are soda signs from china a scam

[190969b]

are soda signs from china a scam..they offer signs for next to nothing with free shipping..i purchased a sign from china for under $30 with free shipping i paid through paypal with a prepaid visa card..the sign i purchased is easily worth $200-300..i sent the seller many messeges asking if it was shipped yet with no reply from the seller i think i got scammed..im 70 years old and new to ebay what should i do next any info would be great thanks..

[marnotom!]

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@190969b wrote:

have no idea what vero program & ebot are...but if those 2 things mentioned are to sort the good with the bad i suppose..then it seems to me dosent seem to work good..

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Just because these systems don't work perfectly doesn't mean they don't work well.  Neither you nor I have any idea what gets caught versus what doesn't.

I did a search for metal soda signs on my phone a few days ago and only one listing from China came up.  The rest were from the United States.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@190969b wrote:

have no idea what vero program & ebot are..,

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VeRO program -- companies (like MicroSoft) register with eBay and police their own products telling eBay to pull listings that are selling fakes/counterfeits/unauthorized  -- which eBay does (the seller can appeal the decision if they have legit product, but the listing is gone until they do).

bot - slang term for automated programs that check listings for prohibited and restricted items -- but not much use for counterfeits -- which require in depth knowledge of the product.

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Bottom line: only buy from sellers who have a good reputation for the item you are interested in buying.

As for soda signs, if it is original the seller should know at least some part of it's history (and be willing to answer your questions).

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[afantiques]

Why would the Chinese have adverts for products that were not sold in China?

[ypdc_dennis]

For mainland China that would be true for old used signs that are non-Chinese.

However, Hong Kong was a British rental territory for 150 years.

[190969b]

all i know is if you buy any tin..metal ..porcelian sign from there you are getting scammed and wont recieve it..nor will the seller reply back to you...they copy other peoples adds that were already sold and post it on there sites..those persons are all new sellers that have just joined in the last couple of months...

[afantiques]

My recollection of Hong Kong in the 60s was that most soft drinks were locally made, or a few British brands bottled locally. I do not remember seeing any US brands except Coca Cola but I really cannot say I was looking for them.

Inported consumer brands were very heavily biased toward the British ex-pat market, all familiar British goods like Marmite and ginger nuts.