Scams at Sim Lim Square: How to shop smart

The number of complaints against rogue vendors in Sim Lim Square speak for themselves, but if you still want to soak in the noisy, market-like atmosphere of the IT mall and spend hours hunting for some seriously good bargains, here are some common scams to watch out for to make your shopping experience a cheat-free one.

Yahoo! SG compiled these tips from regular Sim Lim customers, shop owners, and a few unfortunate souls who were ripped off by unethical sellers.

Aggressive Sales Tactics

#1: Don't get lured in by fake promises

If the shop's salesmen are hanging around outside their shop approaching tourists or potential customers, calling out "best price for you", holding calculators and blocking your way, stay away.

Their full-time job is just luring you into the shop with ridiculously low prices before ripping you off. For some tourists, the physical impact of seeing the so-called "cheap price" on the calculator is often too tempting to resist. Remember - if its too good to be true, it probably is.

After getting you into the shop with that unbelievably low price, the salesman will likely try to cross-sell another camera to you - which may be refurbished or old stock they are trying to get rid of.

#2: Pressurising the customer

Another common tactic used by rogue salesmen is pressure. When the customer senses something is wrong and starts to resist, other salesmen walk over and start to convince him - not very gently - that he needs to buy the product. Before long, you find yourself being harassed by everyone in the shop - lone shoppers are the prime target for this tactic.

Bank Executive and avid gamer Donald Lee, 31, has been yelled at by salesmen after refusing to buy a product.

"They start to look at you aggressively and accuse you of wasting their time, grabbing the product off the table and muttering that you will not find a better price elsewhere. If you're not a seasoned shopper, you would panic and think you're missing a good deal," said Lee.

#3: So-called "freebies"

Don't fall for the "freebies" trick - most cameras, for example, already come in a set from the supplier with freebies like memory cards, screen protectors, and extra batteries included in the deal. Some Sim Lim vendors will claim they are throwing in these "extras" at their own cost, or even replace the original extras with cheap, parallel imported equivalents.

"I bought an Olympus Camera from a Sim Lim vendor and he said he would be throwing in a "free" 8GB memory card. I only found out later that Olympus was already having a promotion including the card and that instead of giving me the good quality Sandisk original, I received a cheap no-brand one that spoiled within a week," said undergraduate Tan Pei Ling, 22.

"Extra charges"

Another common ruse to get unsuspecting customers to cough up more money is by tagging on "extra charges" onto receipts, often after the customer has already paid up the agreed amount.

#1 "Unlocking" charge

For hand phones and items like PSPs or handheld games, unethical salesmen claim that their item is cheaper because it is "parallel-imported" from China and Japan and thus require an "unlocking fee" to make it compatible for use in Singapore. This so-called unlocking fee can range from $20 to $100, and will never be charged by authorised retailers.

#2 "Sales Tax"

A "sales" or "service" tax of between 15 per cent to 20 per cent is added to the bill. The salesman will claim that the price negotiated is not inclusive. A giveaway is when you ask that this "tax" be written into and reflected in the official receipt - if they are scammers, they will refuse to do so.

Fake or refurbished goods

#1 Refurbished memory cards, printer cartridges

So you've checked the brand, you've haggled on the price, and you think you finally got a good deal. But don't be too sure - some vendors in Sim Lim buy back second hand cameras, phones, and even smaller items like memory cards and printer cartridges, then polish them up and sell them as new.

Common horror stories include printer cartridges which only work for a week before going empty, memory cards which already have some one else's photos on them, and hand phones which already have a strangers' personal contacts.

"I bought a "new" DSLR, and brought it home only to find that it was not working properly and the photos were all blurry. When a photographer friend of mine inspected the camera, he told me that some of the parts were old, some were new, as if someone had taken parts from different cameras and put it all together. I was totally shocked," said swimming instructor Daniel Lee, 35.

A tip from vendors: The product you look, check, and use at the counter may be swapped between counter to cashier. Make sure that you can personally see the same item being packed into your shopping bag as the one you have examined. Do not be distracted - some rogue salesmen try to get your attention as they swap it by taking out freebies or other items.

#2 Fake goods

Fakes from China are common in Sim Lim Square - especially for Apple products, for which there is huge demand in the mainland. The fakes range from cheap looking, obvious imitations to those which, on the outside at least, look as good as the real thing.

"My advice? Don't even buy any Apple products from anyone except the authorized Apple store retailers. I've heard of empty phones weighed down with pebbles to feel heavier. Can you believe it?" said handphone shop owner Rickson Yeo, 34, who used to run a shop in Sim Lim but set up elsewhere.

Do you have any other tips or experiences to share? Let us know !

Read our first story on Sim Lim's rogue vendors here.