Buying off Ebay

[Luke.marsh96]

I am looking to get an ultimaker 2, and have noticed on Ebay they go for around £1400 brand new, where as online its around £1700-800.
How comes people are able to sell it that much cheaper on Ebay, it looks dodgy...
What do you think?

[curious aardvark]

depends on the individual seller.

I bought my printer off ebay - from a company with thousands of sales and 99.9% approval.

Would I have bought it from a seller with 2 sales ?
Not a chance.

[Mjolinor]

Purchases off ebay are so well protected now that there is little riskin buying anything. If I don't buy something off ebay every day I go to bed feeling unfulfilled.

Like CA says, check the feedback and educate yourself, Google the username see if there are any horror stories, just basic background checks that you would do for anything you needed to know about and you should be fine.

Watch out for older models not being mentioned as older models, that can often lead you to think items are cheap.

[Luke.marsh96]

Thanks for the feedback! The seller has good feedback, and has sold brand new ones before, I just don't understand how he is able to sell them for£400 less than what they retail for.
Thanks!

[iDig3Dprinting]

If I don't buy something off ebay every day I go to bed feeling unfulfilled.

A beautiful quote.

As both Mjolinor & curious aardvark say it is important to look at the seller, take a look at the feedback they get. You are protected if you buy on ebay, the system is set up in favour of the buyer. Pay by paypal so you can get your money back and if you have problems deal with them quickly.

Make sure you research the product they are selling properly, as Mjolinor mentions, there may be some subtle differences that mean you are not getting quite what you thought you were paying for.

As to how large there margin is will depend on how many they have and what sort of discount they got on them. If they count on the fact that they will sell a lot at that price then they can afford to slim their margins down.

[fboyles]

I also buy and sell a lot on eBay. That is where I bought my Printrbaot Simple Metal. As everyone else has said eBay does take care of the buyers much better then they have in the past. If you're buying a 3DP new their can't be any agreements if the item arrives and it's not as described. But where it can get a bit sticky is when you're buying a used 3DP. I bought my Printrbot as a New Open Box. When it arrived the seller did a very poor job repacking the 3DP which the power supply got crushed and the print bed got gouged/scratched. Now the seller did give me a partial refund so all is well. But it could have turned out to be a pain in the butt. Just make sure they have good (current) feedback and the price is worth it.

[curious aardvark]

I'll disagree with ebay giving a crap about it's users.
Treat it like a large car boot sale: ie, with extreme suspicion :-)

Most sellers are genuine, the non-genuine ones are usually easy to spot.

[Luke.marsh96]

Thanks for the advice!

[jasonplusjessica]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3D-Printer-S...item3cf751edb4

speaking of ebay....

[3ddrucker]

I also think that it depends on the seller. On ebay you can find a lot of really good sellers. You should always check the ratings. But if you want to buy an 3d printer with a very high value, i would never buy on ebay. I would definitly buy industrial 3d printers at a professional store, where you will get at least an address.