Ebay pre-order auction opinion

Lately I've been looking at a Dollfie Dream Snow Miku auction on Ebay. I really got my doubts about it and the price was really attractive, but I didn't bid on it.

 

Here is the Ebay auction (still running, relisted):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/252324743069?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

As you can see it is a pre-order auction for Snow Miku, with a later release this year. The price is great, but I didn't dare to bid before. The seller has 80 feedback and 100% positive rating, but that doesn't tell enough.

How would I and my money be safe when I bid on this? It seems like a high risk.

 

Since I was unsure, I tried searching for the sellers name, perhaps so I could find it on a known source. No succes, he/she is not on MFC, DollfieDreams.com or Doll.fm/Figure.fm.

The only thing I found about the exact same auction is that he tried to sell it for $888 before and that the auction was cancelled because of "an error in the listing". The auction was held in begin March 2016, now he/she relisted it for the 2nd time with a lower price.

The seller also listed a normal DD Miku before, I wanted that, but I was too unsure to bid on it, in the end he sold it with 1 bidder.

I tried contacting the seller 2 days before the end of the auction with several questions, but no reply, not even in time.

 

What do you think about this auction? Would you bid on it? I need some advice from you guys.

Sure the price is nice, but is it real? It's risking a lot of money in my opinion.

I believe Ebay and Paypal only cover finished sales for up to 60 or 90 days. September 2016, the shipping time according to the auction, that time is still far away from now.

 

 

P.S. Please don't outbid me. xD

If the Ebay seller spots notices itself on here, please let me know.

Too sketchy, no eBay or paypal protection; no guarantee that this person will deliver. My opinion is to avoid.

On Yahoo Japan, sellers who've won lottery dolls that haven't shipped at the time of the auction provide screenshots of the confirmation emails. I wouldn't buy a doll without that, especially if the shipping date is beyond ebay/Paypal's protection window.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Guest

It was my understanding that it was against ebay rules to sell something you didn't have.

I personally wouldn't bid. No protection, and they're already not good with communication. That's a big red flag to me. I'd skip this listing. I suppose you could keep watching for a couple months to see if they keep relisting though. Then wait until you ARE in the protection window. But that's probably more trouble than it's worth.

Don't trust eBay "pre-orders"

too often the buyer protection options would expire before the item was due, and there's no way to get your money back if it does turn a scam

I thought, could be wrong, that PayPal had a 180 day grace period to file claims now. Check into that. I was under the assumption that PayPal holds the funds until the item ships. I don't do much if any selling to be honest. I know I bought a Sheryl Nome pre-order from a seller with great success. She was good with communication though the entire time.

What strikes me as worrisome about this is the loss the seller appears to be taking on an item they haven't paid for yet.

 

Miku's ¥65000 price from Volks = $576.50 or €515.95

 

They are selling for $399.99 today, and their payment to Volks of $576 + fees is due in June.

 

I get that there can be good reasons for a business to sell at a loss. If it was a reliable re-seller who I had purchased from before I might be willing to risk it, but this seller seems like an unknown with a very questionable sale price.

 

$400 seems more like a price for a low tier doll with issues like stains or missing items not a NIB Miku that seems to normally sell for between $900 - $1400 right now.

 

If they feel they have to sell it for $176 less than they will have to pay in June in order to deliver on their commitment to you then something about this sellers situation today adds up to high risk. At least in my mind.

Only reason for this that I could imagine is that the person made the preorder and now decided that he/she doesn't want the Miku any more. $399.99 would mean a big financial loss for the seller. Stupid.

Thanks for the replies.

 

It seems like everyone else here is thinking the same as me.

If I would buy it, it would be out of the Ebay/Paypal cover time, even if it's would be 180 days, that's still too short, since it will be shipped on in September 2016.

The fact that the seller didn't reply to my Ebay message 2 days before the end of auction is a bad sign too, or he/she was just too lazy to reply to my several questions.

Ebay pre-orders don't attract me too at all, this is actually the first time, mostly because of the price.

 

On top of all of this. The seller is not only selling their Snow Miku pre-order, but the Hatsune Miku pre-order too! At the same price of $399.99. Unfortunately there is no way to contact the bidder who has bid on the normal Miku, since the buyers are hidden on Ebay.

 

Snow Miku's original Volks pre-order price was actually ¥70200, while Miku's was ¥65000.

I've seen Snow Miku on the aftermarket (non pre-order released ones) for ¥80k to ¥100k so far.

 

If all of this would be real, it would be an amazing deal, but there are too many factors that this is too sketchy and risky.

It's just too much money to risk and communication is essential with a pre-order. I guess I'll just let it go, probably someone will bid on it anyway after relisting a couple of times.