Yesterday there was a debate on Twitter on some of the Instagram shops selling the latest Play Station Console, the PS5, in Nairobi. Some of the shops were clearly taking advantage of the low supply available locally to extort customers by doubling their prices.
Out of that, there were retailers who claimed to be selling the PS5 but their shady moves led to many questioning if they were real or just cons.
For those who have been on Instagram, you may have encountered a number of Instagram Shops that mainly focus on selling their products through the platform and do not have any physical shops. There are some shops that started this way and grew to open physical stores and others stuck with this model and still offer good and reliable products and services to their customers.
In a sea of Instagram shops, there are the cons who take advantage of customers who have come to trust the online shops. This has been happening for quite sometime and ends up affecting honest business people who may do not have physical stores as they do not sell as many units as they possibly could because the trust is eroded.
I have spotted some of these shops on Instagram and looking at them, I have gathered a few things that may help you spot them and avoid being conned. I still believe in shopping through Instagram shops and knowing which ones to trust is essential. In this post I will be highlighting some of the things you may notice that might help you avoid being conned.
They Block Comments
A few weeks ago I landed on a few Instagram shops that were selling Apple products at quite reasonable prices. Someone had pointed to me that these shops were run by cons and I wanted to check them out and see how exactly they were doing that.
Going through the different pages, I noticed that most had locked their comment sections and thus no one would comment on them. My guess is that they started locking the comments when they were called out by some of the people they may have conned.
If you are selling a product such as the iPhone 12, I assume you would let people comment on your posts as not everyone who sees such a post may be interested in that particular product. Some may want to know if you have the iPhone 11 or even iPhone 8 and they should be able to ask you that through the comments. This is an easier way as other potential customers may see the same information and they do not have to contact you asking the same question.
Blocking comments means that those who have been conned have no way to complain publicly and hence warn off others.
Very Sweet Deal
Competition is tough in any business and discounts tend to pop up once in a while. Even with this said, there are deals that are too good to be true.
As I was browsing through the different Instagram shop pages, I came across one that was selling the iPhone 8+ bundled with the Apple Watch for just Ksh 35,000. The iPhone 8+ is not a new product and bundling that with the watch and offering it for Ksh 35,000 sounds like a deal that is too good to be true. With most other smartphone retailers, like Smartphone store kenya, selling the iPhone 8+ by itself for Ksh 50,000, why would someone else sell that plus the watch for Ksh 35,000.
Very sweet deals like these should make you ask questions and be alert.
Asking for a deposit
There are risks involved when doing business and asking for a deposit is sometimes important. This is not the case all the time especially if you claim your business is in Nairobi and you are delivering to someone who is also in Nairobi. I am sure these businesses would have found alternatives such as partnering by the many businesses that offer shelf renting services in the CBD. Most of these businesses will just charge you Ksh 3,000 per month and you get a shelf that you can use to keep your products and anyone who is in the CBD can pass by, see the product, pay for it and go home with it.
These businesses also facilitate delivery of the products you have in their premises and if the delivery is within Nairobi, they can deliver the product and the customer pays the full amount on delivery. With such businesses, why would someone ask you to pay a deposit before you even see the product or their physical shop?
Not Clear About Location
If you are running a business, you will want potential customers to know about your exact location before they contact you. You can have all this information including the floor the business in on and the shop number on your bio page.
With these cons, most will just have their location listed as ‘Lavington Mall’, ‘Roselyn Riviera’ etc but will not have details such as the shop number or floor. I also noticed that they tend to say their shops are in these locations and not CBD, Westlands or places that most people in Nairobi tent to know about.
When you ask if you can go to their shop, they become shifty and may even stop responding to your messages. This is because there is no real shop and at that point they know you are onto them.
Focus on Deliveries Across the region
Most of these cons also focus on doing deliveries not just in Nairobi but across the region. This is convenient to them as in such cases they will ask for the full amount or a deposit before they send the product. There might be demand for their products across the region but not by much.
Changed Names so Many times
On Instagram, you can see how many times a page has changed its name by going to the accounts page, tapping on the three dots on the top right corner and then choosing “About This Account” and then “Former Usernames”. From here, you can see all its previous names.
With most fake shops, you will notice they have changed their names so many times which does not make much sense. Yes, some people buy pages but in such cases the name will not be changed that many times, you will be looking at probably a maximum of 3 or 5 name changes. Some of these cons I have seen have changed their names over 45 times, 19 of those were changed this year alone.
Conclusion
Buying from Instagram shops can be a good way to discover new shops and products and get great discounts along the way. While at it, be careful not to be conned and part with your hard-earned money. These tips highlighted here should help you stay alert and decide if the person you are dealing with is the real deal or another con.
Hello I just wanted to thank you for taking time to let us know this you don’t know how much this helped me I wanted to buy an iPhone 12 pro max and there’s this account on ig they told me it’s only for 90,000 ksh which is too good to be true and there page is same as you described above no comment on their posts no exact location imagine just imagine how much u helped me really may God bless you
I am so glad this post helped someone. This is the exact reason why I did it, many people have been conned and it’s time we address it. Im glad you weren’t conned.