Most all of us are familiar with the old comedy stereotype of the seedy looking gent on street corner pulling open his jacket, offering to sell an expensive watch for pennies on the dollar. Few of us would believe that a watch offered by a street seller is the genuine article. However, there are some people who might be ready to fall for a deal that is clearly too good to be true.

Evidence of such behavior can be seen almost everyday just by reading a newspaper. Now it is true that everyone likes to think that they are getting a good deal. Schemers and scammers abound and have for the better part of human history, played on that desire to get something for nothing or as close to nothing as one can get.

The stereotype of the street seller offering to give you the deal of a lifetime has been replaced by the world of online internet selling. There are thousands of legitimate websites that offer the buyer genuine, quality goods at a reasonable price. Nevertheless, just like the disreputable street seller, cyberspace is filled with offerings of merchandise that could be stolen, pirated or counterfeited. The irony could be that, when dealing face to face with a seller we have a chance to see what is being offered first hand.

In cyberspace, most transactions are completed on a sight unseen basis. The buyer may not actually having the opportunity to assess the quality of the merchandise until long after the transaction has taken place and seller has received payment.

Now it should be said that legitimate sellers want to establish good relationships with buyers. The benefit to the seller is establishing a loyal customer base and ensuring a greater amount of repeat business. A loyal customer base also has a positive impact by helping to reduce the overall cost of marketing. Conversely, seller loyalty benefits buyers who can count on receiving quality goods at a fair price, the business textbook example of a win win situation.

So what happens when buyers encounter disreputable sellers, whether face to face or in the vastness of cyberspace? The results are strikingly similar in either situation with the buyer most often left holding the bag. An example of just how brash disreputable online sellers can be occurred recently when the seller offered an expensive item in an online auction. The final bid seemed too good to be true with the buyer thinking a real deal had been reached.

What the buyer received was a picture of the item and when contacted by the buyer, the unscrupulous seller claimed that the buyer was just buying the picture of the item. The good news was that the seller was arrested for various crimes, including fraud and, since the seller was subject to U.S. law, recovery of the purchase was at least a possibility. Now imagine the same situation but with the parties residing in different countries. Not only might the seller escape prosecution but also the chances of the buyer recovering the purchase go down considerably.

Buyers of jewelry items have long been the target of unscrupulous sellers. Manufactured gemstones are often substituted for the real thing. Very often expensive watches are copied and sold for the genuine article to unsuspecting buyers. The old tried and true advise of let the buyer beware has not lost any of its meaning. As always, buyers should always take to verify that what they are buying is not a cheap knockoff. Consulting a reputable jewelry expert is one way to make that what you buy is indeed worth price you are paying.