn't out of pocket
WWW.BuyingGroup.COM

Offline Mo2

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4530 on: January 10, 2022, 12:39:06 PM »
We cover lost packages that are signed by our team that amazon won't cover to give that comfort that the user isn't out of pocket
what does "lost packages that are signed by our team" mean?
Common sense is not a gift, it is a punishment.
Because you have to deal with everyone who doesn't have it.

Offline gozalim

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4531 on: January 10, 2022, 12:49:15 PM »
We cover lost packages that are signed by our team that amazon won't cover to give that comfort that the user isn't out of pocket
if your team signed for it, that isn't
to give that comfort
that's something you rightfully took possession of and owe.

if you wouldn't hide behind
that are signed by our team
that would be
to give that comfort that the user isn't out of pocket

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4532 on: January 10, 2022, 12:49:23 PM »
We cover lost packages that are signed by our team that amazon won't cover to give that comfort that the user isn't out of pocket

“To give comfort to the user” lol

If you signed for it, you’ve taken custody, and if it got lost afterwards that’s on you. You make it sound like you’re doing the buyer a favor.
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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4533 on: January 10, 2022, 12:50:49 PM »
if your team signed for it, that isn'tthat's something you rightfully took possession of and owe.

if you wouldn't hide behind that would be

The choosy phraseology of @Markmann20 would make me wary of ordering high ticket items to their warehouse. Maybe it’s just me…
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Offline Yehuda57

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4534 on: January 10, 2022, 12:55:27 PM »
We cover lost packages that are signed by our team that amazon won't cover to give that comfort that the user isn't out of pocket

So. I ordered 100 of an item, group claims ~25 never arrived despite tracking showing delivered, group claims the signature on the tracking info was not one of their workers.


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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4535 on: January 10, 2022, 01:17:54 PM »
what does "lost packages that are signed by our team" mean?
The choosy phraseology of @Markmann20 would make me wary of ordering high ticket items to their warehouse. Maybe it’s just me…
We cover lost packages that are signed by our team that amazon won't cover to give that comfort that the user isn't out of pocket
If @Markmann20 covers "lost packages that are signed by our team" that is better than any other group.
The reality is they receive and sign full pallets. not individual packages. it often happens that items on the pallet according to tracking were never really there and were lost/stolen before delivery.
It gets murky because we cannot know if items were lost/stolen before or after delivered.

The standard should be for groups to take the loss for all delivered but "lost" items when Amz wont refund.

(USA has a much higher % of "lost" items which makes me think that in their case it's more often lost/stolen after delivery caused by an unorganized, slow and unreliable process...
They've lost dozens of my packages the past 2,3 years. It was always a pain but in the past I was always either refunded by amazon or they would "find" it many weeks later. Amz is not readily refunding anymore though so I hard stopped with USA)
Common sense is not a gift, it is a punishment.
Because you have to deal with everyone who doesn't have it.

Offline WonderingYid

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4536 on: January 10, 2022, 01:21:42 PM »
TDB seems pretty good with these issues. They send out updates of where they're holding with scanning in packages and they are responsive in the customer service tickets when there are problems.

My experience with MYS has been much the same (although overall slower) but I appreciate some may have had issues with them in the past.

This is not an endorsement. And as always, don't spend more than you can afford to lose.
Had an item to TDB marked as delivered but was never scanned in.

Search your email? IME BGs are a waste of time, unless its a high commission deal, or a very expensive item(2K+), so the points are worth the headache of tracking the order.

Offline WonderingYid

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4537 on: January 10, 2022, 01:22:10 PM »

Offline Yehuda57

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4538 on: January 10, 2022, 01:23:49 PM »
Gosh, I'm feeling really good about quitting the BGs when I did

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Re: PSA: Don't swipe recklessly for others
« Reply #4539 on: January 10, 2022, 01:32:04 PM »
Had an item to TDB marked as delivered but was never scanned in.
Did you open a ticket? What did they say?
120 characters? Hmm, I wonder what I could write with 64 characters. Boy, it's gonna be hard to use up 15 characters. W-