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Staying vigilant when buying online

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[This article was first published at www.jaxxie.me]

As promised in my previous post, I will be sharing how scammers make use of online marketplace platform to scam unknowing buyers. Most of the content below are derived from my experience in running GameTrader.SG and GadgetTrader.SG.

Rise of consumer-to-consumer trading platform

A few year back, Yahoo Auction was arguably the king of online trading platform in Singapore. Even Ebay was not a strong competition to Yahoo Auction at that time. Online classified such as 88db and GumTree were always there too but they never gained critical mass or become super popular. Yahoo Auction Singapore was then shut down in 2008 and the popularity of C2C marketplace declined.

Fast forward to today, there are now many platforms for people to buy and sell their stuff. Amongst them are general trading platforms such as Carousell, Qoo10 and the recent Trezo by SPH. There are also more dedicated ones like SgCarMart, GameTrader.SG and GadgetTrader.SG which cater to a specific genre of items.

Of course the most impressive platform is none other than Carousell which raised $6M late last year and have experienced tremendous growth in terms of user base.

Most sellers on these platform are genuine individuals. However, online scams are on the rise and the authorities have even created website to educate the public. You may think that you are an experienced online shopper and you will not fall for such scams. You maybe wrong.

Tell tale signs of a scammer

a) Price of goods is un-un-un-believably cheap

The most easy give-away of a scammer which most people tends to ignore is goods sold at ridiculously cheap price.

Cheap PS4

For example, you saw this ad online on a PS4 that cost only SGD400. A quick google will reveal that a typical PS4 would cost above $500. Furthermore the set is brand new! Sounds too good to be true? Yes it is too good to be true!

Typically the seller will only contact you via email or private message (if it is present in the trading platform) so as to hide his identity. He will ask you to transfer the money to a bank account and promise to deliver the goods to you.

After some time, you realised that the item did not reach you. So you contacted the seller again and he mentioned that the item is stuck at the custom and he would need you to transfer more money to him. And so you did. Soon after you realised that you have been conned, you tried to contact the seller again but there will be no more replies. A police report is your next best option.

How to avoid

To prevent yourself from getting scammed, always checked the market price of the item of interest before committing to any purchase. If the price is way lower than market price, exercise caution. Ask for a meet-up and before making the payment.

b) Seller uses only email to contact you and not via mobile number

The next tell tale sign of a scammer is his mode of contact. Typically, reputable sellers and shops are more than willing to contact you via mobile number since it is the fastest and simplest mode of contact. As such contact numbers are traceable by the police, scammers would prefer to use anonymised mode of contact such as email or any private messaging system on the platform.

If you asked for the contact number and the seller refused to share, it may be best to walk away from the deal.

c) Making payments via Paypal/Alipay or even bank account

Other methods includes payment via facilities such as Paypal and Alipay. A scammer will typically ask you to make top-up to their accounts as mode of payment. Unless you are very sure that the seller is reputable, refrain from doing that.

Transferring money to bank accounts are generally traceable. There have been a few cases where scammers asked buyers to transfer money to a bank account. Turns out that the bank account belongs to companies that have a prepaid wallet system. Some websites such as 65daigou allow their user to transfer money into their bank account as a form of top up for their digital wallet. The credits within the wallet can then be withdrawn by their user or used for purchases. An email is all it takes to create a user account on such sites. So do not think that bank transfer are fully traceable.

Transferring money to foreign banks may be even more difficult for the police to take action. So think twice before sending money overseas.

How to avoid

The best way to avoid such scam is to do cash-on-delivery. Pay in cash only upon seeing the goods. Meeting up the seller is recommended. If you really need to do bank account transfer, you can do a quick google of the bank account number that was passed to you. A private bank account should not appear on any websites.

d) User rating

This is a bit of a no brainer. Of course you would want to deal with someone with a good user rating on the platform. However, you should also be mindful that not all ratings may be genuine. There is nothing to stop a scammer from creating multiple accounts. Use the ratings as a guideline but not as a foolproof way of filtering out scammers.

User rating

Always stay vigilant

I know this article may sounds like a message from the police but I can assure you that I am not working in the police force. Coming from an operator of online marketplace platform, I feel really bad whenever I received emails from the users that they have been scammed on my platform. While we have messages to warn user of potential scammers, some time the system may fail to pick up such individuals. It will still be best for our users to understand how such scammers operate and avoid them.

As we get more accustomed to transacting online, we should always stay alert and be mindful that there will always be scammers out there in the wild. So the next time you buy anything online, check and double check the credential of the seller before you make the purchase.

Disclaimer: The writer operates both the GameTrader.SG and GadgetTrader.SG platform in Singapore.

Game Industry News, Game Review

Mobile and console gaming line is blurred once again at a new level

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With better graphics and greater proliferation of mobile and tablet devices, more and more people are finding themselves hooked onto mobile gaming. Furthermore the plethora of free-to-play (not free) game are release almost everyday or week. Today we had our hands on Assassin’s Creed Pirate on an iPad Air.

The mobile experience redefined

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Gone are the days where graphic on console is superior to the sprite graphic on mobile. Assassin’s Creed Pirates (ACP) boosts wonderful graphic comparable to that of last-gen PS3 and Xbox 360. Although PC and Console graphics are still superior, the gap is definitely narrowed. The beautiful rendered water and sunset in ACP will for a while make you lost in this new world that you can once only experience on PC and console. Of course, this is not the first game that boost wonderful graphics. Infinity blade series, FIFA and many other games boost similar quality. Console cycle is typically a few years. It will be a matter of time when mobile gaming overtake it in terms of graphical prowess. Oh and did I mention that I did not hear any noisy fan whirling typical of consoles and some PC?

No more on screen soft button

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In the past, game ported from console to mobile is often perceived as inferior given that the latter almost always feature those weirdly place on screen soft button. ACP a on the other hand, while not a port over, greatly make use of the touch interface of a move device and incorporate it into the game smoothly. Drag and swipe to steer your ship, tap and hold to fire cannon of your ship. Such actions are no performed by soft button of up, down, left and right. You can even pinch and zoom to get different level of perspective when you are on board your pirate ship.

Free-to-play but not free

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ACP a is free-to-play. It is a free download on the iOS AppStore. The entry barrier to playing this game is almost zero with the exception that you need to first get an smartphone or tablet. While game is free to download, there is an option to buy coins with real money to give you an head start in the game. Mobile gamers are very used to ‘free’ games, however economic 101 tells us that the developers would still have to be paid in some way. Thus far, in app purchase seems to be the best way for this developer. Of course such trends has created some rogue developers who build games aiming at maximising revenue. The true spirit of building game to entertain and challenge players may be place in the back seat in some of the free games we see today. In ACP, while in-app purchase exists, we still find the game truly enjoyable.

What’s next for PC, Console and Mobile gaming?

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PC and Console games have been consolidated. Today most games are published on multiple platforms cutting across the PC and consoles realm. Of course, there exists some games like Metal Gear Solid and Destiny that are strictly for consoles. However, these day may be short lived. Coupled by the strong competition in mobile gaming, the 50-99 dollars console game that you need to purchase may not be as attractive any more compared to the zero dollar mobile game.

Here at GameTrader.SG, we would love to see console gaming evolved to a new stage. The current generation of consoles of better graphic maybe losing its luster. We need something interesting and revolutionary to get people back to console game.

General

Is the Latest Generation of Consoles Suffering from the Rise of Mobile Gaming? 

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We’ve heard about it for ages – have mobile games brought the death of the console?

 

Some rights reserved by Sergey Galyonkin
Early last year, there were talks about how mobile gaming had killed the console gaming industry, The PS3, for all its merits, died at the hands of Smartphones, and as gaming began to take a life of its own in the mobile industry, so too did the mobile industry start to become dependent on gaming.

It’s this relationship that has pushed many developers into acknowledging the fact that mobile gaming posed a threat to the already-established platforms of PC and console gaming. Everyone had such high hopes for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, thinking that this latest generation of consoles would revive the console market, and for a while, the future seemed bright, with the PS4 sells 4.2 million units in 2013.

This year, however, tells of a different story. Most experts predict that while video game spending is expected to rise by 10% this year, only $4 of every $10 spent on video games will come from console gaming. The thriving mobile industry is said to be the culprit, and if console manufacturers don’t start adapting to the threat of mobile gaming, they’re bound to be left in the dust.

Why exactly is the mobile gaming industry killing consoles? It’s all quite simple: as one veteran games developer told TechCrunch, “The PS4/XB1 is the first generation to have technology worse than what is already out there.” O2 explains that there had always been two areas where consoles had the upper hand over Smartphones and mobile gaming devices: graphics and power. The latest generation of Smartphones, however, has become much more advanced, to the point that they can run high-end games without lag thanks to 64-bit processors.

Some rights reserved by Axel Pfaender

Console-style games have also made their way onto Smartphones, and thanks to the limitless amount of accessories available, the gaming experience can be as close to console gaming as one would imagine. Smartphones can now be mirrored on widescreen TVs, and accessories like the Moga controller have also made console-like controls available to smartphone gamers.

There’s also the question of practicality. When the PS4/XB1 were released, they set gamers back by about $400 per console, and these consoles were hardly better for much else than playing games and watching videos. On the other hand, a good smartphone – which can do everything from play games, access social networking websites, take photos, read email, open and edit documents, send messages and make calls – will cost you no more than $200. As for the games themselves, the average PS4 game costs $60 brand new – a price unheard of in mobile gaming. Most mobile games cost nothing more than $0.99, and for the price of a PS4 game, a mobile gamer could download dozens of games, as well as get a head start with in-app purchases.

Let’s not forget that the mobile industry is also much friendlier to independent developers, and the cost of developing an app or mobile game is much cheaper than developing games for consoles – a process that could take years. This has led to literally over a million apps being born into the mobile markets, appealing to all niches. The casual aspect of mobile gaming also means that it’s much easier for players to launch and end their games. After all, all you’d really have to do is bring out your smartphone – no matter where you are – flick to the game you want to play, and start playing. To pause the game, all you’d have to do is lock your phone again. But as for console games, a player would have to go to where his console is installed, wait for the console to boot up, load a disc, and wait for the disc to be read. Ending the game would require properly shutting down your console, and in today’s fast-paced world, not everyone has time for that.

Do you think that consoles stand a chance against the mobile market, or have you been sucked into the Smartphone trend as well? Let us know in the comments below!