Facebook Market Place Warning

[Crackle]

If you buy from Facebook Market place be careful, there are cheats and frauds hiding behind pseudonyms and false details..
In particular never pay for anything by bank transfer, you wont be able to get your money back easily.
Use Paypal but never use friends and family option as the buyer protection on this type of transaction is almost non existent..

It is not me who has been caught out, but I know someone who has recently bought a KB Rhapsody radio. This particular seller used images taken from my website to represent his radio. I have seen photos of the actual radio that was sold taken when it was received, it was not the same model, had replacement wrong dial and generally very tatty. Dave Robert Page is the Facebook name of the person who sold this radio, he is believed to operate in the Pool District.
The same seller has also sold a second KB Rhapsody radio, again using one of my photos to represent it.
When I contacted this seller and requested him to remove my photos from his adverts he did not comply with my request.


Mike

[BusyBee]

It's a real minefield out there! I have never used this but there are good things. Thanks for the warning. I suppose the only thing you could readily do is report them to Facebook?

Tracy

[Mike Watterson]

Ha!
Zuckerberg only cares about selling your usage to advertisers and selling adverts.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_me...y_Facebook

It's replaced Halliburton (who as well as Oil, sell other services) as the world's most weaselly company. The best solution is never use Facebook Market Place. If you REALLY must use Facebook, then use a fake name, an email only for that, a burner SIM only for that and post nothing personal.

[Nick]

Zuckerberg only cares about selling your usage to advertisers and selling adverts.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_me...y_Facebook

It's a free service. It's free to you because they're in business to make money. You agree to that when you sign up - see https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms . If you don't want their services, don't agree to the terms and don't sign up. Read the terms document as to how they use your data - it's quite interesting - they're not selling your usage as such, they are given a target profile by advertisers and place those ads with appropriate customers - the advertisers don't know who those customers are, other than they match the profile that they're targeting. If you click on an ad and go to the advertiser, then a different set of rules apply.

If you REALLY must use Facebook, then use a fake name, an email only for that, a burner SIM only for that and post nothing personal.

Usage of fake names is explicitly forbidden under Facebook's T&Cs - see https://www.facebook.com/help/112146705538576 - your account can be blocked and you can be barred from future access.

[Murphyv310]

I've only used FB for just over a year. I've no interest in buying anything on Facebook and I am against using it for that reason. Its certainly handy for keeping in touch with friends but I far prefer WhatsApp. We regularly talk to Judy's family in Nairobi and Nyahururu on voice and video chat, it works perfectly as if it was just a local call.

[Mike Watterson]

Some of Facebook's T&C are toxic. Some may be not enforceable in the EU (or UK).

It's not free. The users are monetised and Zuckerberg has been before USA and UK elected officials and well, read the questions and answers.

It's doing people a favour if they are blocked. Also there is no law against a pseudonym if it's not fraud. John Le Carré and Cordwainer Smith are "fake names".

And they HAVE sold usage/personal information. They are not honest about data collection or usage. Many F buttons on other sites run Facebook scripts. They track and collect info on people that have not signed up. As do Google. Both are under investigation. There are plenty of pitfalls on Amazon and eBay without signing up to use a Market place on one of the least moderated/policed sites on the Internet.

[Kalee20]

It may not be against the law to use a pseudonym, but if it's against Facebook T's and C's, then it's their call for their facilities!

[Crackle]

I use a pseudonym, facebook asked one of my friends if I was real.     
Facebook dont give a f*** about what goes on on there, so long as they cant be prosecuted themselves and they can make their £billions.

Now youtube that's different, they took my video of baby Bluetits leaving their nest box down.   

Mike

[Nick]

Some of Facebook's T&C are toxic. Some may be not enforceable in the EU (or UK).

It's not free. The users are monetised and Zuckerberg has been before USA and UK elected officials and well, read the questions and answers.

It's doing people a favour if they are blocked. Also there is no law against a pseudonym if it's not fraud. John Le Carré and Cordwainer Smith are "fake names".

And they HAVE sold usage/personal information. They are not honest about data collection or usage. Many F buttons on other sites run Facebook scripts. They track and collect info on people that have not signed up. As do Google. Both are under investigation. There are plenty of pitfalls on Amazon and eBay without signing up to use a Market place on one of the least moderated/policed sites on the Internet.

You may not agree with their T&Cs, so don't sign up to them.

It's free in that you don't hand over money. There is payment in kind, e.g. they throw adverts at you, but under GDPR you have to explicitly agree to that. If you don't read and agree to the T&Cs, don't use it.

"John Le Carré" and "Cordwainer Smith" are not "fake names", they are professional pen-names. Professional names, as in stage and pen-names are explicitly allowed - you can create a page for that from your personal profile (the one with your real name on it!) - you still have to give your real, legal name and details as well. No mention was made of the law or a legal obligation to use your real name when signing up - it's a part of the T&Cs that you agree to (or not, in your case). If you don't supply your real name, and they can (and do) terminate your access. David John Moore Cornwell signed up to Facebook (his profile is private), and then he created a page for John Le Carré - if you look closely at the page you'll see a little blue tick by the page name. This indicates that Facebook has verified that this is indeed the official page of a public personality.

In your opinion being blocked from Facebook may be doing you a favour, but do you speak for everyone?

Oh, and just because they're "under investigation" does not mean they're guilty of anything - they might well be, but it's not proven until the courts say so. I'd remind you that where there's money involved, every man and their dog wants a part of it, and regrettably, litigation is a fact of life for those in that position.