Beat by Amazon yet again

[SwampNut]

Luck of the draw, sorta, but more like looking at the seller history. I buy some obscure items regularly that simply aren't available from anyone "real." They either come from eBay (having it's own special fraud issues), Amazon third party, or just random China orders. It's not that I won't pay more, it's that they are not sold my major sellers. Most recent was actually some electronic parts for a Gladiator project. Only available via third party or direct from China.

I've had only a couple of issues with third party sellers, and Amazon fixed them both times 100%.

Sponsored

 

[Ozarkgolfer]

Generally speaking, buying with a credit card offers you the most protection:

Situation #1: Bought over $5000 of furniture from a major store last year, with 50% down and the balance when in stock and prior to delivery. Store went bankrupt. Credit card company refunded my deposit.

Situation #2: Bought a SIM racing wheel from Germany and paid for express shipping. It arrived 35 days (!) later by mail and the box was soaked - wheel did not work. Got the credit card company onside and the charges were put on hold - finally got the shipper in Germany to send me a return label (this time they went with UPS 5 day Worldwide Express - jeez, thanks guys). Even though the credit card company had the shipping label and could track I had returned it (if they bothered looking), they added the charges back on my account. I've had to re-file a claim and send them a printed copy of the proof of delivery back to Germany.