Ebay or not on sunglasses

[Sam]

am wanting to save some money on Maui Jim Kanaha sunglasses. Locally, they run $150 and taxes make it $164 for them at Sunglass hut. Some sellers on ebay, they are running about $120 or a bit more delivered. So you can see that the savings is about $44 or roughly 25% of retail. Would u do it? Golfetail and Flyeyewear seem to have them all the time and they have lots of sales.

I have learned not to look at what appear to be stock photos (taken from the Maui Jim website). I have tried to read the feedback of all sellers. One guy has 20 sales and seems legit. He will sell for $125 delivered.

So give me the pros and cons as you see them. Is this a signficant gap or for the money get it at the authorized retailer

Sa

[Austin]

Sam, check this site out:

http://www.eyesave.com/styles/p6986/...ort/index.aspx

[ada8356]

It wouldn't hurt to send the guy an email... it sounds legit and if the feedback is good you shouldn't have much to worry about.

I was going to buy a pair of Oakley's a few years ago, but the price just seemed 'too-good-to-be-true' so I sent the guy an email and he freely admitted that they weren't really Oakley's.

As a general comment, I've never had a bad eBay experience... just buy from folks with good feedback.

[Sam]

Andrew: I did in fact order a pair from eyesave on July 6th. They were out of stock and should have had some in on July 13th. Would have run $117 shipped. Been sending them emails and they do not respond. He is in Brooklyn and I was wondering if he was going down to China town and had not been shopping lately. Anyway, there are a couple of sellers with buy it nows for only $120 or so on ebay (Maui Jim Kanaha in the search).

One part says wait it out and just buy it from the ebayers unless I hear from eyesave real soon (emails since tuesday). Another part says just run down to SUnglass Hut tonight and pay the extra and then eliminate the worry.

[Austin]

I ordered some Persols from them and they were authentic. They were shipped in a timely manner.

[Sam]

Andrew, I like knowing that, but heck, I can not get them to tell me how much longer it will be for the glasses. They told me July 13th and wont respond to emails. So that got me to wondering. I ordered reading glasses elsewhere already, but Id still get his Maui's

Sam

[jmhUT]

Sam,
As long as you pay with a credit card and not through your checking account you are pretty much covered. Regardless of what a seller's individual return policy is you are pretty much guaranteed to get your money back on an item you are displeased with if you dispute the charge. The dispute process is actually quite fascinating if you care to know the details (I used to work for Amex and have done several portfolio acquisitions) but here are the broad strokes:

1) You make a purchase on say, your Citibank for $100
2) Item arrives not as described
3) Attempt to retun the item but can't for whatever reason
4) Call Citibank and dispute the charge
5) Citibank immediately issues a conditjional credit to your account for $100 and bills the same amount to whatever bank processed the transaction for the seller. In this case whoever Paypal's "acquiring bank" is, let's say First Data Corp. The acquiring bank is the bank that processes the merchant's transactions and actually pays the merchant(Paypal, who then pays the Ebay seller).
6) First Data immediately charges PayPal $100
7) It is now PayPal's problem getting the money back from the seller, if they can't it is their loss. The fees we all get charged by Paypal is their compensation for assuming this risk.

How fast you get your conditional credit depends on the issuing bank. Citibank is the best IMO since they credit you immediately, no questions asked. MBNA, on the other hand, won't issue the credit until the receive the money from the acquiring bank.

Every so often a cardholder will lose a dispute, usually because the credit card company asked for additional info and they failed to respond in the time given. However, the rules for credit transactions are setup to overwhelmingly protect the cardholder against just the problem you describe. I have never lost a dispute myself. Usually, just telling the merchant you are going to dispute the charge gets them to issue a refund since their Interchange rates will go up but that is another long explanation.
Cheers,
Jeff

[greenerock]

I'd check at Costco or Sam's. I got my Maui Jim's at Costco and they were quite a bit cheaper than Sunglasses Hut. That way you can try them on, etc. If you wear them and don't like them you can take them back. That's worth a few bucks just in doing that.

[Sam]

IM not a member of Costco or Sams and did not seem them online

Well, I think I am going to get them from sunglass hut or one seller who sent me pics. I get worried when I email someone and they dont respond all that promptly, especially if they have one or two items for sale.

Big sellers either get grey goods, or stolen goods, or knockoffs, IMO

I went to the search on ebay, typed in Maui Jim Kanaha, and one seller Dryheat, his pic of the glasses is the same as one guy named wakedaddi. I emailed both of them to ask why and how this occurred. One guy who has a buy it now for $115 at least shot me pics and told me that he bought them and changed his mind. He sold some other sunglasses about 2 weeks ago. He has like 59 sales and a 100% rating. Now, his total is $125 and I can get them at sunglass hut for $165.

We are lucky in that not too many knockoffs of Merkur and Simpson and Plisson are out there. I guess, the more widely it is sold (sunglasses, shirts, Lacoste, Chanel) the more likely someone will knock it off. Im thinking that with sunglasses, better not to take a chance.

Sam

[Nick]

Sam,

I had the same dilemma you did when I went looking for Maui Jim's. The sunglasses market is just floooooded with knockoffs. Unless you buy from an authorized retailer, you can't really be 100% certain. The only thing stupider than paying $200 for Ray-Bans is paying $100 for fake Ray-Bans.

-Nick

[roughrider]

Sam,

I had the same dilemma you did when I went looking for Maui Jim's. The sunglasses market is just floooooded with knockoffs. Unless you buy from an authorized retailer, you can't really be 100% certain. The only thing stupider than paying $200 for Ray-Bans is paying $100 for fake Ray-Bans.

-Nick

You usually see some negative feedback from previous buyers if they're selling knockoffs.

[Jonnybc]

I bought a pair od sunglasses on Ebay, Adidas Climacool ski goggles/glasses. I bought them from an opticians that doesn't have the ability/money to set up their own online sales. I actually spoke to the owner before I placed the order. There's so much stuff on ebay that's fake I wouldn't trust an occasional seller regardless of their feedback score.

[Sam]

What gets me is when you go to a website and they tell you 2 days turnaround on the inquiry, and you wait 2 days and send a reminder. Then nothing. I start to worry about customer service after the sale. Now, I know people go on vacation, but what is wrong with an automated response that says so, and that it may be 3 days after that to sort through all the emails? Going online, there is no way for me, the consumer, to know if there are 2 or 22 employees.

I got pics from one guy and they seemed legit, even with the patent number. I emailed him today and had no heard from him. Went to Sunglass Hut and saw that the patent number did not have a second set of numbers. Well, I guess I could have come home and asked the guy, but I did not and got the glasses at Sunglass Hut. Sure, I spent about $50 more than what I could have gotten them for, but eliminated the uncertainty. With polarization and the scratching, no sense in saving a few dollars and getting knockoffs. A shirt might be a different story. Others had pm'd me that there is a big business of knockoffs, and not just the Chinatown stuff in New York, but tennis rackets, golf clubs, cosmetics, things you and I might not even have a second thought about. Wonder if there are horror stories about guns and things like that.

Sam