This seller looks new and suspicious to me... should i be concerned?
I placed an order for this item:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/397425040726
showed 3 sold 1 left. soon as i bought it he posted another one. after looking at his feedback, 6 low cost items sold, account opened in october, listed hundreds of high dollar dji items, 112 items sold...
Post purchase i dug deeper and started to get more and more concerned.
Does this buyer look fake to you? And if he doesn't come through on the item, what form of recourse do i have to get my money back? I'm worried he will try the brick in a box scam...
Hoping this just goes well, but looking for the community to help me get a read on things.
Much appreciated!
20 comments
meatfield
OP8 months agoCircling back on this, seller came through. Even offered excellent after order support.
Can't always judge a book by its cover...
meatfield
OP9 months agoThanks everyone for the feedback, I appreciate the perspectives.
Given the current DJI market, especially with inventory moving through Hong Kong gray-market channels, this seller’s behavior so far appears consistent with pooled supplier fulfillment rather than anything immediately concerning. Longer handling times, shared photos, and per-listing inventory resets are fairly common in this space right now.
The seller has been responsive and has committed to providing photos of the unit prior to shipment, which is encouraging. I’m proceeding cautiously, keeping a close eye on fulfillment, and will follow up here once I receive the confirmation images in the next few days.
Thanks again for the input.
roccotacodad54
·9 months agoAre those the drones I heard about that (without the users knowledge) connect to an available hot spot and upload all the information they contain to a Chinese server?
jerhod97
·9 months agoDude, your screwed. Never buy anything from China. Most always fakes. Good luck, I hope I'm wrong.
simba6
·9 months agoSeller has no feedback for selling items in that price range. I would worry about the fake tracking number scam. A junk item sent an any address in your zip code is good enough to the seller to get your money. I say it's very "fishy" and would not suggest you purchase.
Always pay by credit card for the added protection they offer. But with that item I say NO.
kathiec
·9 months agoOP has already made the purchase. This thread is essentially the equivalent of closing the corral gate after the horses have escaped.
meatfield
OP9 months agothank you for the great feedback. Hopefully all goes well, the seller is communicating well. Hoping for no tracking scam issues...
soh.maryl
·9 months agoeBay's Money Back Guarantee for buyers is really quite good. If you've not read it, now would be a really good time to do so.
Other responders have given you details of what to do if/when a transaction goes wrong.
mudshark61369
·9 months ago@meatfield ,
"just don't have a lot of experience reading sellers on ebay, so figure i'd get popular opinion".
After making over 600 purchases/sales on ebay since `09 you should know by now how to check a seller's feedback profile, and what the terms of ebay's Money Back Guarantee (MBG) are. There is a link to it on every ebay page just under the accepted payment icons, Click on the Learn more button just under the Shop with confidence header.
"I'm worried he will try the brick in a box scam...".
More than likely they would pull a Fake tracking number scam, which is much harder to get a refund for
meatfield
OP9 months agoI appreciate the response. I’m very familiar with eBay’s MBG and have relied on it successfully over the years when needed. My concern here isn’t a lack of understanding of buyer protections, but rather the changing dynamics of certain categories.
DJI products are somewhat unique right now due to current legislation and distribution constraints, which has pushed a large portion of legitimate inventory offshore into Hong Kong and similar markets. That creates a very different seller profile than what many of us were used to 5–10 years ago — pooled inventory, shared listings, gray-market fulfillment, longer handling times, etc.
I’m not assuming bad intent, and I’m not new to international purchases. I’m specifically looking for insight from others who have experience navigating this segment of the market — what are realistic tells for gray-market DJI resellers versus actual bad actors, and what behaviors are worth watching without jumping to conclusions.
That context is really what I’m trying to validate here.
soh.maryl
·9 months agoPardon me for my lack of knowledge, but what are "DJ products:"?
jonathanbrightlight
·9 months agoDJI, the manufacturer of a line of popular drones.
soh.maryl
·9 months agoThank you. Thanks to these Boards, I am broadening my knowledge just about every single day.
eburtonlab
·9 months agowhat are realistic tells for gray-market DJI resellers versus actual bad actors, and what behaviors are worth watching without jumping to conclusions.
Just like seller accounts of other products, the longer a drone seller account has a history of selling and delivering similar drone products and receiving positive feedback comments from actual experienced buyers -- as opposed to just automated feedback from eBay when tracking shows delivery or feedback from very inexperienced low-feedback buyers -- the more likely the seller is actually delivering what the seller has advertised and will continue to do so in the future.
Seller accounts that have been around a long enough time selling the same products but not actually delivering consistently typically wind up having that reflected in the feedback comments (or in the number of feedback revisions, at the very least).
Sellers that have accounts that are too new to have much actual feedback should be viewed with a great deal of suspicion. Not necessarily because most new sellers are scammers; all sellers have to start somewhere. But a single scammer can open many, many more new accounts than a legitimate seller ever will, and therefore a much higher percentage of currently existing new accounts are opened by scammers compared to the actual number of scammers as a percentage of eBay users.
In other words, scammers tend to be very much over-represented among new accounts, and very much under-represented among experienced accounts. Which suggests one obvious way to avoid many scam seller accounts.
kensgiftshop
·9 months agoSeller is from China.
Items are supposed to be located in Hong Kong, but they are shipping from China.
Sounds a little fishy.
bonanza125
·9 months ago"Does this buyer look fake to you? And if he doesn't come through on the item, what form of recourse do i have to get my money back? I'm worried he will try the brick in a box scam."
Ebay gives you a 30 day moneyback guarantee so if you don't receive or the item is not as described you can return it. In the future avoid international purchases. It's high risk.
klhmdg
·9 months agoThe time to question is before you purchase.
I dont buy from foreign sellers because - well, way too many issues.
But read the MBG and if you have an issue with this item BEFORE you do anything, come back and ask what to do.
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·9 months agoJust know if you need to return do not let them talk you into closing the return case.
Do not let them string you past your return window.
Do not forget that you can open INR case 1 day after last estimated delivery date
You have 30 days after last estimated delivery date to open a case for INAD
I am giving you this info because I feel you will need it.
meatfield
OP9 months agoI actually didn't even see that other seller, though ironically this gives me more confidence that he may be legit. The other seller who sold 8 - 4 of them have received positive feedback, 123 ratings with 99.3%. Other seller looks legit.
Funny thing about the DJI situation right now, everything comes from China because of tarifs, customs holds, and restrictions right now. China is mainstay for sales for this stuff right now... I bought 3 drones off Amazon all from china with a 30+ day shipping window, every one of them arrived sealed and legit, even though i was sweating every moment... 🙂
I just don't have a lot of experience reading sellers on ebay, so figure i'd get popular opinion.
Seller replied to me too pretty quickly and agreed to send me pics of the serial number and item before shipping in 4-5 days.
Seems I may be ok, no?
albertabrightalberta
·9 months agoI wouldn't have purchased that item from a seller in Hong Kong who has sold 4 of them. (Nor would I purchase from the other seller in China whose listing has the same pictures and who has already sold 8 of them.)