Ebay Fraudulent Listing for Festool Accessories

[Spandex]

If you let everyone get a bank account for free or basically free with no min balance, how do you find ways to keep poor folks poor?

Don’t worry, there are plenty of ways left for the system to continue increasing financial inequality.

But it’s true that getting a bank account isn’t difficult here in the UK (and nor should it be). I opened my first proper account when I started university, with hardly any money to deposit and what little did go in, soon got spent on beer. Back then, all the banks would offer various incentives to get students to open accounts with them - from freebies to cash to free overdrafts. So it didn’t cost money to open an account, they often actually paid you to do it.

I saw an something on TV today about a major bank that was working with a large homeless charity to make it possible for homeless people to open accounts even though they don’t have a permanent address - which means they can actually get work (not having a bank account is one of the biggest barriers to getting a job). Hopefully once one bank does it, others will follow.

 

[semenza]

I think my bank charges me 20 bucks a month just for existing, and I have plenty of balance with them. I think I've had a bank that would charge me around 35 bucks a month if I dropped the balance below $1000. All banks far as I know are similar.

I think you need to find a better bank.

Seth

 

[Bob D.]

"....I do not believe US has any such universally-supported solution hence the CCs are the "most reliable" approach...."

I believe you answered your own question more or less here. Since there is little to be made (by the banks) for transfers but there is some profit in CC transactions there is no incentive to move to money transfers over CC use. Banks and CC companies don't care where their money comes from, either the seller or the buyer, it's all the same to them and truth be told in my opinion they would probably prefer to charge both parties if they thought they could get away with it.

But there are some methods for doing so. Zelle is one way that has gained fairly wide acceptance for sending money between individuals with accounts in the group of participating banks. Bank of America, BB&T, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo were the founding members but I believe there are over 900 financial institutions involved now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelle_(payment_service)

 

[ChuckM]

I think my bank charges me 20 bucks a month just for existing, and I have plenty of balance with them. I think I've had a bank that would charge me around 35 bucks a month if I dropped the balance below $1000. All banks far as I know are similar.

I think you need to find a better bank.

Seth

The Canadian bank I deal with:

$3.95 per month, no min. bal.; two free transactions only
$10.95 per month, no min. bal.; 25 free transactions. (Free if balance is $3,000 or over).

These days, no-fee accounts are available pretty much to students and children only. Some credit unions may have better deals.

 

[Bob D.]

USAA Bank is no fee, no minimums, and you can use Zelle.
They do charge after the first 10 ATM Withdrawals however.

If you are current or prior military you should check them out.
I've had USAA checking and savings accounts for over 25 years
and never paid a dime.

 

[AlexThePalex]

In Europe are the CC fees something add on above the listed price? Be interesting if you guys show prices with tax built in (unlike the US), but show CC fees on top of the price.

All prices in retail stores are shown including tax here. I really don't get that habit in the US. Seems to me like it's to trick the buyer in thinking the product is cheaper than it really is.

CC fees are never shown. Nobody pays by CC. There was a time stores had these logo stickers of the big players like Visa and MasterCard on their doors, but we see them less and less lately. People always pay cash or with debit card. Stores are only still open to the idea of CC to keep some compatibility with foreign systems. But only time I can remember in the last 10 years, seeing it actually happen, was when a foreigner tried to pay with CC at the supermarket, but the normal register wouldn't accept it so she had to go to the special service counter to make it work.

I assume you have minimum balance fees in your banks. That really hurts a lot of folks in this country. They don't have the $1-2k to be able to open a bank account, so they don't have a bank. Without a bank, you have no checks, you have no CC.

No minimal balance fees at all. Only when I opened my account I had to deposit 1k in the first month, or else pay a €20 opening fee instead of it being free. I now pay 2 or 3 euro per month as basic fee.

How would the owners of such places get rich? Poor/Low Income people might be able to improve their lives? This sounds crazy.

Easy, rig the housing market. Last 50 years, wages rose by 10% and housing prices by 800%. Everybody needs a bank loan to buy a house, and bank loans mean interest.

 

[Svar]

People always pay cash or with debit card. Stores are only still open to the idea of CC to keep some compatibility with foreign systems. But only time I can remember in the last 10 years, seeing it actually happen, was when a foreigner tried to pay with CC at the supermarket, but the normal register wouldn't accept it so she had to go to the special service counter to make it work.

This is news to me. I travel in Europe a lot, including Netherlands. I pay with CC almost everywhere - supermarket, restaurant, tickets, services, hotels, etc. Rarely a very small business won't take CC.
It's true that Europe is more cash based, Japan is even more so.
Interestingly, China went straight to mobile payment platforms. A street vendor would cringe at your cash, because it only slows his business. Even beggars there use QR codes.

 

[squall_line]

All prices in retail stores are shown including tax here. I really don't get that habit in the US. Seems to me like it's to trick the buyer in thinking the product is cheaper than it really is.

There's no VAT in the US, it's all sales tax, paid to local and state governments.  Nothing "value added" about it in that sense.

Because the taxes vary by jurisdiction, major retailers just post their advertised retail price, which doesn't change from one storefront to the next.

Counties/cities/states with lower sales tax sometimes see increased sales from neighboring areas because the tax bill is lower.  Large ticket items such as vehicles are taxed based on your jurisdiction of residence to avoid lost revenue to cross-state shopping.

Here in the state of Iowa, there are 99 counties, each with their own sales tax rate.  97 out of 99 have a rate of 7%, the other 2 have 6% rates.  Guess which counties have the largest retail shopping malls in the state?

 

[DeformedTree]

How would the owners of such places get rich? Poor/Low Income people might be able to improve their lives? This sounds crazy.

Easy, rig the housing market. Last 50 years, wages rose by 10% and housing prices by 800%. Everybody needs a bank loan to buy a house, and bank loans mean interest.

No different than in the US.  Aside from someone building a house on their own someplace, everyone has got loans to buy a home for....basically the beginning.  50 years ago interest rates here were massive, folks buying/building homes in the 70s were paying 10-15+% on mortgages, now people pay....3%.  Housing loan rates are low and have been very a very long time, and even after the crash, it's not very hard to get a loan for way more than you can afford, but mainly that sort of thing has moved on to cars.  Go get a 96 month loan on a used car.  You can get 120 month loans if you would like

 

[Coen]

I assume you have minimum balance fees in your banks.

Huh, what? No.

That really hurts a lot of folks in this country. They don't have the $1-2k to be able to open a bank account, so they don't have a bank. Without a bank, you have no checks, you have no CC.

Banks offer free accounts with debit card to minors. Students are offered free accounts as long as they let their student loans be deposited on said account. Then when you finally arrive at the age of 20+ where you finished school and have to start paying for your bank account... you really can't do without anymore and you end up paying like €2 per month for a basic account. Shared account including 2nd debit card... makes it like €3.10 per month.

For CC... you do need like €650 per month income and your credit registry is checked. Yes, all loans and credits are registered (except student loans..............) so you can't keep stacking credit. Now, when people buy a house, they officially have to state how much they owe in student loans, but the general practice is that people keep silent or are even advised to pay back their student loans two months in advance so they can skip two payments and show two months worth of "clean" bank statements to qualify for a bigger mortgage...

The big stink now is that they want to register the student loans as well, but like half the political parties are opposed. While there is only really one reason to not register them; to be able to inflate the housing prices some more...

If you let everyone get a bank account for free or basically free with no min balance, how do you find ways to keep poor folks poor? if they have a bank account suddenly they can have savings, CCs, ability to have their pay direct deposited.  This would eliminate the need for check cashing businesses and pay day loan outfits. How would the owners of such places get rich? Poor/Low Income people might be able to improve their lives? This sounds crazy.

I think my bank charges me 20 bucks a month just for existing, and I have plenty of balance with them. I think I've had a bank that would charge me around 35 bucks a month if I dropped the balance below $1000. All banks far as I know are similar.

What's next over there, a healthcare system that isn't the biggest cause of personal bankruptcy?

Hehe. We already have the latter.

People are kept poor by blocking new housing, giving asylum seeker preference in social housing so that a student dorm requires a nominal income

EDIT: I see [member=5277]Alex[/member] already beat me with posting about this  [tongue]

Easy, rig the housing market. Last 50 years, wages rose by 10% and housing prices by 800%. Everybody needs a bank loan to buy a house, and bank loans mean interest.

The 800% needs some correcting for inflation as was already done to the wage %, but yeah..

I have a family member in what used to be a "Premie koopwoning"; you could originally buy that house when new with 0,8x modal wage. Now 30 years later you need 2.2x modal to buy the same now 30 year old home  [blink]. Ok, slightly extended, but also with most glazing near end of life, masonry end of life, flat roofs end of life, sewer subsided and rotting window frames.

And the street is also shittier to live on compared to 30 years ago. It was never designed around 1 car per adult, but nothing was done to prevent excess cars...

 

[semenza]

Bicycle commuting topic Here

  Anyone have additional tips about not getting ripped off by Ebay sellers?

Seth

 

[Bob D.]

Bicycle commuting topic Here

  Anyone have additional tips about not getting ripped off by Ebay sellers?

Seth

Best thing to do is ask questions, don't assume. Ask for clarification or additional photos. Legit sellers won't mind, at least I don't when I place something for sale there. I try to include  as many photos to go along with the written description as I can. The limit is 12 without paying an additional fee so I limit to 12, eBay already takes a hefty fee. I some sold parts recently from my '87 Z-28 for $400 and got clobbered with $52 in fees.

 

[rmhinden]

Somewhat related to this, I have been seeing ads for Woodpecker items on Facebook, that appear to be a scam of some sort.

View attachment 1

that links to:
https://www.jlny2021.com/products/w...Zf97w-J8o_THzjwD06x8cxMIZQdyCxKKaE8AA0Kq2Pi6c

I reported this to Woodpecker, but haven't heard back.

Bob

 

[Coen]

Pay with paypal, only buy from sellers with recent good feedback that are not new users. If an account was posting listings in French, then goes inactive for half a year then sells completely different stuff in English... also scam.

 

[squall_line]

Somewhat related to this, I have been seeing ads for Woodpecker items on Facebook, that appear to be a scam of some sort.

View attachment 1

I reported this to Woodpecker, but haven't heard back.

Bob

I always report those to Facebook as scams.  They're either knock-offs or stealing credit card information, or both.

 

[Bob D.]

I've reported a number of listings on eBay for misleading or counterfeit listings selling for 1/10 the price of the real item, mostly of Woodpecker tools.

I know eBay is worldwide and WP copyright or patent laws may not extend beyond our borders (USA) but that also means those outside can not legally sell counterfeit items within our borders and the listings I report are all shipping from overseas (mostly China) and say they ship to the USA plus they use WP copyrighted images stolen from their website in their fraudulent listings so that is a second crime.

It doesn't matter if you have a shop full of WP (or any brand) tools or never bought a single thing from them, this kind of theft harms everyone so I report it. At least that's how I see it, you may feel different.

 

[rmhinden]

I always report those to Facebook as scams.  They're either knock-offs or stealing credit card information, or both.

I agree, I do that too. 

Also, I did hear back from Woodpecker.

Bob

 

[Ron B]

 

Also, I did hear back from Woodpecker.

Bob

Did Woodpecker clarify this was a scam?  I have to admit it did look good.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

How would the owners of such places get rich? Poor/Low Income people might be able to improve their lives? This sounds crazy.

Easy, rig the housing market. Last 50 years, wages rose by 10% and housing prices by 800%. Everybody needs a bank loan to buy a house, and bank loans mean interest.

No different than in the US.  Aside from someone building a house on their own someplace, everyone has got loans to buy a home for....basically the beginning.  50 years ago interest rates here were massive, folks buying/building homes in the 70s were paying 10-15+% on mortgages, now people pay....3%.  Housing loan rates are low and have been very a very long time, and even after the crash, it's not very hard to get a loan for way more than you can afford, but mainly that sort of thing has moved on to cars.  Go get a 96 month loan on a used car.  You can get 120 month loans if you would like

Yes. I bought my first house in 1984. I got a discounted rate as a "first time home buyer" and it was a whopping 11 3/4%. I think that "savings" was 1% or maybe 1 1/4%? I don't remember.
My last mortgage started in 2002 and I think it was 5% maybe 5 1/4%, but it was only 15 years

 

[Ron B]

It is more than just houses and cars.  I was walking through Lowes the other day and noticed they had an sign on their washer/dryers advertising "Lease to Own".  I know there are "Lease to Own" stores, but Lowes is pretty main stream.  If people stayed within their means, if would put a cap on prices.