Six Online Shopping Scams
From prescription medications to music, movies and designer clothing, counterfeit goods are a $250-billion-a-year market, according to Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy. Because vendors can post pictures and descriptions of the real thing, it’s tough to tell what you’re looking at until the item is in your hands, says Edgar Dworsky, editor of Consumer World . Consumers can’t tell unless the seller is brutally honest and most aren’t, says Dworsky.
So-called gray-market items complicate things further. These items are legit and legal, but get to the market through unapproved channels, such as third-party wholesalers and resold store overstock. As a result, manufacturers’ warranties don’t apply.