As many people will know, buy racquets from eBay is a difficult decision as there's more fakes out there than genuine racquets. I've been buying from a few US sellers (even though I'm in the UK) as they have gotten hold of racquets with G5 grips which I prefer. However, there's a new eBay seller in Thailand and I was wondering if anyone here has heard of them or not. I've bought genuine racquets from sellers in Thailand before, but not from this seller. http://stores.ebay.co.uk/racketwise
Have you bought something from that seller before ? Nobody knows for sure until they buy it.. unless it's 'too good to be true' or a JP.
sslam72, if you dont have confidence in buying from this seller then don. Try looking for racquets from more reputable shops. For example.. http://shuttle-house.com http://www.luxissportnet.com http://www.mybadmintonstore.com, etc.. The shops based in south-east Asia are generally cheaper.
I have different opinion. I think buying on ebay is safer than selling from private site. Because 1. Private site do not provide any track of the products they sell. And infomation on their site can be made without buyer's control. 2. Buyer can not leave honest feedback to the next customer to beware of wrong ingo. This is very dangerous on private site. On ebay, if you don't like the seller, you can leave negative feedback. So, ebay seller need to honest and care about buyer's need. 3. You can not easily dispute the charge from the private site. As the private sites are their entire operate. But on ebay, you will have paypal and ebay to protect you more. 4. Even you do not sure the ebay seller, you can ask them anything such as pictures, info. If the seller do not reply, you just not buy on theire product. Because ebay sellers have member cost (monthly or bid cost). They will quickly reply you more than private site.(and absoultely, ... more honestly,.. even some of them are not very good at english.)
I don't know how ebay works in your region, but I just wondering... 1. Do you think buyer has control over ebay's seller's information? 2. How you guarantee the ebay feedback are honest and/or accurate? Read "bluejeff" sticky thread, and you will know how "John" can create 50 accounts of john1, john2, johnxxx and selling rocks to each other and boost up "each other" rating to be all positive. Also, many buyers don't know badminton equipment. Therefore, they only care about the price tag. Say, a real racket is $150, and you got a fake for $120. Do you consider you saved $30, or got ripped off for $120? Saddly, many ppl don't know the truth, and simply be happy as "they don't know the bloody truth". 3. Ebay to protect you? Ebay survives because seller pays the fee, not the buyers. If you want to dispute through ebay, you need proof. You might be easier to refuse a payment, if the seller did nto ship anything. However, once you got a fake, how you prove u got from this seller, or you simply swap a fake against a real on that you received? Did I mention that ebay has no (or almost no) expert in badminton equipment? If you got a fake LV bags, they might accept you case. If you get a fake badminton racket, string, shuttle, jersey, etc good luck 4. If I am a fake racket seller, I will reply your email in every 5 minutes, and provide all good pictures which I took from other rackets or simply copy and post from other sites. Then, simply ship you a fake one, once you made your payment. You will feel soo good and might think I am the "ebayer of the decade" until you open you box... Worst of all, I can be "John" on ebay today, and can be "Mary" tomorrow, and 3rd day, I am "Sean". After a few months, I close my account, and flee with all the $$$. I doubt you can do that, if you are legally registered business in any region, never mention many online shops do also have store front in their own region. Again, I am not saying all ebayers are fake sellers. I know there are a few reputable ones, but the % is very small. Unless you know what you are doing, and try to go with the reputable sellers, then the chance to be tricked is much higher than you can ever dreamed about.
i've bought 4 racquets from ebay, all genuine, but secondhand. Incredibly good deals but I asked an awful lot of questions first.
