Whats Up With Mercadolibre These Days?

[khairyexpat]

The web version of MercadoPago (MP) doesn't reflect the new options for paying services, only for topping up your phone or sending/receiving money PayPal style to/from an email address. .... Thank you. Good to know. I saw MercadoPago.com.ar.
The mobile app however, allows you to pay services, top up your SUBE card, scan codes etc. Very handy, especially on the move.

A neat trick for getting the buyer to contact you direct is to include a phone number somewhere in the photo, like on a scrap of paper. Savvy ML users will pick up on that, or you ask them to look at photo number four if they ask a public question.
Sometimes sellers put measurements in their replies, carefully spaced because they're actually giving a phone number which looks like dimensions.
ML has some clever filters and crawlers, but a photo is a photo and well spaced phone numbers are just numbers.

The scoring system is a f*cking joke actually. .... Thanks again. Exactly what I`d wanted to say.
I've had an account there for over ten years and I have a 100% negative free record as both a buyer and seller, yet they've scored me as yellow (red bad, green lovely) because I have over 20 transactions that weren't completed for whatever reason last year or even the year before. In order to improve my seemingly rubbish reputation they are suggesting that I choose to accept MP on ALL my sales, thus putting more dosh in their pockets.
It's a draconian, Soviet style system and a monopoly as I said before and don't even think about trying to talk to someone at ML. The lights are on but they're all out at the pub laughing and trying to think of new ways to screw us.

The more I understand ML system, the more am pissed off.
Thought calification is kind of recommendation or testimony of personal experience.
But now I understand it is more like an EVALUATION SCORE.

WTF! .... If I`m just out to buy something, .... who gives a damn who the vendor is .... good or bad.
Alternatively why would a seller give a damn who the buyer is.
There is no bad vendor if he got the merchandise I want.
Visa versa, if I were a vendor, .... there is no bad buyer if he got the price I want.

If the vendor does not want to sell for whatever f**kin reason .. or if I don`t want to buy ... fine and dandy ... no pasa nada ... no deal ... just refund my payment. Everyone goes home.
Don`t understand ... what mediation? .... why do I have to initiate the "RECLAMO" process and wait 3 days to receive a response?
Mediate what... (If the vendor does not want to sell) ?? (currently my vendor for 2 days does not supply address for pick up location).

Is this a divorce litigation proceedings ?????????

EDIT:
Guess what I found on mercadolibre



Publicación pausada
Información sobre el vendedor

Ubicación

Martin Coronado, Buenos Aires

1. Rojo
   
2. Naranja
   
3. Amarillo
   
4. Verde claro
   
5. Verde

Este vendedor no tiene buena reputación en el sitio.

 

[Gringoboy]

I never buy anything on ML by paying upfront, especially if it isn't generic.
Many of the commercial vendors actually have a name, this seller for example:
https://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-621765359-repetidor-extensor-wifi-tp-link-wa850re-850re-_JM#D[S:HOME,L:RECOMITEM-CORE-UNO-HOT,V:3]
Megahard in Monte Castro, Capital...not rocket science to track them down and go direct.

 

[khairyexpat]

Guess what I just found on mercadolibre ::::

Publicación pausada

Información sobre el vendedor
Ubicación
Martin Coronado, Buenos Aires

1. Rojo (The reputation bar is at 20% red ... It does not show up here in the copy and past)
   
2. Naranja
   
3. Amarillo
   
4. Verde claro
   
5. Verde

Este vendedor no tiene buena reputación en el sitio.

 

[Gringoboy]

Not unusual. You'll see thousands who don't have a reputation at all, many of whom are simply speculators or those trying to shift dodgy stuff that they acquired by other means, shall we say.
Always check the reputation of the seller before you buy and part with your money. The same can be said about buyers too. There are some real time wasters out there.

 

[jbhenson]

The web version of MercadoPago (MP) doesn't reflect the new options for paying services, only for topping up your phone or sending/receiving money PayPal style to/from an email address.
The mobile app however, allows you to pay services, top up your SUBE card, scan codes etc. Very handy, especially on the move.

A neat trick for getting the buyer to contact you direct is to include a phone number somewhere in the photo, like on a scrap of paper. Savvy ML users will pick up on that, or you ask them to look at photo number four if they ask a public question.
Sometimes sellers put measurements in their replies, carefully spaced because they're actually giving a phone number which looks like dimensions.
ML has some clever filters and crawlers, but a photo is a photo and well spaced phone numbers are just numbers.

The scoring system is a f*cking joke actually. I've had an account there for over ten years and I have a 100% negative free record as both a buyer and seller, yet they've scored me as yellow (red bad, green lovely) because I have over 20 transactions that weren't completed for whatever reason last year or even the year before. In order to improve my seemingly rubbish reputation they are suggesting that I choose to accept MP on ALL my sales, thus putting more dosh in their pockets.
It's a draconian, Soviet style system and a monopoly as I said before and don't even think about trying to talk to someone at ML. The lights are on but they're all out at the pub laughing and trying to think of new ways to screw us.

I simply wish I could use mercadopago, cant find a number to contact them either to talk about issues with my USA cards not working on their system. Sucks no longer being able to use mercadopago.

 

[ben]

khairy, don't mean to be hard on you, but you don't seem to be living in the real world.
Just to recap, you:

• go on ML - a site of which one of their main advantages is their reputation system - and buy from someone with a terrible reputation;
• are unaware of and/or uninterested in using their tools for dispute management.

Really, then, perhaps you shouldn't be buying stuff online?

 

[TWB103]

The reputation system is ok. I always check it before buying from and selling to someone via the site . If there's any doubt I don't deal with them. I've had very few problems as a result. I don't understand these people here who have their doubts about a buyer or seller but keep pursuing the transaction just in case. If there's any doubt...any.. just walk away.

 

[ben]

We had a similar episode with a camera set we are selling. It is (still) listed both on OLX and ML but I can't remember where we got contacted. She had an English name and surname, said she lived in Chile but was traveling at the moment. She wanted to buy the camera as a gift to his son as a surprise. She offered to pay with Paypal. I had already been scammed through Paypal a lot of years ago (a buyer from Canada who bought a Gucci item, paid with PayPal, I shipped the item and Paypal claimed back the money I had received because there were fraud allegation against that account. Too bad I had shipped the item about 60 days before then and I even had the tracking code and all to prove it).
So I warned my husband that it smelled fishy and to ask for a bank transfer or cash payment, instead. The scammer said she has always used PayPal. Then we were discussing about this odd request when we received a second, identical message from a different sender. Maybe it was for another object for sale on a different site. Anyway at that point there was no doubt it was a scam attempt.

---

Rich, I think you dodged a bullet (maybe literally) there! We once put up for sale an iPad. A girl contacted us to buy it. She wanted to pay in USD (!) though the listing was of course in pesos. She said she was Cuban and was new to Buenos Aires. [Cubans loaded with USD... fishy!] However she used slang words from Buenos Aires [didn't sound very Cuban].
She wanted to meet at the Palermo subway stop, which is not a nice area. So my husband offered to meet inside the nearby McDonald's. She was reluctant, she started saying she was new and didn't know the area, etc. My husband explained that it was just for safety reasons.
The next day we went to Capital, I told my husband to switch the location to Alto Palermo, exactly to 'our' coffee chat Starbucks. She said okay.
Then we waited, waited but she never arrived. We tried calling her but the phone number was off. We called through Whatsapp but she didn't pick up the call. After one hour we left.

At 9 PM she wrote to say she had her phone stolen while coming at the appointment but that she was able to find a replacement (in under 2 hours in a new city?!) and she wanted to reschedule. At around the same time we received a message though ML or OLX where another user wanted to buy the iPad. In his message he mentioned something that made us understand that he knew it was still for sale and there was no way he would had known that. We immediately removed every ad of that iPad and swore to never sell electronics again. It just draws the wrong crowd.

Definitely need to know the rules of the game, or will get bitten.

I posted some stuff on OLX and had someone way more enthusiastic to buy than would be expected. Would pay in USD only. Just to get their reaction, said I need electronic transfer or pesos cash - and in $100 bills not $500. guy was emphatic would only pay in USD. that was the end of that.

 

[ben]

As an aside, I have iPhones, marked up about 150 from the US price, in case anyone is interested.
Some used ones as well, at rates competitive with ML.

 

[steveinbsas]

I simply wish I could use mercadopago, cant find a number to contact them either to talk about issues with my USA cards not working on their system. Sucks no longer being able to use mercadopago.

You can use mercadopago if there is a PagoFacil or Rapi Pago near you, but you will have to pay in cash at those locations.

I did this several times when my Visa (Argentine) had expired and I had not yet received a new card. It wasn't as convenient as paying with my credit card, but I was buying items that had to be shipped 650 Km, so driving 10 KM to the nearest Rapi Pago wasn't a big deal.