Anyone ever bought from Hong Kong on EBay?

[Bartsfam]

My daughter wants a pink Nintendo DS for her birthday.

 

I was thinking about this:

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 320786227434

 

Or, maybe this:

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 270845082387

 

 

I am very skeptical, regardless of the high feedback scores for the sellers.

 

Are the systems bootlegs or knockoffs? Obviously the games are if there on a CD or card.

 

Has anyone had any experience buying games and systems from Hong Kong or China?

Edited November 2, 2011 by Bartsfam

[Albert]

I buy from Hong Kong and China all the time, however, you do need to be careful. It's very easy to buy counterfeit items from overseas sellers. I usually look through their feedback and see if someone has complained about a particular item being fake. I've had huge problems in the past with pirate DVDs (from domestic and international sellers) so I pretty much stopped buying them on eBay. I buy lots of electronic parts from overseas sellers, though, and haven't been burned yet.

 

Shipping can take a long time, though, depending on how the seller ships. Sometimes I get items lightning fast, but most often (especially if shipping is included in the price) shipping can take several weeks to a month.

 

..Al

[SoulBlazer]

What Al said.

 

What about Amazon as a option?

[Scootiecat]

I've only bought accessories (stylus, cases, charger, battery, etc.) and haven't had any problem. But I agree with Al. You have to be careful and shipping can take a long time.

Edited November 2, 2011 by Scootiecat

[Bartsfam]

What Al said.

 

What about Amazon as a option?

 

Amazon (NEW) = $149

Hong Kong (NEW) on EBay plus games=approx. $110, but it varies.....

 

I've seen them even cheaper from Hong Kong.....but I just don't trust. I'll probably stick to Target or Amazon for $149.

[Wayne2072]

I have purchased from China, as well as Korea. I've been happy so far. But, as others have said, you really need to be careful.

[+orpheuswaking]

With larger purchases I would not use a Hong Kong Seller, especially electronics. If anything goes wrong with the unit you are stuck, pay the extra and have the peace of mind of a warranty and support.

 

That said, I have had no issues buying many items from Hong Kong sellers, but I keep it to accesories and parts. (Japan for the kids pokemon stuff)

[Galeforcerm]

There are tons of pirate ds systems out there. I saw one a friend brought back from japan. Couldnt tell the difference with a real one side by side. The.box was the only thing that you could tell was different. It was made way cheaper. I wouldnt buy anything nintendo or apple from asia unless its something like software. They make knockoffs over there that are almost perfect.

[Albert]

There are tons of pirate ds systems out there. I saw one a friend brought back from japan. Couldnt tell the difference with a real one side by side. The.box was the only thing that you could tell was different. It was made way cheaper. I wouldnt buy anything nintendo or apple from asia unless its something like software. They make knockoffs over there that are almost perfect.

 

I can speak to the proliferation of Apple-related knockoffs. Especially with accessories. Just trying to buy a genuine MacBook Pro power adapter on eBay. Almost all the new ones listed are third-party knockoff adapters. Yes, they are much less than Apple's overpriced adapters, but do you really want to use a knockoff power supply that's potentially connected to your house current 24/7?

 

..Al

[Guest]

I would honestly try to stay away from other countries (overseas to be exact). Seems that items are easily shipped as fake.

[+orpheuswaking]

A lot of stuff I don't care if it's fake as they generally work just as well (PSUs etc) but as I mentioned before I would never buy an actual electronic product like a DS or a iPOD as it will most definately be fake, if the price is too good to be true, it generally is...

 

Wait until black friday and see if you can snag a deal online.

[Oge]

Bought once from Hong Honk through eBay. Item never received but the seller was kind enough to offer a complete refund.

 

Months ago I've found DIN connectors which an electronic shop IRL bought from an eBay Chinese seller: they did their job but melted easily when it came to soldering pins.

 

Howewer, majority of good quality stuff we use nowadays are Made In China: in my opinion, it is only a matter of which standards they use.

[+frankodragon]

Sites like Dealextreme as well-you have to be careful as there are knockoffs-- lots of them Look for websites, youtube vids, etc that review clones, ripoffs, etc. One of the worst DS clones has to be the Neo Double Games reviewed by Stewart Ashen.

[Almost Rice]

I buy regularly from overseas, but they are usually items like convertor for computers. So under $5. I would not want to risk getting look-alike systems. Not worth the hassle. If you do buy online, go with Amazon. They frown upon selling knockoffs. Seller will lose automatically if the item is proven to be a knockoff.

[Sektor]

I'm sure the hardware is the real deal but it might have an unofficial box with Engrish instead of Chinese/Japanese text. It's too expensive to counterfeit modern systems. It's just games and accessories that are often counterfeit.

 

Sometimes they put a console on a chip in a case that looks a bit like a modern console but they won't run the real games and they are very easy to spot/rarely actually sold as the real thing.

Edited November 18, 2011 by Sektor

[roberto]

I bought a few items from Hong Kong and had no problems so far, either from ebay or from Play Asia ( http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-gip4-71-170-49-en-84-k.html link pointing to the DS page). Ok, I live in Asia too, but I don't think this would really make any difference as it's still a 4 hours flight between here and there!

Good luck!

Edited November 18, 2011 by roberto

[+FujiSkunk]

I bought a replacement hard drive for my iPod from a Hong Kong seller a few years back. The process went without a hitch. I've also bought used items from Japanese sellers a time or two, though that's not really the same thing.

[Megaman Legends]

yeah I have all I got from Hong Kong was an iPhone 4 gameboy case and a charger for one of my consoles

 

 

 

Pros: In my case no shipping charge Cons: Took over 2 months to get here on the coast

[akator]

I've purchased tons of things from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan directly on eBay. So far (knock on wood) never a problem. That includes custom neon as well...