I was looking for a specific product on Ebay and not finding it at the price I wanted, although I saw a fair number of ended auctions near the price I wanted.
So I decided to check the web and I found a website I’d never seen before carrying exactly what I wanted at exactly the price I wanted. But then I realized I had never heard of this company before, and since the product is valuable, I tried to find out if they were legit.
They are in Hong Kong, and I’ve done a lot of business with HK retailers in and out of Ebay, but it was small potatoes and more familiar than these guys.
So anyone know about them? I couldn’t find much of anything. No good, but also no bad.
As I said, I’ve done business with HK companies with no problem. And the price is not suspicious - it matches a number of completed Ebay auctions for the same (used-it’s no longer sold new) item. If it was obviously radically lower than any other price anywhere that would be a warning I couldn’t ignore.
But I posted this in hopes of getting actual information from someone who knew something or a way to find out; I’m not going to just dismiss the company as inherently untrustworthy simply for being overseas.
You didn’t specify what product but they are not an Apple store.
The “About Us” page is poorly translated in the manner of scam emails.
They’re not even set up for credit cards despite having the logos on the site. Payment is only by PayPal , Western Union or wire transfer. Apple Store Hong Kong
They also (as a quick Google would show) are good at spamming review sites.
There’s also a directory of legit sites. If you’re looking for a retailer who ships from Honkers and Singapore, I’ve used mobicity.com.au to good success. Cheap, but not unbelievably cheap, good customer service, etc.
Yeah, if you want direct access to a lot of the same Chinese merchandise that is commonly peddled on ebay, there *are *legitimate sites for that. Two that come to mind are dealextreme.com and lightinthebox.com
There actually are some quality products for low prices on those sites, but those would be in the minority. If you don’t mind the potentially long shipping times and the hassle/impracticality of returning an item for whatever reason, buying certain things direct from China can sometimes work out well.
If the deal is good, the question is why wouldn’t I? Your’re “Just sayin’” what? That used Apple goods are inherently bad? (Ridiculous) That the internet is inherently untrustworthy? (Ridiculous) That Hong Kong is inherently bad, untrustworthy, otherwise unsavory in some way you are failing to clarify? Also ridiculous.
Scam artists are all over the globe, including next door to you. So are legitimate businesses. Welcome to the global village, make yourself at home.
Thanks. And actually, it wasn’t too good to be true, as I made clear at the outset. The price was not extraordinary. It was the same price that someone paid on an Ebay auction two days ago.
I lived in HK for 5 years. For me, I would think it’s a non-starter to try buy what is almost a global commodity with global fixed pricing (for new) that has very cheap prices for second hand goods shipped from a country across the Pacific Ocean. Just how much recourse do you have if the goods turn out to be less than what you expected or advertised. Since they don’t take credit cards, you don’t get the associated insurance that comes from that.
actually, HK abounds with scam artists. It has (had?) a reputation of being a mecca of “cheap prices” since the 1960’s. Mainly because at the time it was a tax free shopping haven that perfected the art of selling what appeared to be identical product SKUs that weren’t quite identical to foreigners.
But by all means feel free to find out for yourself. Please post the result.
You post asking for opinions but you don’t actually seem to want to hear any opinions that are contrary to whatever high-fives you were expecting for finding this amazing deal.
Please do order this item and report your experience here if/when it arrives. Just don’t be surprised if Apple is misspelled on the box.
It never stops blowing my mind how much people manage to read into things that aren’t there, AND somehow manage to extract what appears to be personal offense from things that aren’t there AND that have nothing to do with them (which is how I read the attitude inserted into this post).
A. Read the OP. I’ll give you a hundred bucks if you can show me where I asked for opinions.
I know that many people confuse the two regularly, but that is a request for data, information, knowledge - not opinions. Opinion seeking would have looked more like: “So what do you guys think? What’s your feeling/thought/opinion/assumption/extrapolation?”
B. Read the rest of the thread. I’ll give you another hundred if you can show me where I considered the deal “amazing”, particularly so amazing that I created the thread for the (completely weird) purpose of getting high fives (really? You know people who get some kind of ego boost out of finding a good deal on a product? How completely bizarre.):
If you are somehow inferring all this from my response to China Guy while simultaneously ignoring all the stuff that contradicts it, let me explain: China Guy’s post struck me as judgmental and ignorant without foundation. It had nothing whatever to do with my feelings about my desire to buy this particular product or what I thought about this particular retailer, because his comment had nothing to do with either of those things, it was an unsupported blanket condemnation and I was calling him out on it.
And finally this post is particularly puzzling since it comes after the posts where people shared information (vs. unsupported opinions based on assumptions) and resources for more information and I thanked them for doing so.
(Yes, in IMHO, because I figured that there would be enough nebulous information to preclude this falling under being a “factual question” suitable for GD. Wherever I posted it shouldn’t matter, what I said should.)
Always a good plan to actually read the posts, vs. responding based on “suggestive” interpretations based name of the forum. Or next time someone posts about illness, death, and suffering in MPSIMS should we all feel free to make jokes or otherwise be uncaring about the posts, based on the fact that they posted their thread about their father’s death in the forum called MIscellaneous Pointeless Stuff I Must Share - if they posted it there it’s very “suggestive” that they consider thei father’s death, their divorce, their cat being run over “pointless”, right?
Well, hell to the naysayers! I say GO FOR IT because heck, you only live life once, right? And in my opinion (since this is IMHO) you just might not get ripped off. Man, these people are such Negative Nancys, aren’t they? Do it, Stoid! Buy your fake Apple product and enjoy it!
Well…I mean, enjoy it until it fries itself and whatever it’s plugged into after 90 seconds.
That you’re asking the questions in the first place suggests you’re lacking in fundamental common sense, as most people would take one look at that website and be instinctively wary that it’s fraudulent.
It’s as though you asked for advice about transferring money to a diplomat’s assistant in the Ivory Coast who has promised you a 7-figure repayment for your troubles, and when posters try to warn you about 419 scams you angrily insist that you ONLY want to hear from people who’ve had direct experience with Mr. Mamadou Nzeogwu in Yamoussoukro. You’re missing the bigger picture.
Sometimes people will post outside of the lines you artificially put down on a subject. People are in IMHO to give their opinions. You haven’t figured that out yet? Personally I would listen to China Guy when he says something about China but that’s just me. Feel free to underline for emphasis.
I automatically filter HK and China results out of my ecommerce searches. It just isn’t worth it any more. I don’t think I’ve purchased anything from an HK or Chinese retailer that wasn’t bootleg or such low quality it wasn’t worth than the pennies it took to make it.