I did the same thing. Like you I figured with using PayPal I wouldn’t have a problem if things go south. I also screen shot the ad and description so if it disappears for some reason I have it.
I also just bought one too. Strange, when I checked earlier, it said sold out and now it is limited quantities available. Oh well, we have Paypal protection.
Might not be an outright scam (pay money, receive nothing), but maybe counterfeits.
I know there have been fake SWM products found floating around in the past, so certainly a possibility.
Don’t think it is a scam. The seller has 3,057 reviews and 99% positive feedback. I’m guessing the V11R is a very old light and Sunwayman decided to clear their inventory so selling these to distributors at liquidated pricing.
I think this would be a great EDC if we can put in some 90CRI emitters. I hoping this can support 16mm mcpcb so I can just drop in an E21A. I love the 4000k E21A in my Sofirn SF14.
I purchased two @ $18.99 from a California location, a bit of a gamble tho, number of sellers offering this light at rock bottom prices, odd…. my inner scam alert has been activated. Nobody said buying flashlights was ever gonna be easy.
I sure hope it’s not but unfortunately, in Ebay, historically all scams have very high positive feedback and reviews, always.
Looking back, BLF oldtimers will surely remember that Nitecore light/charger combo ( IIRC, Regular price at $260, offered online at $69+). Hundreds jumped in, received valid tracking numbers almost immediately (something was actually sent, btw), only to eventually receive cheap plastic trinkets not even worth a dollar.
Again, I sure hope this is not one of them scammers though.
Edit: Here is one of them in 2013: (100% feedback! )
Edit: Looking at his list of “other items for sale”, all are cheap and non-flashlight related, it’s scary.
I changed out the LED on my V11R. Just reflowed a different LED on the factory MCPCB. I didn’t think it was too hard. Also since the thread lock has now been removed, that allows me to get into it fairly easy to reapply some high vacuum silicon grease (Dow Chemical) in the future if the ring ever becomes loose.