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01-30-2017, 03:28 PM   #1
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Impossibly low Amazon Marketplace listings

Hi there, I'm new around here, so this may have been covered before, but searching around on Amazon, the Pentax K1 and K3ii have impossibly low prices on the Amazon sellers Marketplace (used gear). Presumably, these are scam operations, following the rule of "If it's too good to be true, it probably is", but has anyone actually tried to purchase one of these "deals"? I contacted Amazon customer service and got a whole lot of non-answers, such as "the seller is responsible for the content of this listing."

01-30-2017, 03:35 PM   #2
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Hello and welcome to the forums I've moved your post to an appropriate forum...

Re these Amazon Marketplace deals, there are many threads that discuss this... Here's one of the more recent ones: Amazon marketplace deals - too good to be true? - PentaxForums.com

They are almost certainly scams. I went part the way through ordering on one example offer, just to test it out - and I ended up being asked to contact the seller via an e-mail address outside of Amazon - which is exactly what I expected. Had I proceeded, this would then move onto payment outside of Amazon, and a long... long... never-ending wait until I finally realised I'd been had.

Run a mile, that's my advice
01-30-2017, 04:06 PM   #3
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I had two different "Marketplace Sellers" flake on me toward the end of last year. They were relatively cheap items, and Amazon refunded me on one, and I expect my cash back from the second one anyday. DEFINITELY buyer beware!
01-30-2017, 04:11 PM   #4
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I actually have a great story about this. I saw a 43mm for sale on Amazon for a great price. At first I questioned it because it was an international seller and the price was too good.

Anyway the guy was legit. He emailed me and even rang me on my cell phone before and after the sale to make sure I was happy.

Turns out the guy was an Emirati oil guy and one of his wives bought him a bunch of gear as gifts and had it hidden for a few months so they couldn't return it. Only it was the wrong brand. He didn't want to make her feel bad...

Anyway that is where I got my 43mm.

It's a true story I swear! But I'm definitely a minority.

01-30-2017, 04:48 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by alamo5000 Quote
It's a true story I swear! But I'm definitely a minority.
Definitely. there's been an gigantic scourge of fraudulent listings lately including rare and expensive Pentax.. Just huge numbers of impossible listings...the main tip-off is that they nearly always have an instruction to contact them directly (and bypass the amazon system) somewhere in the listing. Want a 135/1.8 for $499? Sure... Quantity available: more than 10! I'd be laughing so hard if it were not a sickening shame that these people make a living ripping other people off.
01-30-2017, 04:59 PM - 1 Like   #6
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We need a sticky on this because someone creates a new thread on this exact same issue every few weeks it seems. Maybe a marketplace sticky?
01-30-2017, 05:08 PM - 1 Like   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by mee Quote
We need a sticky on this because someone creates a new thread on this exact same issue every few weeks it seems. Maybe a marketplace sticky?
I agree. Could I ask you to post something in Site Suggestions, please? Adam will review it and add the sticky if he feels it's appropriate...

01-30-2017, 05:29 PM   #8
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This has been a problem in germany too, for a while now.

The main trick is to undergo amazon through offering extremly cheap prices and then beging the customer to pay through every possible way outside of amazon.
You usually dont get anything and amazon cant do much about it either. So stay away from too cheap prices. As you said "to good to be true, it probably is."
01-30-2017, 07:04 PM   #9
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Fortunately I asked first and gave up on my "prize" K-3 from Amazon marketplace. It just didn't feel right and the forum confirmed my instinct.
01-31-2017, 10:03 AM   #10
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I ended up trying one out too. I emailed the seller .. like they state on the listing. They never responded back. Never.
01-31-2017, 11:22 AM   #11
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I had an experience with this kind of listings... a while ago i was looking for a lens ( i think it was the Sigma 35mm art ).. so i found a "new" listing at a really low price.. it was around $450 or something like that.. the guy at the description wrote "before you guy it, contact us at <<some email here>>" .. so basically i did that... i asked for the lens.. if it was working, and all the general question that normally you can do.. the person always answered the question in the right way and very polite. The guy said that he was going to send me an amazon link because they had some problems with the listing and some other BS.... since then i knew that this listing was not right.. but i keeped the game.. and contact amazon customer service at the same time.. Basically this people send you an "Amazon" email that is coming from another domain that is not amazon.com and tells you to click on a link in order to pay for the item... this link sends you to a GIFT CARD buying.. so what they are looking for is for you go buy gift cards for them, after the people pays for the giftcard ( that is the same amount as the item ), they tell you go send the GIFT CARD code to their email, so they can get the money... and then.. your money is GONE.. and they can cash the gift card.

Amazon should have some better security with this kind of cases, dont know how it works, but looks like anyone can list whatever they want and do some scams.
01-31-2017, 03:29 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by shardulm Quote
I ended up trying one out too. I emailed the seller .. like they state on the listing. They never responded back. Never.
Hopefully they didn't turn around and sell your email / contact info.
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