safe to buy car audio from ebay?

[FRpilot]

i remember talking to silvia driver and he was telling me about how ebay sellers scam ppl on car audio decks. how about other car audio items like speakers, amps, etc..?

it does seem kinda strange that most ppl who sell car audio on ebay sell for almost 50% off retail but is their stuff legit? i know if you go to a car audio shop and you buy an entire system, they can give you a really good deal. so do ppl really get stuff soo cheap that they can sell so low on ebay or is the stuff on ebay likely to be refurblished, stolen, or used? i know quite a few ppl have bought speakers on ebay from this site when i was searching about speakers but what are other's thoughts? any horror stories?

[s13driver]

well i got my deck off ebay and it works and comes with warranty as the guy mention on the ads. but i think it is all base on his/her feedback that others left for them. i mean the 1s with a lot of positive feedback for selling similar item. and close to 0 negative feedback should be alright.

[elevator]

There is a measure of risk involved in ANY purchase over the internet.

[radhaz]

My very first purchase was on ebay was a head unit. Unfortunately the seller (http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=sound2000nb) had a pretty good rating (96%) with over 10,000 ratings but had decided to go south.

Luckily I used paypal and after watching the feedback all of the sudden turn to a "nightmare" I contacted paypal and asked them to investigate a fraud. Paypal told me it could take up to 30 days for me to get my refund... I had my money in less than 36 hours. The seller (http://cgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=sound2000nb) went under a few days later and I was contacted to report them to the federal site for internet fraud which I happily did.

I eventually did buy a head unit on ebay, and have bought several other things without problems. Like gladhatter said it's always a gamble when purchasing online.

[sykikchimp]

Also, if a warranty is important to you, check that out specifically. Many manufacturers will not warranty a product that isn't sold through a dealer. There are very few dealers on ebay. If they claim they are.. check with the manufacturer.

That is the only reason I went through sound domain for my amps.. to get a warranty.

I did buy my speaker and subs from ebay though.

[FRpilot]

everything is soo cheap on ebay.. a system that i can get for $2000 i can probably piece together for $1000 on ebay. i guess its all about risk involved like you guys mentioned..

i wouldn't be concerned if the stuff was in new or working condition but they can be scandalous. silvia driver was telling me how most of the ebay decks, sellers scratch off the serial # because alpine (or other manufacturer) dont warranty online sales of their decks and dealers aren't suppose to sell online so they buy refurblished decks and scratch off the serial #. the warranty is void w/o a serial # and in the process of opening up the unit to scratch off the serial # they damage the head unit making it operable only for a few months before it fails...

so for decks i might not be purchasing from ebay. anyone heard of any other scams for other things like speakers, amps, capicitors, etc that would make units fail really quickly?

[SilviaDriver]

Originally posted by FRpilot
i wouldn't be concerned if the stuff was in new or working condition but they can be scandalous. silvia driver was telling me how most of the ebay decks, sellers scratch off the serial # because alpine (or other manufacturer) dont warranty online sales of their decks and dealers aren't suppose to sell online so they buy refurblished decks and scratch off the serial #. the warranty is void w/o a serial # and in the process of opening up the unit to scratch off the serial # they damage the head unit making it operable only for a few months before it fails...


those would be decks sold on ebay. companies do not warrenty and do not allow sales on ebay such as alpine..have u REALLY seen an official alpine dealer on ebay? of course not. if u ahve they are fake. alpine, and many other companies, doesnt allow its distributors to sell on ebay. this was all told to me by my friend, who deals alpine and other audio equipment.

[popey]

My friend and I bought most of our stereo equipment off ebay. 2 12" alpine type r subs, 4 alpine 2ways, 2 alpine type r components, 2 focal components. All these were brand new. Look for the guys with "ebay stores" setup or with a bunch of positive feedback. We also bought used 3 rockford fosgate amps, all clean transactions.

[krazy_racer]

i bought a component speaker set off of ebay (infinity kappa) and one side didnt work....

i also bought a kappa perfect woofer and it fried at about 350w rms...

i thought they could hang more..

oh well i only use ebay as price leverage when im out shopping for car stereo produtcs

[West]

Well considering prices are about 50% cheaper then stores I see no reason not to buy from there if your educated enough to spot a legit seller or not.

[kazuo]

I can tell you right now that employees for big Electronics retailers get 50% off ALL Car audio stuff when doing an employee purchase.

Perhaps that will help explain the eBay prices to you. :D

[JuJuBee]

Why do you think so many stores want to sell car audio equipment? Its because of the insane markups they are able to carry...anyone who pays retail price for audio is retarded....that...or they have too much money

with ebay now...you can see where the REAL prices ought to be

[method2833]

With e bay its safer to buy from a store than from a private seller 85% lesschance of getting beat but most of the time thier stuff is refurbished!!;)