The curious case of the handlebar bag scam
cyclingtips.com
cyclingtips.com
Now it goes beyond physical products to media too; another example is blogs these days. Someone finds a successful blog, pays some developing-world person on a freelancer platform to rewrite every post just enough to avoid a DMCA takedown, and then puts the counterfeit site up with a heavy load of SEO and advertising. This started with recipe blogs – that cajun cooking site that claims to be by a born and bred Louisianan has grammatical mistakes suggesting an Eastern European or Southeast Asian author – but is now spreading through all kinds of other hobbies and interests. With recipe blogs, this phenomenon is now so mature that counterfeiters are copying from previous counterfeits.
I don't want your newsletter. I don't want your life story. I don't want intrusive ads. I just want the (functional, non-copyrightable) recipe itself.
/rant
The text is useless fluff. They gotta have something that looks like ranking worthy text to google and takes as little effort as possible (since humans will skip it).
There's the rub. You can copyright your story. It's easy to scrape recipes from webpages. It's harder to translate a story into a recipe. If you post a plain & simple recipe to the internet, it will be copied and folks (and the bots behind search engines) won't have a clear incentive to visit/link your recipe over the numerous copies. If you've got a clear copyright violation, there's a chance you can get the copies taken down, or at least hidden by search engines. If it's just the functional, non-copyrightable recipe itself, no such luck. And then, with all the expense of creating and hosting the content, plus fighting the deluge of spammers, how do you monetize? The easy way: the borderline malware ads, modal popups, dickbars, etc. Blech. I'm with you, it sucks. But it's not just "an SEO thing"; it's also a case study on how "information wants to be free" meets the gritty reality of the internet economy.
I could use a subscription model, I suppose, but I'm less than confident this will actually succeed. There's so much free content out there and I found that a lot of people are willing to jump through all sorts of hoops to avoid paying.
(Oh, and there are a lot of these people on HN who think writing garbage blogspam for their latest project is a great "growth hack". A hearty fuck you to you, too.)
This summer I had a lot of trouble finding information for something specific in Angular on how to do some specific thing, where the official docs didn't cover it in depth enough, and then searching for it online was impossible as it was thousands of "blogs" with the same copy pasted tutorial with a few key words changed around that show the same hello world example.
We often talk about size of the community as an important consideration when adopting programming tools. But really there is a sweet spot, where a community has enough serious people to produce the right information but not enough unserious people (yet) to bury it. Communities at this stage can be better than those for universal standards.
For Java I now rely mostly on some more reliable source for information that I tend to directly search rather than go through Google/DDG. Baeldung and Mkyong come to mind.
Surprisingly, some discord groups have also become my go to source for help.
Popular things like Java or JS have page after page of pure crap. Rust or Haskell will have generally pretty good content. Python used to have decent content, but has been trending downwards sharply.
A lot of it is due to excited beginners wanting to write about $topic. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing as such; and I'm a bet less cynical about it than some others in this thread. It's pretty neat that anyone can write something and put it online. I just wish there was a way to filter this kind of stuff.
This is where the "throw everything in a big bag"-model of the web comes with some pretty big downsides. But I don't really know how to do it better either.
Gave up the inherited CI and rewrote everything in playwright in few weeks.
Many times I look up something, and all the YouTube videos and tutorials are telling the exact same thing and it's clear there was no effort at all or even if the author knows what they're talking about or even tested that code at all.
This happened to Google already with translation. Their translation system started with documents with known translation (e.g. EU and UN official documents). Then they started to use documents on the web that offered their own translations...until Google translate got good enough that people started using it to translate their own websites.
This "inbreeding" or bad feedback made the translations worse until this was figured out and I believe they long gave up automatically using translations found in the wild to improve training. Source: friend who worked on GT at the beginning.
It's harder to filter out competitors bad translations though...
Many people outside of the industry don't know it, but so-called "copywriters" are people who are paid around 1-1.5x minimum wage with the expectation of being able to write texts on ANY topic. I know a girl who does this. Almost all of texts are bs and she is a top performer in her company. She does it because it makes bit more than being a waitress with bit less effort (and given covid, she'd lose a job if she was a waitress, and "copywriter" job is quite secure).
Shall we get surprised with the results?
By the way, a question - bullshit answers on Quora from paid posters - who's paying them and why? Or you mean those Putin trolls and wumaos? Their content tends to be very biased, but of decent quality...
It's no longer possible to find organic high quality ad supported content(except maybe on YouTube, it still has some great stuff). Places like HN have other motivations to keep running high quality forum but the vast majority of the content out there is made with lowest possible quality. This even goes for the news.
Lately I live in Turkey and trying to follow the Turkish media but it is so lazy or so politically motivated that I cannot take it.
Turkish mainstream media outlets no longer create articles for human consumption but for bot consumption, so the articles are unreadable due to keyword spamming. The news part is one sentence but they manage to multiply it to a wall of text through repeating the same thing using synonyms etc, it doesn't even make sense grammatically.
They also do SEO spam by generating articles from the exact same template for each popular topic. For example, if you search for opening times of a supermarket, you will have the first few pages of results filled with mainstream newspaper pages that start with "Recently people start showing interest to market opening times but is it safe to search for shop opening times? Besides, what does 'opening times' really mean? To find out about opening times continue reading". Yo Have the same format for all kind of stuff.
The incentives of the current content economy are perverse. You ether want to make it cheap as possible, just enough to lure someone to it and send them somewhere else through ad click or you want to influence someone to do something after consuming your content.
Disclaimer: I work in Google, but nowhere near any of this.
I recently tried a new niche - I tried to choose binoculars. 90% of results seem to be, admittedly well shot and edited, folks reading out the marketing materials. I think we're reaching peak "content".
I'm amazed at the consistency with which news articles from major sites contain basic grammatical mistakes.
It'd be much faster to consume the content if it was written down - but when Spotify and Youtube give you monetisation with pretty much zero extra effort, people tend to take that route.
Monetising a blog is a LOT harder.
Also you can just turn on captions and watch at 2X.
$('video').playbackRate = 3
youtube-dl --skip-download --write-auto-sub $youtube_url
Alternatively, I'll listen to (but not view) many videos using mpv. (MPV can also be used to view videos in a native player, either downloaded or streaming.)
Was it ever possible? I've been on the Internet for quite a while, and since the earliest days, my heuristic was, if it's ad-supported, it's garbage. There's very few exceptions to that rule. Good content, written by people who care, is either paid, done for non-monetary reasons, or a loss leader billed under some company's marketing budget (though there's of course also some garbage in that last category too).
On aliexpress, pretty much every thing is now "xiaomi"... from towels, toothbrushes to manicure sets..... Sometimes looking at review photos and trying to look for bad-quality marks helps... sometimes, sadly... not.
I see it being rather common on sites like Kickstarter.
A slightly less egregious variation of this is when such is done with OEM's knowledge, and/or some customisation is done specifically to conceal an OEM origin of the product.
I believe this kind of op makes a double digit of all Kickstarter hardware projects.
I myself encountered such in Vancouver once. A woman was claiming a CEO of a medical start-up doing "deep machine learning" bluetooth pulse oximeter of own design, and was pitching on HackerNest Vancouver at around 2013-2014. I cannot imagine that she somehow managed to get few millions in funding for that.
I sent a photo with with an RFQ to Alibaba, and got quotes from trade companies in minutes, and then posted a screenshot on the HackerNest's meetup page.
Then, I ran onto a trio claiming the idea, and design of a flexible silicone keyboard as their own on either Kickstarter, or Indigogo. After sending emails to the platform few times over few months, they quietly deleted the project page without much public comment to either me, or the public.
The classic example of this that I keep seeing over and over again is the standard kayak bag that gets rebranded as an exercise weight filled with sand. The ad copy makes it sound like some innovative new exercise product, but it's just a kayak bag with branding.
"For decades" is right. When I was a kid in the 60s we always picked up all sorts of clones when in HK, TW, SG, MY, ID etc (didn't go to mainland China in those days but doubt this would have been true there at that time...)
After placing the order I received no response, and after disputing the charge a month later they sent a tracking number. (The package never came, and a helpful UPS rep broke the rules to tell me the tracking number wasn't even addressed to me - a saving grace and made me wonder if tracking numbers from legitimate purchases are resold to run this scam.)
Etsy refused to take any part in helping with the refund, and despite deleting the store they refused to tell paypal to refund people's (including my) purchases.
Paypal had the tracking number, and could ask UPS for the address and recipient, but refused to help and made me feel like I was the scammer for wanting my money back. They insisted to the end that they could do nothing, despite knowing the Etsy storefront was banned and that the seller never sent me a package.
I would have been out $100 if not for Chase, who did the chargeback and got paypal in line. I will never use paypal or Etsy again, as it is clear they don't care about criminals using their platform to steal money from trusting consumers.
The lack of response from Paypal in this article is no surprise - a lot of their business comes from people using their platform to steal from their users.
Can anyone who works at Etsy or Paypal explain why this system is so broken and anti-consumer?
People say companies like American Express are a scam. But I can, and have in these instances just filed a charge back and walked. To the point that if a place won’t take American Express (like Costco) I’ll just move along.
The number of times I’ve avoided scams and headaches because I can get a rep on in under 5 minutes is incredible. Everything from someone be swiping my numbers and running up charges online (that the store won’t discuss even when I give them the charge auth #), to car rental companies playing games with tolls when traveling in places like Denver. It’s frankly odd to me it’s not the standard.
Have not heard this!
I agree with you: Amex is great at looking after their customers (card holders) and are so jealous about their info (for charge cards, don’t know about credit) that they share much less.
I do use visa for local small businesses (family restaurants etc) because the fee Amex charges merchants is higher than the others’. But especially online, their guarantees are worth it.
It’s probably very hard to be PayPal, but the incident left a bad taste in my mouth. I no longer accept or send any transactions via their platform.
The buyer said it wasn’t them that bought it, but they corresponded via EBay and sent payment via PayPal. The unauthorized user had both passwords?
PayPals response was basically that we just side with the buyer on all digital goods transactions.
I’m moving everything off of PayPal now.
As a seller, I sold a processor, listed it with 2nd class signed for postage and the buyer asked if I could ship it first class (next day vs 3-5 days). I said sure, paid the difference out of pocket and uploaded the tracking number. 24 hours later I got a paypal dispute saying item not received, that it wasn't sent by the right means. He had signed for it, I had the tracking. No dice, I was out a £200 part.
Paypal so heavily sides with the buyer in every scenario, it's why it's popular!
I've had other bizarre issues with Fedex as well, like the time they said they delivered a wrench but they didn't, then it showed up 6 weeks later after the seller had already sent me a replacement.
Doesn't this mean that both your paypal account and ebay account get locked? I know that if you issue a chargeback to amazon they lock your account until you give them another card to charge.
I have never heard anyone say companies like AmEx are a scam in my 20 years as an adult.
And Visa/MasterCard/Discover all offer the same chargeback mechanisms AmEx does, so there is nothing special about AmEx.
And the craziest thing to me is thinking Costco’s extremely liberal return policies are inferior to a credit card network’s chargeback policies. You can get a refund for fruit at Costco if you don’t like the way it tastes. You can’t do that with AmEx.
I accidentally bought the wrong type of cheese, and they gave me a refund even though they had to throw it away due to the law not allowing them to resell returned perishable food items. (I didn’t find out they were throwing it away until the cashier already refunded to the card...otherwise I would have just kept the cheese).
And I disagree about the chargeback process on visa/MasterCard. Ive only ever had to do it once. It took a very long time to open. The experience lasted close to 12 weeks and I had to appeal the finding a to a “manager” when the company I filed the chargeback with simply said “nah it’s valid” and visa attempted to find against it b
Even the initial call was a typical call center experience that took over an hour, and a couple long holds.
Amex has very good customer service. Ive never been on a hold for over 5 minutes that I can remember. And the few reports, fraud, chargebacks etc were very easy. They took everything up front and straight said “if you don’t hear back by x date, consider the matter settled”
I stopped shopping at costco for multiple reasons, mostly how other customers acted and how crowded chaotic it got. But then stopping Amex charges was the straw. I carry an alternative card just in case, but try to run all purchases through one so I have one bill to pay. I didn’t feel the need to chnage that process so I could buy bulk TP (which was mostly all we bought there). Even the gas lines are silly here.
I’m not really aware of another banks I’d prefer to deal with that is centered on customer service. Wouldn’t surprise me if there was.
We tend to use Credit Unions in general, but don’t hold credit cards through them.
Also, the AmEx points system usage and transferability is far better (although I've never found anything worthwhile in their own catalog.
Really key is that the availability of my historical data goes back for many more years than my bank or other cards. I don't often need it, but when I do need to find something from 4 years ago, it is really nice to have it.
While they sell their service on all the concierge-type services, I've never found those useful, but the disputes, points admin, and data availability are key differentiators for me.
There was a promo last year where if you purchased $10+ at a non chain restaurant, you got $5 back up to 10x. I signed up for the promo using my account, which shows the AmEx card I used. But I never got the cash back, because technically, my wife owns the credit card, and I’m only the authorized user. So because I didn’t sign up for the promo using my wife’s online account, we didn’t get it. They wouldn’t even award me the $50 cash back even after escalating it to supervisors, and this is on $450 annual fee card, just because of a technical glitch.
I think AmEx started experiencing declines in profit and service levels 10 years or so ago when Chase and the other banks upped their offers for high annual fee cards, and AmEx had to respond by gaining more market share by attracting lower income customers with AmEx debit cards and no fee credit cards. I never thought I’d see the day when they would do that, since they had so long been the brand of the “upper classes”.
I'm also surprised that AmEx is going downmarket, but I suspect that has more to do with being able to keep merchants on board vs really wanting those customers.
However if you return an item bought with points you may have to call to have them refunded. Which isn’t a hassle but worth considering. I just only use them on something I’m very sure I won’t return.
Poof.
Just records back about 18 months. Just like all the rest.
AmEx counts it's longstanding "members" as it's strategic assets, and used to have this great ability to search online records instantly. It is a GREAT customer-retention feature, and hot data storage has never been cheaper.
The longer a customer stays, the more valuable to them is being able to search all the old transactions. It is a key Amazon feature to be able to search all my old purchases over 20 years back.
Yet now, it is just like the rest. If I'm going to just lose everything in 18 months anyway (no, requesting and mailing old statement copies is no substitute), why not leave?
Corporate decisions are baffling
I understand the sentiment and I will use my Amex preferentially over any other card for the same reason. But it’s kinda funny to use Costco as the example. They have a famously customer friendly return policy.
It was not fun. Took a very long time to open the case. Had to appeal a couple times and was a multiple week endeavor.
A trip to Denver was an eye opener. We rented a car and charged it on Amex. Denver has a very weird toll setup that camera/LP reader based and weeks after we returned we started getting charges trickling in for the tolls, totalling a couple hundred bucks. But we had paid for a toll pass with the rental co. I called them and got nowhere fast. I called Amex, sent them the rental agreement and they reversed the charges and said they would handle it. Never had to think about it again and it was about 20 minutes of my time, mostly spent chatting while the scan of the rental agreement was sent to them.
I still carry a visa for emergencies/just in case.
I don’t carry a debit card and haven’t for a very long time. Just run it through credit and pay in full at the end of the month. Basically the only thing we do with a bank is pay the bills or deposit/withdraw cash. We try to keep a degree of separation from what we spend on, and where we hold our money (if that makes sense)
May I ask why you don’t carry a debit card? I find that very strange, how do you pull out money/purchase something at a store that doesn’t take either? Just avoid it?
I've only had a few recently as a way to recoup some of the increased pandemic costs, and they do venmo/zelle. which might be outside of the apps' TOS but not really my problem.
Some premium cards have additional concierge features and your AmEx may have had that kind of thing re: the Denver experience.
Costco stands behind everything they sell. Other than electronics, they unofficially have a lifetime return policy for nearly anything.
I'm not a fan of PayPal for other reasons and this is anecdotal as well, but in my experience PayPal is very biased towards the buyer.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/500095192/md-pen-minima...
https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2013/02/9807-kickstarter-fr...
When I reached out to them, they basically shrugged their shoulders and said there was nothing they could do about scammers ripping people off. Unfortunately, I was patient enough that I had run out the clock on the charge back from my bank.
After this, I'll never use Kickstarter again.
I'm still contesting the charge with Chase but Etsy's lack of help here has burned it for me as a platform.
I had all the tracking information, recordings, etc, but was never asked for any information from chase. I had tried to go through PayPal’s dispute mechanism first around dec 5 - so 43 days after the order was placed.
Hope some of this is helpful to you.
I think Etsy should own the refund process when they detect these fake stores and scams. If they can delete the store, they should be able to have PayPal reverse all the charges associated with it, right?
So in my experience, I opened an "item not delivered" (as opposed to: some other problem with the delivered product) case when nothing showed up after 1.5 months; THEN the merchant sent the item; THEN when it arrived I closed the issue as it had been delivered. But five seconds later when I opened the packaging and noticed the item was total garbage, I could not open another case on the order. Bah.
I think the scam sellers on Etsy know this, and intentionally induce customers to open a case they can cheaply satisfy, but will prevent contesting real problems with the purchase later (on the Etsy platform).
Mine was also charged to a Chase CSR, amusingly enough! The merchant disputed the chargeback, so I've had to supply evidence to Chase, and they're still deliberating internally. I don't care about the money lost (~$80), but I really don't want the fucking scammer to get it!
Totally agree that Etsy should own refunding when they detect fake stores and scams. I don't know what their relationship with Paypal is, but it's the right thing to do as a platform.
I don't understand how it removes ammunition at all.
I show eBay or my bank a photo of what was advertised, a photo of what I received, the charge gets reversed, and if this happens too many times to the company they lose the ability to take credit cards or to list on eBay at all.
What am I missing? Is this specifically a bank account - PayPal - AliExpress combo or something? Marketplaces don't usually exist very long if they provide zero buyer protection from fraudulent/deceptive sellers.
Your bank will indeed care more but most people don’t bother or value access to PayPal more than the scam money (since PayPal will often close your account if you file a chargeback with the bank).
Also why would PayPal close a buyer's account after a chargeback? They'll just debit the seller. Why would PayPal even care? I searched online and can't find a single instance of anyone complaining about that having happened.
Customer service is not always the one actually making the decision. They might be some early-stage filter to guard against obvious mistakes/misunderstandings, but after that it can very well go into a queue where either a automation or an underpaid human handles it. That's the only reason I can think of for the various horror stories where people have been left out of pocked by PayPal despite evidence that would convince any reasonable person.
> Also why would PayPal close a buyer's account after a chargeback
It's common in "big tech" to close entire accounts in retaliation after a chargeback (I've heard of Google doing it, and maybe others) so I'm assuming PayPal would do the same. Chargebacks also cost them a fee (in addition to the disputed amount) so there is a business case for discouraging chargebacks. And when a huge chunk of your business is based on screwing people and the margins are already razor-thin, do you really want to keep customers who demonstrated their ability to fight back?
I don't know why you think chargebacks are handled by an "automaton" (not true) or "underpaid" (irrelevant) human. And you're admitting you're extrapolating from the behavior of consumer companies to PayPal. But PayPal is different because it's not eating the cost of anything. It passes it onto the seller. It has zero business motivation to block such a buyer if they buyer is in the right. And since it's not easy to find any complaints of them doing so... it looks like they're not.
I am talking about PayPal disputes (within the PayPal platform), not disputes/chargebacks from your bank. There are plenty of stories out there (both as a seller and as a buyer) where PayPal sides with the wrong side despite ample amounts of evidence. The only explanation could be (bad) automation or idiots.
Edit: Indeed, I have mostly assumptions. I have not personally used PayPal enough to get into any trouble (because I didn't trust them for anything high-value in the first place), though the possibility of said trouble (and other nasty stuff they're doing, like their data sharing processes) was enough for me to completely stop doing business with them.
I have however worked at a business that used PayPal to broker payments (we weren't the seller - just a marketplace linking up sellers and buyers) and the dispute process was hit and miss. Some disputes were completely legitimate and had plenty of evidence and yet PayPal sided with the wrong party.
I have also read stories online about how scammers are abusing the PayPal dispute process to steal goods by sending back empty/bogus returns (which PayPal considers legitimate because of the tracking number).
I also know people whose PayPal accounts were closed because they were processing payments that PayPal didn't "like" for some reason (despite being totally legal), and the process was to close the account had hold the funds hostage for about a year before the seller can finally withdraw them. This does not take as long with any legitimate bank.
As a reason I have more than enough evidence to conclude that the company is scummy and use this to base my assumptions upon.
If the ship nothing, then they’ll get shut down immediately. If they ship a thing, and in fact it is a handlebar bag, then they can report back to the card companies that it’s an ordinary customer dispute over quality of the goods, and they’ll likely win some of the chargebacks, and more importantly keep them in play while they continue to collect money. The majority of customers probably will just keep the piece of junk and be bitter about it.
They aren’t aiming to stay in business for a long time. Just long enough to collect money from a few thousand customers.
You're missing that 'nothing arrived' is clear cut, while 'it's not quite what I was expecting' is extremely subjective. I know the products are clearly not what was advertised, but even answering the question 'did your package arrive' with 'yes' probably makes the dispute go from an immediate refund to a long protracted process. Someone has to look at the photo, they may not know about the product domain and not be able to tell... etc.
For example, someone who receives such a crappy knock off bag may tell their bank that they "didnt receive" what they bought. Then the merchant provides the bank with a tracking number and wins the case. Disputing product quality or claiming deceptive advertising are less likely to work out for the buyer.
If you want to win a chargeback as a buyer, file it as a fraudulent charge (implying your card details were stolen).
As much as I adore the handlebar barbag as a product and will gladly try and sell it to customers, truth be told is that it is niche. Baskets for shopper bikes outsell bar bags 100 to 1.
To get £45 out of a UK customer for a high quality handlebar bag is hard work. I can't imagine trying to get 179 dollars out of them for a handlebar bag. I wouldn't even pay that myself even though I like this product.
The unique selling points are interesting. So it goes with gravel bikes. You can mount your phone and lights to it.
The top isn't designed to hold a map which was 1970s USP.
Let's look at what other manufacturers offer. Nowadays that top map pocket is for putting your phone in. Brackets for lights are not so common but I have LED lights on both of mine, albeit with brackets that are less than ideal.
This 179 dollar bag lacks reflective strips which is weird. I also prefer standard Klickfix brackets as I can mount my handlebar bag behind the seat on my commuting bike, thereby getting better aero and handling.
I don't think that fake pages trying to sell knock off versions of products are uncommon. Using such tales to hype your product is something else.
Admittedly it is a curious story. Common sense would tell you that the cycling world needs this product. But try selling any handlebar bag to any customer on a busy Saturday in a wealthy area where customers happily spend 350 on cycling shoes. The handlebar bag is a hard sell.
But, the price tag is a bit much. I can get a handmade bag from any of a number of boutique bike bag producers for the same or less. Or, I can buy a small camera bag, rivet on a KlickFix and call it good enough for <$80.
Gone are the days when a single Wald basket would fit on any bike that wasn't a racing bike. And the bike was already ugly. And if the basket messed with your brakes, it didn't matter, because the brakes never really worked anyway.
For myself, I took a pair of worn out jeans, cut off one of the legs, sewed it into a bag, and attached it to my handlebar or saddele with a couple of old toe straps. Then again the whole bike was assembled from spare parts. ;-)
Bike packers are one group, which has overlap with the randonneur group. They are probably the largest set of cyclists who typically have bar bags.
And I don’t think they would buy this one - not a single one of them.
And that segment is a growing segment.
So, I'm kinda glad for the scam, because it brought the product to me through this story. I'm gonna buy one for me, one for my mom, and one for my brother. And when I can buy an extra mount, I'll do that so I can swap my bag between bikes. Not because of charity, but because it's a damned good product and suddenly I've got birthday presents sorted for 2021.
All that to say, it's not surprising there is a market for taking care of this problem. I wonder if there are smart folks out there who have made some kind of service out of this for littler guys than the global size clients that firm used to serve.
At least, they aren’t full-fat counterfeit bags (I’m sure those are on the way, now that the bag is shipping).
New York has had Times Square Rolecks watches for decades. It’s so bad, that even high-end watch sellers are getting fooled.
Welcome to the big leagues, guys. I’m sure you’ll do well. As pointed out, this isn’t really a bad thing; just annoying.
Sometimes, the packaging is an exact match.
No kidding. Some of the knockoffs are so good, that heavy-duty watchmakers get fooled. I’m told they are pretty much indistinguishable, unless you open the watch.
Apple had a problem with apps on the App Store, where knockoff vendors would get their crappy apps approved, then would grab screenshots from big-name apps, and replace their pathetic screngrabs with the big-name ones, so people thought they were buying the big-name apps.
That's why Apple locked down the App Store, so you can't update screengrabs and previews, anymore.
I don't understand why some people keep using these crap platforms. Also this is not a curious case at all, routine stuff on chinese crap resellers..
Wish is 100% scam preying on those without the skills to use Aliexpress. Wish translates the UI for multiple languages along with the product names/descriptions and provides direct payment without credit cards (Klarna).
I've bought around 400 things on AliExpress, with an average value of, guessing, about A$7.50. I'd say just under 10% had a problem that needed a full refund -- mostly just not arriving or arriving beaten up. I only had to complain bitterly when a surface-mount component fell off a PCIe card and I refused to accept their recommendation to fix it myself. Fewer than 2% of goods had a disappointingly short life span.
Meanwhile, the price is at most a third of what I'd pay to get the same (or seriously similar) product locally. Doing the math very roughly, I've probably paid about A$3k for stuff that would have cost A$10k. And all I had to do was wait 1-3 months for everything.
I hate them...
Surprise surprise, when something nefarious happens online, Zuckerberg is never too far away.
Facebook seems to be yet again profiting off fraud & scams in total impunity.
Bought something based on an Instagram ad. It never arrived after 3 months. I contact PayPal for a dispute after finding the sellers Shopify site offline. The seller gave PayPal a tracking number of a package that arrived at my house in early January. Oddly, that was the first time I was provided a tracking number. I did in fact get a package with a cheat plastic wallet around the same time, which I figured was some sort of brushing scam. So seller currently has $35 of mine, and they sent me <$1 item instead of what I ordered.
I guess we shall see how PayPal decides. If all else fails, I’ll call MasterCard. I kinda thought PayPal and Shopify were trustworthy and keeping the trash off their systems.
As an outsider peering in, this reminds me of that book, given its a way to mount your laptop and everything else to your bike.
https://www.davestravelpages.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/...
https://robertaxleproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/pan...
They keep weight off your back and the center of gravity as low as possible. They also don't interfere with swinging your leg over the bike, unlike rear baskets or top boxes.
When properly attached, you don't really notice them at all, other than making your bike a bit heavier up hills.
I DIYed my own pannier bags from military surplus shoulder bags. They're not pretty, but then again neither is my bike.
Handlebar bags are more of a bonus item, you use it for things you need to grab while riding, small snacks and that sort of thing.
The difference between the pictures and what he received was genuinely amusing.
This is what a lot of businesses do. It's the only way to fight back without spending a lot of money to stop Chinese organized crime.
However, as long as reviews are accepted without proof of purchase, what else can companies do? Sue for slander? That's also endless whackamole.
But... they’re also usually engaged in other criminal activity. So while “sending the boys around” might not be the best idea, actually uncovering the identity and sending law enforcement for a check could bring dividends. Companies and people treat them like other companies that care about letters from lawyers. Those just go in their shredder. But police and fed calls usually get them spooked.
If enough of these con men had some heat they may stop, but the problem is most companies just don’t follow through on that level and accept it as business as usual as in the article.
Or are you saying that Route Werks has nothing to complain about because the scammers are shipping bags that obviously do not resemble the Route Werks bag? Because there's still the problem that the scammers are using the Route Werks product images to advertise.