I Ordered DeWalt Tools From China

[fried1765]

That is the main reason I deal with Amazon. Thus far, they have always made things right and done so promptly.

Though Amazon is excellent, ....you quite often pay substantially more than the very same item would cost on E-Bay.
I have never had a problem that E-Bay/PayPal did not resolve to my satisfaction.

 

[CMV]

Though Amazon is excellent, ....you quite often pay substantially more than the very same item would cost on E-Bay.
I have never had a problem that E-Bay/PayPal did not resolve to my satisfaction.

You haven't sold much there then

Or dealt with a a better scam artist.

I've been both ends of spectrum wronged as seller, wronged as buyer, and each time felt paypal was not on my side. At least nothing like if you've ever had an issue at a typical business and escalated it to American Express. AmEx just takes your side, fights the fight for you, and makes it simple. PayPal is exact opposite.

Anyway, sold a laptop. Wasn't new, but worked and was decent shape (obviously used, but not damaged/abused). Pictures, description, everything described it very well as a used, but functional and working laptop. I packed it well, sent it USPS Priority (for free) and included option for buyer to insure at HIS expense - i.e. free shipping, pay extra for insurance if you want it (he did not). Anyway, buyer claimed it arrived in pieces and their description/pictures weren't shipping damage. Box was fine, but screen smashed and detached, keyboard not attached, etc...case had to be opened to remove these items - they couldn't have possibly sheared off with the box and packing material in great shape, and no damage to the hinges or chassis. Obvious to me the buyer "staged" the scene. I'm thinking he needed an internal replacement part, took it out of mine, then smashed screen, and took pictures of the disassembled machine, claiming that's how I sent it. Ebay/paypal took his side even though it would be impossible to get a laptop in pieces like that without chassis damage if it were "accidental" or "shipping damage". The screen couldn't be smashed in the center of glass side (like hit with a hammer), yet 0 damage to the outer top side which would have had to take a very sharp blow to smash screen underneath....

Then almost exact opposite....bought a laptop and received an empty (but sealed and in perfect condition) box. But tracking said it was delivered, so ebay/paypal took seller's side. I did eventually get refunded, but it was a battle.

I have about 1000 positive feedback on ebay, bought & sold a lot over the years, very few issues. But the few I did have were nightmarish. So I limit eBay to pretty much $25 and under. Buying or selling. But since they just keep increasing seller fees all the time, I pretty much quit selling. But will buy something for $15, $25 - if there's an issue I'm not out a lot of $ and not worth fighting with them over it.

Really, now the only thing I buy there is if I need an oddball end mill or carbide inserts for lathe tools from sellers I've dealt with in the past. You can buy whole packs of name brand carbide inserts for about the same as 1 would cost from MSC so that's a good deal. Otherwise, I'm more inclined to go with Amazon or anywhere else who will resolve issues quickly and without much fuss.

 

[PILOON]

I ordered a DeWalt battery kit, (all components less actual cells) as I have a small stash of lithium cells.
Got an Email saying sorry, do U wish a refund or will U wait.
I selected 'refund'.
That same day I went to mail and presto my kit was in the mail box.
Screw up in my favor.

 

[HillStreet]

Update from the OP. I filed a claim with PayPal a short while ago and got an e-mail this morning. PayaPal said they tried unsuccessfully to contact the seller so they are refunding $77.91 to my credit card. That is good protection and I think I learned my lesson about buying directly from China. I am sure some are legit but I don’t want the hassle for any price.

 

[two_bit_score]

Update from the OP. I filed a claim with PayPal a short while ago and got an e-mail this morning. PayaPal said they tried unsuccessfully to contact the seller so they are refunding $77.91 to my credit card. That is good protection and I think I learned my lesson about buying directly from China. I am sure some are legit but I don’t want the hassle for any price.

Thanks for sharing your experience! It’s a good lesson for others. Me included.

 

[PILOON]

Some firms like DeWalt very closely monitor EBay sales.
If you locate a offshore power tool battery vendor on Ebay (or other sites) you will find replacement batteries for all the major brands except Dewalt.
One vendor even tried bare kits, that is a battery minus the cells that you'd assemble yourself.

Well that was pulled and Ebay issued a refund.

Also months ago another vendor offered complete Dewalt batteries at very attractive prices.
Feeling well protected by PayPal I bid on 4 different auctions (well BIN) and within 10 hours all those bids (BIN sales) were cancelled and refunded.

My take is Dewalt has developed a search engine to uproot all the fake vendors, it however is interesting to note that it seems only to apply to batteries and not tools as well.
Perhaps proving that profits on batteries is much higher than we believe.

Another thought is shipping costs might play a major role.
Battery might be free or very reasonable while the complete tool due to weight and size making tools not so attractive a deal, and perhaps not competitive at all.

 

[teejk]

Some firms like DeWalt very closely monitor EBay sales.
If you locate a offshore power tool battery vendor on Ebay (or other sites) you will find replacement batteries for all the major brands except Dewalt.
One vendor even tried bare kits, that is a battery minus the cells that you'd assemble yourself.

Well that was pulled and Ebay issued a refund.

Also months ago another vendor offered complete Dewalt batteries at very attractive prices.
Feeling well protected by PayPal I bid on 4 different auctions (well BIN) and within 10 hours all those bids (BIN sales) were cancelled and refunded.

My take is Dewalt has developed a search engine to uproot all the fake vendors, it however is interesting to note that it seems only to apply to batteries and not tools as well.
Perhaps proving that profits on batteries is much higher than we believe.

Another thought is shipping costs might play a major role.
Battery might be free or very reasonable while the complete tool due to weight and size making tools not so attractive a deal, and perhaps not competitive at all.

Some manufacturers monitor "gray" (legitimate products but sold outside their distribution chain) and "black" (fake) markets closely. In the case of the former they are trying to protect their distributors (and probably know that many of the products "fell off a truck"). In the case of the latter they are trying to protect their reputation. As for margins on batteries, you can buy a battery for $60 or you can buy the tool with 2 batteries, charger and case for $100.