I haven't been to Sim Lim Square (SLS) for a long time. SLS is a popular "computer" paradise for tourists visting Singapore and it is one of the "tourist attaction" that I would highly not recommend visiting.

When I was young... like 10 years ago in 1998, SLS was the place to go for geeks. If you wanted to build a new PC, you'd go to SLS. If you wanted more RAM, you'd go to SLS. If you wanted the best graphics card money can buy, you'd go to SLS. If you wanted to get the craziest overclocking tools, you'd go to SLS. Most importantly, if you wanted a bargain, you'd go to SLS.

Back in '98 SLS, shops in SLS would openly display prices that were very competitive. A bargain hunter would walk past these stores and grab paper flyers with full pricing information of all products they carry and go from stall to stall to find the best bargain for, say, a hard drive.

Although this is still practised today, many stalls are starting to use con tactics. I made about 4 or 5 visits to SLS lately because I've been visiting a luthier's shop nearby. I thought SLS had changed for the better, but in fact it has gotten worse. I shall write my experience here for the unweary shopper.

No Pricetag Scam

If you see a product without a pricetag, just walk away. Most likely they're going to quote you based on how you approach them. If you're a tourist, be sure to get the highest price quote ever. These sellers will then try to talk you into buying the product, such as offering a "lower" price if you pay cash.

Wenxi approached a stall that was selling accessorries and asked for the price of a 4GB Toshiba USB thumbdrive. The seller quoted him $45 and surely we knew it was a ripoff price and wanted to walk away after saying thank you. The seller then started asking Wenxi if he would be paying by cash. The way he asked was very dramatic - he leaned forwarded, asked if he would pay cash, then whisper the price in his ears as if it was the best deal and nobody else should hear it. $38 was the quote. Stores that were openly displaying prices for 4GB thumbdrives were selling them for $29.

That's not the best part yet. I was at the cafeteria in SingTel Comcenter and saw that an 8GB thumbdrive (not 4GB) was selling for $29.90. Pushy con(sales) man not included. I'm sure with my Challenger membership, I could have gotten it for somewhat cheaper than $29.90.

So you decide, bargain or no bargain?

Goods and Services Tax (GST) Scam

Sellers would first quote you a good price, and then just before you make the payment they'd tell you that you'll need to pay 7% GST on top of the quoted price. Most people would take this as something that they "have no choice but to pay". This is not true. In fact, GST registration is not mandatory for all shops in Singapore; GST registration is only mandatory if the turnover of a business entity exceeds S$1million annually. A proper GST registered retailer must also quote prices inclusive of GST during a sale, and at the same time must have their GST registration number displayed prominently on the sales invoices with the exact amount of GST paid reflected.

I was hunting for an Axioo Pico UMPC in SLS. I decided to make my purchase at a particular store that served me well as they were kind enough to open the box, show me the unit let me feel it's weight with a 6-cell battery. After I agreed to buy the unit, they informed me I had to pay GST. The GST added a whopping $52 dollars on to the price tag of $749 making its total slightly past $800.

Being a retail business owner myself, I knew the rules of the game and left the store. I bought the same laptop from another store at $758 inclusive of GST.

Missing Component Scam

Some of you may be aware of the last two scams, but this may be new to you. Being a mobile phone retailer, I have heard numerous horror stories relating to such scams.

In this scam, the seller would quote you a price that seemed either unbelievably cheap or very resonable. After you make the purchase, the seller will then ask you if you'd like to purchase an accessory that would otherwise have been bundled with the product.

For example, if you were buying an iPod, they would quote you $380 when everywhere else retails it at $399 and later inform you that you'd have to buy the data cable at a whopping $40 when it should have been bundled.

Counterfeit Scam

This largely applies for software, but at times also to hardware. Nowadays anything can be replicated to look just like real. Earlier this year, some SLS shops were busted by the police for selling counterfeit copies of Microsoft Windows.

As I walked past Sim Lim Square, I saw counterfeit copies of the popular Apple iPod music players on sale. They had the same packaging, material, shape and even colour choices. But what's inside of these "MP4" players are nothing like a real iPod. A sales girl tried to convince me it was an (Apple) iPod, so I tried playing with one and it was barely useable with a trashy chinese software inside.

For the unweary, Apple controls the retail prices of its products. If somewhere other than an Apple store sells an iPod, it would be very closely priced to what you'd get at an Apple store. If it's unbelivably cheap, chances are that it's a fake.

Top-up Scam

In this scam, the seller would convince you to buy something that you would later find to be unsatisfactory and then offer you a top-up for a pricier product.

Francis walked into a SLS store and saw a cordless phone that was on sale really cheap, so he asked the seller if the phone was good. The seller informed him that it's a good phone but with intermittent "poor signal quality" that was not a cause for worry. So Francis decided to get the phone and paid for it while at the same time requesting to test the unit before he leaves the store. Note that SLS shops usually do not allow you to test a brand new unit unless you commit to buy it.

When Francis made a test call, he found that there was a persistent chirp made by the phone and told the seller he could not accept it. The seller then started getting defensive and said it was exactly what he had informed Francis about - the intermittent "poor signal quality". When Francis asked for a refund, he was denied and the seller started to get aggressive. The seller also said that if Francis didn't believe him, he could test the other units and they would all be the same.

Francis knew right away this was a scam and that they had kept a defective batch of phones to close a sale. The seller later recommended him another model that was far more expensive than the one he bought. In the end Francis left the store without making the top-up.

Buyers, please note that unlike large stores like Harvery Norman, SLS stores do not have a refund policy. In fact, it is almost impossible for any small shops to honour a refund policy due to the way their business operates with cash stock. So before you make the payment, insist that you want to test the product. If it's a product that can't be tested (such as RAM or hard drive), make very sure that it's covered by a manufacturer's warranty (not the store's own warranty!)

Where's safe to shop?

Now that you've read the horror stories, where's a safe(r) place to shop?

• Funan center. This place is also touted as the "computer" paradise, but for the "richer". If you are an unweary tourist, this place is certainly much safer.
• Harvey Norman, Courts, Best Denki, Challenger, Cyberactive. Any of these big stores found at major shopping centers such as Vivo and Suntec are safe places to make your IT purchases.
• Buy direct from manufacturers such as Dell or Apple. You won't go wrong with this one - at least there's warranty coverage.
• Now for some publicity of my own, my business WhyMobile was founded on the principles of consumer fair pricing; prices are displayed prominently and quoted nett. We stand by our principles and do not practise any GST or missing component gimmick. If you need a mobile phone, this is the place to go.

Edit: I have updated the SLS page in Wikipedia hoping that this would help the unwary. Please contribute and fix the bad English!