Why learn about fraud the hard way? This page is intended to share critical buying information with the smart consumer. Remember the old saying that "If it sounds too good to be true...?" Greedy sellers generally prey on greedy buyers. Greedy sellers typically offer prices below what they pay for the item(s) in an attempt to draw traffic and then use their "sales" (fraud) techniques to turn a losing deal for them into a losing deal for you.
But if you really don't trust the dealer with the "too-good-to-be true" price, even after asking all the questions below, why would you want to give that person your credit card number? In our experience, the most distrustful consumer usually figures that if they order C.O.D., they can't lose. Of course, this is the opportunity of a lifetime for a dealer who's looking to sell $500 - $5,000 of rocks! (Shippers like UPS have to get the money before they let you open the package.)

See some of the Brooklyn stores.

Click "Compare Prices" for up to the moment price comparisons between retail, discount and scam.

Questions that unethical dealers don't like to hear:

	Question	Reason
1)	Do I have to buy anything else to buy it at this price?	They can sell 1 item below their cost if they overcharge you enough on the others
2)	What is the total delivered price you will charge me?	They can't add on unreasonable extra fees that you haven't heard about yet
3)	Are these factory "A" goods*?	They can't add more later for the product you actually want to buy
4)	Are these factory sealed goods?	They can't send you used goods
5)	Are these "grey-market" goods*?	They can't use the old trick that the item with the great price doesn't have a US warranty
6)	Is the product in stock?	They can't keep you waiting forever while planning to get you to pay the real price
7)	When will my credit card be charged?	They can't charge you now, and then have you wait to get the product
8)	When will I receive my shipment tracking number?	Once you get the shipment tracking number, you know whether something is shipped
9)	What is your Customer Service Phone Number?	If it's not an 800 number, they probably anticipate you will be on hold a very long time
10)	What is your physical address?	Some dealers don't want you to know that they're from New York or New Jersey
11)	Will my package have the original factory barcode on the box?	Some manufacturers require that barcode for things like rebates. Some dealers have already taken those rebates.

*factory "A" goods means new; not refurbished or remanufactured.

*"grey-market" goods means: not intended for sale in the United States; does not have a US warranty. This old trick is where you're all done giving your credit card number and shipping address and then they pretend that the item you discussed was "grey-market" goods, and that you must therefore buy their warranty. If you don't buy it, you can expect to wait forever, because the goods won't be shipped.

There are other ways to avoid fraud like checking out consumer-feedback on certain web sites like Photo.net, but that doesn't tell all because dealers with bad reputations change company names frequently, making it harder for you to know that the people you're dealing with have a long negative history as any number of other names. Such dealers also post their own 5-star glowing review under assumed names, etc. Sometimes you will see 1/2 terrible ratings and 1/2 perfect ratings. This should tell you something.

Once again, you should intuitively know after awhile if the dealer is trustworthy or not, and those who choose to do business with the untrustworthy in hopes to save a few dollars cannot hold the crooks totally responsible.

DigitalVideoForLess does make mistakes from time to time, but dishonesty has never been one of them.

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Updated 08/19/08
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