Cyprus-Forum.com

[Sotos]

ok ... I like to buy from reliable retailers. Like Amazon for books, bhphotovideo or pixmania for electronics. And if it is something cheap then I I'd rather go to a shop here and pay 10 pounds instead of ordering it online wait 2 weeks for it so I will pay 8. But some people are talking about 100s of items!! It can not be 100s of digital cameras and that sort of things! So what things are they talking about?

[yianna]

anything and everything :books , toys, clothes, computers, cars, fridges, taps, toilet bowls, bed sheets, computer desks, cameras, bags, shoes anything u can think of. i never said it sells hundreds of cameras and only cameras i gave it as an example, like i said check it out, if you dont like it thats fair enough

[Sotos]

Yianna, I know what ebay is I just don't understand how people can buy 100s of items from there. Electronics, computers, books OK! But cars, shoes and bed sheets?? Don't you want to try on the shoes and walk in them before you buy? How does the warranty work with a car ordered from ebay? Who will pass it from the port? What if something is wrong? And wouldn't it be easier to just go to a shop and buy the bed sheets? How much can you really save if you buy them online?

[Sega]

hi guys,
i know this is probably a really weird question, but do you guys in cyprus use ebay? only because my husbands relatives and friends dont know what it is. they all live in limassol
thanks

Hello Yianna,

Unfortunatly most Cypriot people are not as educated in terms of internet usage as oppose to other developed countries. Some have the perception of getting conned online (in reality there is more chance of being conned in their own country rather than in a virtual world). Saying this however some people (especially IT literate people) have taken the plunge and decided to both sell and buy stuff on ebay.

I now live in Cyprus and I use ebay here, I tend to do it whenever I don't know where to go and find the item in question. However just like Soto pointed out, some things just are n't worth purchasing on the net, especially when considering the shipping. It all varies on personal choice.

[Sotos]

Some have the perception of getting conned online (in reality there is more chance of being conned in their own country rather than in a virtual world)

The chances of getting conned online ARE higher. Go to http://www.resellerratings.com/ and see what kind of comments the bad stores get. If you are not careful then you could be conned. Once I got a keyboard from BHPhotoVideo, one of the top rated stores, and it was obviously an open box. I emailed them about it and they said that it was not an open box item and that maybe they just opened it to show to some customer. After some months it broke down and when I emailed them they said I would have to deal directly with the manufacturer. This could never happen in Cyprus. Firstly I would check to make sure that the item is brand new before I buy it and if it broke within a year then there would be no way for them to deny to fix it or replace it. I don't know about you but no shop can con me in Cyprus This doesn't mean I don't order online. I do but only from reputable stores and only when the money savings worth the wait and the higher risk.

[Sotos]

And another case. Some years ago I bought a 19" LCD online. They used to be very expensive then and ordering online would save me 100s of dollars. When I got the LCD I noticed that it had 7 stuck pixels. They agreed to replace it for me but the new one I got also had 3 stuck pixels which they didn't accept to replace because they were too few. I was OK with it because I saved a lot of money. But if the price difference was not that high then I would prefer to go to a shop and check the monitor before I buy it even if I had to pay a bit more. Since then I order online only if I the savings are big, if I can not find what I want in Cyprus, or if there is nothing that can go wrong with the item e.g. a book. although once I got a book from Amazon with a crashed CD in it!

[Sega]

I don't know about you but no shop can con me in Cyprus

I wish I could say the same, I learned the hard way.

I am not saying that all business in Cyprus are conmen, but until I learn which companies do deal with I will remain with my online purchases on certain items. I always check feedback when purchasing online, this way I can be buy with confidence. Some items do come with insurance which can cover the complete cost of the item, therefore the risk is null. Plus my credit card protects me.

What's weird (not giving any diggs or anything), but say when I have a problem with an online purchase, which believe me I have have. I was able to sort the problem out much faster than when dealing with real-life purchasing in Cyprus. It seems that it's common (not saying all business's do it) that when you have a problem with a purchase you kind of get ignored by the company. In other words, don't expect any callbacks and expect a real lengthy delay to it being resolved.

I have however found good companies in Cyprus who have honoured their words and returned my calls, all I can say to those companies is that I will be happy to do business again and I will almost certainly recommend you to my friends.

[Sotos]

Yeah, there are bad companies. But if a company in Cyprus tries to screw me then I can deal with them. What will I do if an online shop screws me? The worst I can do to them is post negative reviews.

[Sega]

Thats where you are wrong. From the time you purchase something using your credit card you are automatically insuranced from the credit card company. If you used paypal as well you are insured through them as well. So you can contact both paypal and the credit card company for assistance. Not to mension the actual seller. You can also purchase a second insurance cover online from ensrow if you were scared of the purchase. I guess negative feedback is the least of their worries.

But if a company in Cyprus tries to screw me then I can deal with them.

Since Cyprus has no hardly any consumer law there is not much you can do. How would you suggest you deal with as*hole companies.

[yianna]

actually negative feedback is very bad for them. the more negative feedback you have, less the chanse people will buy from you and also if you complain to ebay and pay pal ,depending what they have done ,they automatically get banned from ebay wich means that they cant deal through ebay, buying or selling ever again. they cant go under a diffrent user name as easy as you think because to sign up with them they need id and their ip address so its not as unsafe as you might think. wich is pretty cool. i have been using ebay for many years and i have been very happy.