There are people on Amazon who will post something expensive for sale at $0.01 and free shipping. There has to be a catch here, but I’m not sure what it is. Do they send the item COD, thus avoiding Amazon fees? Can they see your credit card number, and have nefarious plans for it? Are they going to sell my address to every advertiser they can find?
Could you possibly show us an example?
“Cristobal Gonzales” is offering this espresso machine for $0.01.
Based on what I’ve seen most are just collecting names and addresses. They also might get your phone number. (Sometimes those are easy to get once you have a name and address.)
One thing to keep in mind: someone thinking they can get something decent for a penny is just the right person to target for scams.
There might be a few trying to build up positive reviews then they’ll start selling pricier fakes for real item prices. So they take a loss at first to make more money later.
I noticed this too. It’s often books but sometimes other items too.
Notice his ratings.
66 total ratings, 9% over the last 12 months.
Lots of “Fraud!” and “Fake Seller!”
You need to read the listing fully to understand what is going on. It describes the coffee system, then provides a link that says
. Of the 53 vendors selling that system, only one is selling it for a penny…and that person has a 9% positive rating.
Also
Amazon marketplace sellers don’t get your credit card info. Amazon collects payment from you and then pays the marketplace seller once they’ve satisfied certain conditions. If you don’t get your item, Amazon will refund your money.
There are lots of used books for $0.01, I have bought many of them from perfectly respectable sellers. They make their money on the $3.99 shipping, which seems to be uniform across all used book sellers on Amazon. Even if you buy 10 books from the same seller at $0.01 and they put them all in the same package, they will still charge you $3.99 for shipping for each book. Just be aware of this, it’s not a scam.
The positive reviews are the best. No one actually received the merchandise, they just rate the seller high for what’s essentially a joke. This is from a 4-star review and is fairly typical:
I’ve bought many used hardback books from Amazon for a penny plus shipping. They charge first class, send it book rate, get their profit from the difference. Very common practice, and I wouldn’t have a default “scam” assumption about 1 cent books.
The listing in question does not charge shipping. Someone claiming to sell a ~$75 coffeemaker online for a penny and free shipping must be up to something.
No, I agree. I’ve done this through abebooks no problem. My post meant to say, yes, it’s common on books but it can be found on other objects too.
I can’t find the one I saw last week. I was browsing for air fryers. I found one that was being offered for $6.99 with free shipping. It was advertised as new. I read the ad very carefully and found nothing “tricky”. I figured it was bait and switch. “Oh, the last one just got away! But we can sell you the new one for $95.” Something like that. In the end, I walked away.
I’ve seen scams where the seller makes some bullshit excuse why you need to contact them directly by email (they have to mung the email address in the item condition text to get it past Amazon’s filters) - for example one of the sellers for this item:
Says “The product was used only for advertising purposes in my store, and the price is so low because has been unpacked-,full warranty, full accessories New,never,used-Before buying let me know here [scammer’s name removed]#Gmail,com (please change the # to @)”
I contacted one of them and they made some cock and bull excuse about how the transaction had to be done differently and they would send me an amazon payment link - which I’m sure would be some fake website that would just steal my card details.
“You can’t cheat an honest man. The worst sucker is someone who thinks they’re taking advantage of you.”
I got some books that way, all good.
There was, for a long time, a subindustry of selling printed images - things like high quality inkjet on textured cloth, resembling an oil painting. They were $0.01 with $19.99 shipping, which was of course not refundable. The may changes to eBay’s shipping policies and limits have erased that… avenue, mostly, but every online, mail or TV seller with a scammy edge uses heavily loaded shipping to conceal product cost and gut “money back guarantee” claims.
I bought one such print, a small reproduction of a famous portrait. Never had the slightest thought of sending it back.
I hate that phrase. My mother is incredibly honest. Thinks by default everyone else is honest, too. She gets cheated all the time.
The people conning the elderly aren’t making money off of dishonest old people.