End2end oversight

About couple of months ago, I have received an offer which was too good to be true in my Instagram account. I have been offered to buy a patio setup for $99. It was clearly worth thousands of dollars. I decided to invest $100 into this learning experience, with knowledge that I will never going to get the 1400 lb. setup or being able to recover the lost funds.

The deal setup was elaborate, although simple. Email address, web page, with big names as supplier and direct link to (such as Home Depot and Leow's). It was a "sponsored" link, with all the setups. As all expected, I never received the good and all my direct contact with the provided email stayed unanswered.

I have done this for two purposes.

• As I was looking at the sequence of the events, Instagram, PayPal, Credit card company and even the group who was hosting the website and email made money on this, although the consumer (on this case me) is the only looser. More interesting is that none of the companies in the chain of transaction accept any responsibilities to reimburse the lost funds. I am still following with all the players. I do not expect anything beyond " sorry for your loss, we investigate, and ....".
• Later last month, I also encounter a very interesting offer online, not as lucrative as the patio. It was 50% less than a lower quality product that advertised on Reputable online marketplace I decided to investigate. I have done my due diligence, and it was a legitimate business. This was a true offer. I have been in the field of security, for over 15 years, and it took me substantial amount of time to validate the information and buy $32 product.

even so the eco-system for fair competition, Challenges of small businesses to make a name for themselves are important, I am more amazed by all the regulation which exists for each player although there is no oversite for the owner of the end2end process?!

I welcome comments and thought