Pioneer Elite Plasma deal too good to be true? (1 Viewer)

[Bill Calder]

There is a guy on eBay, claims he has a bunch of 50" Elite Plasma's, new in the box, that he picked up from a dealer on the east coast that went out of business. Claims the 2-yr Pioneer factory warranty still comes with it, everything is perfect, etc, etc. Asking $4,950/ea.

I'm skeptical for a lot of reasons, and sort of doubt the factory warranty carries to what sounds like a liquidator, but not sure. He also has taken down the eBay ad, saying he was so swammped with requests he couldn't handle the influx. But offline email discussions with him indicate he's still got them and sounds more or less legit.

Any thoughts on this deal? Anybody seen or heard anything like it? Should I take the risk?

 

[Mathew Shelby]

I bet he only takes money orders or cashier's checks. There is the old adage, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I got burned on Ebay on a large purchase ($1500 in dash navigation system). The reason he probably took it down off ebay is because a) he doesn't want to pay the ebay transaction fees, or b) he is not legit and he took it down so a third party cannot track him down in the event you get screwed. If I could offer one piece of advice (speaking from my own loss), if you suspect anything don't do it.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Maybe they fell off a truck!

 

[CRyan]

This one is simple. Ask if you are going to get a receipt. Warranty is not valid without one!

Call Pioneer to see if the TV must be purchased from an authorized retailer for the warranty to be valid.

Offer to do an online escrow where you will pay all escrow fees. If he wont do that then forget it. It would still be an outstanding deal after paying all fees.

Let me know what you find out and if all this checks out I will buy one too. 99% sure one of the above mentioned items will not come through for you.


C. Ryan

 

[Mike Matheson]

Bill,

There are some interesting threads at AVS about eBay fraud (the threads focusing on bogus projector and plasma auctions). If you're really considering bidding on one of these Pioneer Elites, please go to AVS and run a search for "ebay fraud".

 

[Bill Calder]

CRyan,

Precisely the line of questioning I had. The guy said escrow is fine, so that's a good sign. He also says the warranty is valid, but I agree with you that a call to Pioneer may yield a different answer. I'll also check AVS for more background on eBay deals as Mike suggests.

 

[GlenH]

I think the deals are just straight up B.S. It's just not worth the hassle. The only way I would even consider buying something as shady as this is if I could use my credit card. And, I'm not talking about charging it to PayPal either. That way, if you don't receive the merchandise or if it is not what you ordered, then you can always dispute the charge.

If I am going to spend $5K, I'd rather just buy from a legitimate place for just a few hundred more and be completely assured that the transaction is OK.

So, you're wondering how you can get a 50" Pioneer Elite plasma for $5500 or so? Just go to Dell and buy the Pioneer 503CMX w/ 5002 card included. It is listed for $6,917. But, there are always 10% off deals on those monitors and with some careful looking you can get another 10% off stackable coupon. Typically, the $70 shipping charge is included. You can also call Dell directly to see if you can work out a deal with a CSR. People on the AVS Forum have been able to buy the 503CMX from Dell for anywhere from $5,000 to $6,000.

One last thing. Yes. The Pioneer 503 cmx has exactly the same performance as the Pioneer Elite 1000 plasma. They are the same identical monitor. The only difference is, the Elite has the nice shiny Elite bezel and has slightly different video inputs than is available with the 5002 card included with the 503cmxs sold by Dell.

Another thing about Dell... they add an additional 1 yr warranty onto the Plasma. Also, since it's Dell, you know the deal is 100% legitimate.

 

[Jerry Dreiss]

Precisely the line of questioning I had. The guy said escrow is fine, so that's a good sign. He also says the warranty is valid, but I agree with you that a call to Pioneer may yield a different answer. I'll also check AVS for more background on eBay deals as Mike suggests.

Do not, repeat, DO NOT let him suggest the escrow service! That is the newest and biggest scam! They set up very ligit looking fake escrow sites and sucker people into sending them thousands of dollars for plasmas, cars (!), and other high ticket items.
Use Ebay's escrow ONLY!
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