Pretend I'm a Seller on e-Bay............................

and I have a normally-priced flashlight that typically goes for $150 ‘on sale’ for $55 including shipping.

Given the following, are any of these valid reasons why you would buy it?

1). Ya figure the guy’s trying to blow out inventory and so this is prolly his wholesale price.

2). It’s maybe a typo and ya really wanna rape the guy over the coals. He prolly meant $155.

3). Ya wanna show-off on BLF that ya got something everybody recently paid $150 for and make them feel like sh*t.

4). Ya like to use the ‘scatter-gun’ approach to snagging deals. Some ya win, some ya lose. IOW you’re a gambler.

5). Yer pretty sure this could be a scam but ya figure e-Bay and/or PayPal will cover yer back so WTF. It’s only time.

6). You like the thrill of getting something for essentially nuthin’ even if it ends up costing ya somethin’.

7). You have in the past fallen for those PCH Ed McMahon sales pitches. You never win sh*t but hey ya can’t if ya don’t play.

8. You’re not stubid. But ya have moments of utter stubidity and need intervention to rein ya in at times.

9). When it comes to faboo flashlights ya have a weakness that overwhelms the logical side of the brain.

10). Had you read this thread first ya prolly would’ve thought twice about the truism, “If it’s too good to be true……etc.”

If anyone here is offended because this kinda describes ya, I don’t apologize. To the guys that have like 84% positive-ratings on e-Bay and BLF’ers continue to buy from ya, all I can say is, yer providing Life Lessons. :smiley:

Ps. Did ya know if ya type in 8) (the number 8 & parentheses) it gives ya this: 8) ……… :open_mouth:

usually the only time i get a too good to be true price is when its an auction that im really not that excited about, and i put in a bid for a “what the he!!” try

got a leatherman ps2 for $9.95 that way.

on the other hand… if it is something i really want… bidding goes up to actual retail price very quick

usually on things i really want the bidding goes to $1 over my highest bid! :frowning:

ken

… if it looks too good to be true, it probably ain’t true…

There was a big ebay scam a while ago that a bunch of us piled onto:

(long read, but the end is that ebay finally figured out that the guy was a scammer and canceled almost everyone’s transactions. IIRC, a couple of people got burned because they didn’t jump through ebay’s hoops properly)

edit
oops, wrong thread. This is the one I meant:

Ya know where peeps in the news go bizerko because somebody started to heave in public after there was a rumor of an ebola outbreak in their Eskimo village. H) :open_mouth:

The #5ers can feel free to stretch and snap a thick rubber band, repeatedly, on the tip of their junk.

I would personally buy it and hope for the best. Which is exactly what I did with my ebay HID. (99.6% rating when I bought it but now it is at 86%)

If it weren’t bad enough to rake them over the coals, you want to violate them also? :smiley:

If I don’t think it is too good to be true, I take a chance and know that I am protected…

once too often. Now when women try and do that to me I just take it like a man. :smiley: :open_mouth:

Lets face it - we all like to get a great deal.

Sometimes the sales are short, sometimes just the start of an even better deal, sometimes fraud. If you want it at the price, then evaluate your recourse and place the order.

I just got stuck with a dozen Ultrafire 501s from eBay that I wanted to give as gifts. They seem to be fakes. Paypal and eBay will most likely refund my money. On the other hand I have to reorder in time for Christmas. Hopefully, enough vendors get their fingers slapped and this counterfeit problem subsides.

And yes, I’ve gotten some great deals when I said ” what the he!!, …“, why didn’t I order another?

Who was selling the Fake 501’s?
And where they brighter than originals?

Fake 501. Isn’t that kind of an oxymoron? They’re already down at the low end. Maybe they think you won’t notice. I’d rather buy one good light than 3 poorly made ones. Or was that the other way ’round? I hope you get your monies worth whatever you spend.

First, I have not absolutely certain that they are fakes, so I’d rather not post the vendor name until I’m certain. I had purchased one from Tmart and love it. I assume that one is genuine.

Then I bought 12 from an eBay vendor so that I could give them to customers as Christmas gifts. The packaging said “Banggood.com” and the quality is poor. (rough threads, gobs of grease, no solder holding circuit board to pill, etc)

Ultrafire says that Banggood is known to sell fakes.

Actually, yes I think the suspected fake might be a bit brighter, but build quality and general feel stinks.

I don’t bid on eBay unless it is something I think nobody else will want.

I’ve found a lot of tools, office supplies, and other stuff on ebay. The prices, even on name brand stuff is usually quite good - 20 to 90% off of retail! Cell phone batteries were 90% less than local retail at Batteries Plus.

I was a bit worried when I bought the first one. Sure it is a Budget light, not a $100 US made one. Don’t get me wrong, I’d really like to buy American, if the price difference wasn’t so great.

Quality doesn’t always completely follow the money. I have a ’97 Geo (mostly Toyota) with 270,000 miles that has NEVER left me stranded. GM has never done that for me. GM hasn’t lasted 200,000 miles for me either.

Overall, yes Ultrafire is lower priced, but I am very favorably impressed. Maglite is similar, decent build quality, fairly reliable. Well, avoiding alkalines will make my Maglites last a lot longer!

I thought geos were Suzuki-made.

Geo was a Toyota GM venture. Prizm was a sister car to the Corolla. The Geo line became GM in 1998. To date, I’ve done 2 “repairs” to mine. The starter contacts had to be replaced at about 125,000. The AC compressor also went bad a few years ago. Yes, I do oil changes, timing belt changes, tune ups, and tire stuff, but only 2 real repairs. Alternator is original at 270,000! Car has NEVER left me stranded! Twice I had a dead battery from leaving headlights on, but its easy to push start with manual tranny.

are there any fakes toyotas ? :slight_smile:

There is not one company out there that doesn't sell fakes..if you would have bought the 501 with the xre emitter in it or one with a greene emitter it would have been a better host ..real ?? i don't think the best of blf can tell you what a real 501b looks like ..I have 9 different versions ..one I'd guess is real and it's not that good .a real 980L or a mcu-c88 is rather obvious that it's real because they are really nice ..but like someone said ..501b's aren't ever that nice ....you oughta know that you think you have a real one ..If real is your defintion of a light than don't buy from anyone on ebay or any vendors listed here ..everyone of them will end in a paypal dispute .