Holiday season is coming up and people are rushing to buy gifts for their loved ones and friends. And with the convenience of E-commerce, people now don’t have to leave their homes and fight through the holiday rush to purchase their gifts.
E-Commerce has offed the consumer a whole new shopping experience. In the past, a consumer relied to professional or sales people opinions on products to help them make their purchase decision. This way of shopping can be flawed because the consumer is only hearing one biased opinion on the products. And some stores have an personal motive for pushing a product on the consumer. But, with E-commerce a person can research everyone’s opinion on the products, the pros and cons, and come to their own decision of the product is worthwhile. Also, the internet offers storefronts that are open everywhere. Unlike physical storefronts that only reach a limited area, Internet store front have a reach all around the world…wherever there is internet. People living in rural areas no longer have to drive two or more hours to go into town to do their shopping everything is online. Different venders offering things at different prices, places like ebay, amazon.com, and craigslist are changing the way people buy things online. And with the holiday season coming up, the convenience of a 24-7 storefront is the easiest option for many people to do their Christmas shopping in their hectic schedules. With a few clicks, a person can buy something and have it shipped to that person’s house. No driving, no physically going to different stores to compare deals, no stress. Atleast that what E-commerce can be used for.
Whenever there is a big event such as a holiday or natural disaster, scammers are always looking for a new way to make easy money. Well, it’s not really a big surprise that the top technology gift for this season has caught the eye of the scammers, The Apple Ipad.
The Ipad was a new innovation of a tablet computer. Some might only view it as a over glorified touchscreen phone, but regardless of a person’s personal opinion, the Ipad has changed the market for computers. Ipads caused so much excitement when it was first introduced. Other technology companies tried to compete by making their own versions of a tablet pc. Samsung, Asus, HP, among many other brands have made tablet computers running Googles OS, Android. There is a huge battle between the fans of Apple and Driod over which product is better. But in this holiday season, there Is another competitor for the Apple Ipad. That is all the counterfeits floating around in the market for consumers to buy or be tricked into buying. In July of this year, a Bloomberg article claims to have over 18,000 fake tablet PC. And with Ipad as the top technology gift for consumers, one can only assume that more scammers are placing more fakes and clones in the market.
These counterfeit tablets are illegal. Many of those tablets do not work well and Apple’s software is very hard for the scammers to recreate. Many of the fakes can’t work with Itunes or the apple app store. As one researcher is quoted saying “It’s not necessarily about hardware but the software, and it’s very difficult to copy that.” The competition threat from the counterfeits isn’t that people are looking for a knockoff (although some segment of Apple’s target market might be), It is that people purchase these counterfeits believing they were lucky enough to find an Apple Ipad for a cheap price.
With websites like Ebay where a seller can sell any product they wish and bogus websites offering counterfeit products, it is very easily for a consumer to become fooled into buying a fake. In this article, it sends a warning out there to all the consumers about buying things from retailers they know and trust. If a price of an Ipad is very cheap, they should remember the old saying “If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.” This wise saying should be on the minds of the consumers while they search online looking to buy their holiday gifts at a cheaper price.
Very cheap prices should give a warning to the buyer, that it could be a fake that they are purchasing, but on the other side, a very high price could also be a warning that something is wrong. There are also “Grey market goods”. Goods that are not for sale in the country, with those goods there is a markup on the price. And these goods to have issues of no tech support or warranty. The same study that found the 18,000 fakes, also found 5,500 grey market tablets on the market. This good is a bit more rare than the counterfeits because people aren’t willing to pay more for products if offered cheaper at another location. But the overall message was, Buyers beware. It’s the holiday season and scammer are everywhere looking for a cheap quick way to get money.
Holiday season is coming up and people are rushing to buy gifts for their loved ones and friends. And with the convenience of E-commerce, people now don’t have to leave their homes and fight through the holiday rush to purchase their gifts.
E-Commerce has offed the consumer a whole new shopping experience. In the past, a consumer relied to professional or sales people opinions on products to help them make their purchase decision. This way of shopping can be flawed because the consumer is only hearing one biased opinion on the products. And some stores have an personal motive for pushing a product on the consumer. But, with E-commerce a person can research everyone’s opinion on the products, the pros and cons, and come to their own decision of the product is worthwhile. Also, the internet offers storefronts that are open everywhere. Unlike physical storefronts that only reach a limited area, Internet store front have a reach all around the world…wherever there is internet. People living in rural areas no longer have to drive two or more hours to go into town to do their shopping everything is online. Different venders offering things at different prices, places like ebay, amazon.com, and craigslist are changing the way people buy things online. And with the holiday season coming up, the convenience of a 24-7 storefront is the easiest option for many people to do their Christmas shopping in their hectic schedules. With a few clicks, a person can buy something and have it shipped to that person’s house. No driving, no physically going to different stores to compare deals, no stress. Atleast that what E-commerce can be used for.
Whenever there is a big event such as a holiday or natural disaster, scammers are always looking for a new way to make easy money. Well, it’s not really a big surprise that the top technology gift for this season has caught the eye of the scammers, The Apple Ipad.
The Ipad was a new innovation of a tablet computer. Some might only view it as a over glorified touchscreen phone, but regardless of a person’s personal opinion, the Ipad has changed the market for computers. Ipads caused so much excitement when it was first introduced. Other technology companies tried to compete by making their own versions of a tablet pc. Samsung, Asus, HP, among many other brands have made tablet computers running Googles OS, Android. There is a huge battle between the fans of Apple and Driod over which product is better. But in this holiday season, there Is another competitor for the Apple Ipad. That is all the counterfeits floating around in the market for consumers to buy or be tricked into buying. In July of this year, a Bloomberg article claims to have over 18,000 fake tablet PC. And with Ipad as the top technology gift for consumers, one can only assume that more scammers are placing more fakes and clones in the market.
These counterfeit tablets are illegal. Many of those tablets do not work well and Apple’s software is very hard for the scammers to recreate. Many of the fakes can’t work with Itunes or the apple app store. As one researcher is quoted saying “It’s not necessarily about hardware but the software, and it’s very difficult to copy that.” The competition threat from the counterfeits isn’t that people are looking for a knockoff (although some segment of Apple’s target market might be), It is that people purchase these counterfeits believing they were lucky enough to find an Apple Ipad for a cheap price.
With websites like Ebay where a seller can sell any product they wish and bogus websites offering counterfeit products, it is very easily for a consumer to become fooled into buying a fake. In this article, it sends a warning out there to all the consumers about buying things from retailers they know and trust. If a price of an Ipad is very cheap, they should remember the old saying “If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.” This wise saying should be on the minds of the consumers while they search online looking to buy their holiday gifts at a cheaper price.
Very cheap prices should give a warning to the buyer, that it could be a fake that they are purchasing, but on the other side, a very high price could also be a warning that something is wrong. There are also “Grey market goods”. Goods that are not for sale in the country, with those goods there is a markup on the price. And these goods to have issues of no tech support or warranty. The same study that found the 18,000 fakes, also found 5,500 grey market tablets on the market. This good is a bit more rare than the counterfeits because people aren’t willing to pay more for products if offered cheaper at another location. But the overall message was, Buyers beware. It’s the holiday season and scammer are everywhere looking for a cheap quick way to get money.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fake-IPads-Flood-Market-as-bloomberg-3096691335.html?x=0
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