What if it seems too good to be true? My safety as a buyer

[highresolution]

Hello everyone, I just discovered ecrater and I love it.

I have one queston though, and before I state it let me first say I know nothing about the below person's auction and I'm not impugning his honesty in any way. I'm simply using it as an example of my dilemma.

The below link is for a Dell M1710 2.33 GHz Blu-ray disc capable laptop, being sold for 1750 USD. The item is new.

The price is almost impossible. I can't find the item being sold anywhere with even close to that price, especially when you factor in the blu-ray dvd drive.

Also the seller appears to have no feedback at all, which is strange to me. However maybe he only recently opened his store.

Considering the investment (1750 USD) and considering the payement is up front, how can I make sure my payment is secure? I've been scammed once before and its made me extrmely gun-shy.

I'm worried it really does look too good to be true. Is there a built in safety net for buyers at ecrater?

Again I'm not impugning this seller personally, I don't have anything against him, in fact what he's selling is such a GOOD deal that its making me gun-shy.

anyway i appreciate any advice from people who've been with ecrater for a long time. Thanks

http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=857673

[Buytime]

Its always good to be cautious when buying from an unknown seller, so Kudos to you for your post.
Although A lack of feedback is not always a great judge of a stores honesty. A lot of people purchase things and leave no feedback whatsoever.
Also, I know the old addage that if its too good to be true, it probably is, well sometimes thats wrong also. I have sold several items at the lowest price on the Net because my overhead on that particular item was nothing or next to it. So sometimes those killer deals CAN be found of you look in the right places

Anyway, to answer your main question.

There is no Safety Net for ecrater shoppers.
The safest way to insure that if you dont receive your item that you get your money back is to pay with a Credit Card (Not Debit) that way even if you cant recollect the funds through paypal, or Google, you can do a charge back directly through your credit card company.

Good Luck


Kenny

[zickit]

I will say this - I DO NOT KNOW THIS SELLER

But all the text pages are filled out in good Englis - that's a good sign.

Contact info is there. I realize it's a phone call to the UK or Italy--- but if I was spending $1750 I would spend a little bit and call them.

Pay with a credit card at least then you can dispute the charge. DO NOT PAY using cash already in your PayPal account.

The decision is yours and it's a risky one. Best of luck to you!

[rcfcomputing]

As a seller of laptops myself, I have to say that's a very suspicious price.

But you never know. Do your due diligence.

[rcfcomputing]

4GB of RAM and Vista Ultimate alone is worth about $1000.

[storybook-ceramics]

If it smells like a skunk....

This seller hasn't even finished setting up his shop, only has 6 items listed. Item descriptions indicate an outrageously high-end item for an unheard of low price...

The only thing this add is missing is a big, red, flashing neon sign across the front saying "SCAM"


Save you money.

StoryBook

[zickit]

[storybook-ceramics]

I was just pointing out all the things wrong with this scenario.

If it was just one or two "little" things, I would suggest maybe contacting the seller and trying to arrange a payment through an escrow service of the BUYERS choice, but there it just too much working against this seller at this point.

Please remember, electronics are the highest fraud "for sale" items on the internet. This seller's store is screaming "fraud", even if he's legit. There is not enough info available in this sellers store to inspire any level of confidence.

This is just my opinion, which the OP asked for in his post.

Wait. Investigate. Above all, hesitate.

StoryBook

[thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat]

Personally unless I lived in UK I would not risk dealing with this seller. Even if he/she/it is legit you stand the risk of having your money tied up for a very long time if any thing goes wrong.

[moments-to-treasure]

I done a google search on the premises this person states they are at.

It certainly seems a large legit business building. Maybe they are selling off some electrical goods?????

Just a thought...

I know at some major companys when they refurbish etc they sell of things like that real cheap.

That doesn't mean this 'isn't' a scam.. Just that the location this person says there at IS a proper building.

I'm not knocking on the door to ask them anything for you though. I'm about 200 miles from their location LOL

[moments-to-treasure]

As a comparison I found this on the Dell Uk site... I don't know too much about pc's so maybe one or two of you could take a look through the product details (It may be of a faster / slower processing speed etc) and then compare it with the one on here. That should help a little with knowing if its 'worth' it or not.

Its deffinately the same model anyway..

XPS M1710

Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7200 (2.0 GHz, 4 MB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB)

Operating system
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium - English

Memory
1024MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2x512)

Monitor
17" UltraSharp Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT Display with TrueLife

Harddrive
120GB (5400rpm) SATA Hard Drive

Optical Drive
Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software

Graphic Card
256MB DDR3 nVidia GeForce Go 7900 graphics card

Modem
56.6k V.92 Capable Internal Modem & Adapter

Service
1 -Year International On-site service

The UK price is 1,149.00 which includes VAT & shipping to a UK address.
Converted into US Dollars that would be $2,283.33

1,149.00 GBP = 2,283.33 USD

United Kingdom Pounds United States Dollars
1 GBP = 1.98723 USD 1 USD = 0.503212 GBP

It also states it weighs 3.99 kg which according to our 'Main' Postal Services it says on their website the following

* Books and pamphlets are the only items over 2kg (2000g) that can be sent by Royal Mails international services.

*2000g (2kg) is the maximum weight for Surface Mail items except Printed Papers, where the maximum weight is 5000g.

That means the items too heavy to be sent by Airmail OR surface mail.

I'm unsure if there are other companys that can do international parcels of a larger size..

I'm not trying to put anyone off.. OR advising anyone its safe. Just stating the UK facts as I'm a UK citizean and thought I'd help out

Hope this helps.

[moments-to-treasure]

Found a UK company that does international deliverys for heavy / large items.

Done an online quote for the size / weight of this product and it gives me three options between 90 & 100 thats approximately $200 to send it from the UK to the USA.

I'm sure theres other international operaters, but you know how it is. They are all competative so the other companys rates are sure to be very similar to these.

[thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat]

If you can't afford to lose that amount of money don't risk it. If you can why bother importing it from the UK? I'd call Dell and read the specs to them and see what they would charge you for that configuration and then head to your local discounter.

It's not like Vista is old stock they are liquidating. Another thing to consider is that they are selling counterfeit goods.

But assuming the seller is 100% legitimate, Do you realize how much duty and tax you will have to pay on top of the shipping and cost of the item? The savings won't be so great once that is factored in.

[highresolution]

Hey guys, thanks alot for all your advice!!

moment-to-treasure: the laptop you're looking at isn't the same, its a 2.0 GHz version without a blu-ray disc drive. You have to go to customize to see the different options for the laptop.

The laptop on dell.co.uk that corresponds to this one costs 1,829 Pounds, which converts to 3,632 USD.

Again, thanks for the advice guys, but I'm probably not going for it. It really does seem too good to be true. There's an xps 2010 laptop going for less than the m1710!!

To the seller, I'm sorry if this post hurts your sales in any way, the only reason I brought up your page is because your deals seem too GOOD to be true. So if its legit, then you're offering a great service. I'm just a little too gun-shy (after a previous experience) to take advantage of it, especially considering I don't live in the UK.

[moments-to-treasure]

I thought the spec on the one I posted about wouldn't be as great as the one you were speaking of. I thought if I posted the cheapest one, someone with better knowledge on pc's than me would be able to compare the two (which you did) LOL

I hope you manage to find yourself what your looking for. I just got myself a new desktop after my laptop kept keeling over on me... my laptop cost me 1,200 ($2,400) and its done nothing but break down on me since I got it GRRRRR... My cheap (ish) little desk top is GRRREeeeaaatttt LOL