Buying on E Bay

picked up some omega watches in malaysia for a fraction of the price the main retail stores charge?....but were they really Omega?...i reckon not.....would'nt or couldnt be fakes eh?

Check their feedback if any, Do a search and see how many they may have sold. I would only pay via Paypal as there is some insurance ( for what it's worth) if something should go wrong. Do your homework and you may pick up a bargain!

Dave

Check the postage cost. Sometimes items sell cheap but make up for it in postage and handling charges.

I bought my Seiko on ebay, genuine with wty, works a treat and as you say a fraction of the local retail.
I'll try and find the seller for you as they had sold thousands, was local in Oz, central coast nsw from memory.

A few years ago I bought a cheap ($20.00) "Steel" brand watch on ebay which the seller advertised as having a Seiko movement.. Watch works just fine, and I have no reason to doubt the veracity of his statement...

More recently, I have purchased a couple of Citizen (ladies & gents) watches for a fraction of retail price, one of these being an Eco-Drive (gents) for just over $100...
These are the Genuine Article, & supplied with all paperwork (& presentation box) and full warranty cover...
These prices certainly highlight the very high margins that Australian jewellery stores enjoy....

As mentioned above, check seller's history (and feedback), do your homework (know your prices!), and there are indeed some bargains to be had...

If the seller is a volume seller, specialising in a narrow field, has been around a while, & has a high feedback score, then it's a safe bet that he/she is legit...

One tip.... Never, ever, get into a "bidding war" with another bidder... Anything I buy on ebay, I put on my watchlist (no pun intended), and then don't go near it 'till a few minutes before the end time, when, if the price is still less than I'm prepared to pay, I enter my Max. bid, & press the "confirm bid" button with less than 5 seconds on the clock...(I can get it down to 2 secs. consistently)...
The main reason for doing this is that it lessens the risk of a "shill bidder" (or anyone else) pushing up the price...
If someone else has entered a higher proxy bid than my max., then I didn't want it anyway... I'll go find another....

Happy Hunting!!

I think the Seiko watches on eBay are parallel imports - Seiko Australia won't warranty them (as they didn't import them in the first place, so why should they!). Basically someone has sourced them cheap overseas, and is cutting out all of the usual middleman and retail markups.

Often called grey market goods. Nothing illegal about the practice, there's often huge savings to be had, but forget about contacting Seiko Australia if you have a warranty problem - the eBay seller has to provide you with statuatory warranty support as they are the importer. Not sure if the particular seller you've seen is offering that, but by law they have to (even though they might try and tell you otherwise). Just something to keep in mind.

That said, they're Seikos - they shouldn't really need warranty work (although my Kinetic Auto Relay died after 4 years - had it repaired myself as it was of warranty, and was told it was a common fault with that particular model).

As an aside, I was bidding on a Waeco and let it go.
Someone else won it. I looked at my watchlist a couple of days later and there was feed back ledt for the buyer and seller that everyone was happy, the I get an e-mail asking me if I wanted to buy the fridge from the original seller at my original bid. What's that all about?

Yeah check the sellers history and do it via Pay Pal , all should be ok then

Recently bought a 2GB Sandisk SD card for less than half the retail price here. Seller has over 5000 feedbacks all good. Memory card comes in a genuine Sandisk package also has a genuine Sandisk warranty book with it. Card works fine but it is a 100% fake no doubt about it. If something is less than half the price you can get it for here, ask yourself why. The Chinese are very good at copying things, if they can make a watch what makes you think they can't make a cardboard box and a booklet just like an original.

As so many have said before me

It may be genuine, but it may well not be (most stuff i have bought from overseas eg Cd's from China are copies, but cheap)

Auctions do not have the same protection as retailers. Auction is "buyer beware".

Sometimes a buyer re-negs, and the loser bidder gets the second chance, but check the details carefully, as it often comes from someone else trying to get your business. You will be able to spot differences. If it is suspect, there is a place on eBay to report this scam - do so. If it is a registered eBayer doing the wrong thing - a few complaints and person gets kicked off eBay.

Always check freight and any 'hidden costs'. Email the seller before bidding if you want anything clarified.

Always check the history of the seller. My family have all had an occasional loss (either goods not delivered, not the product as described, or product didn't work) and the seller has not come to the party and has been kicked off eBay after our complaint, but we have had to bear the loss (for claims, you must pay the first $39 anyway). Considering the savings on some items, we are still in front, and item is posted direct to you so it saves the cost of going to the retailer (some distance in our case).

With so many people using proxy bidding, bidding in the last few seconds is not essential - you can set you highest bid at any time and not look until it is all over (but miss the excitement of bidding in the last seconds). As I'm sure some sellers use dummy bidding, being there at the last would be wise with expensive items.

You will occasionally have disasters, but generally it is good fun, and if the item is cheap, worth the risk if you really want it.

Happy bidding!

I've been buying all my camera gear from Hong Kong at good prices and always check seller feedback before bidding. So far so good.

Thank you all for your kind help.

Looks to me that the risk of needing service, is more than copensated by the saving.

Regards

Col