Vendor warning!

[ScottD]

Last Saturday I purchased a MG34 receiver section from seller 'reichsdepot' on gunbroker. She promised to ship it Monday morning. This was the EXACT sections IMA is selling (for 35 dollars less, mind you) but I decided to support the 'little guy'. I should have known something was up when I saw her site was using images and verbage directly from the IMA site.

Long story short, I emailed her every day with a shipping update, every day she had an excuse. I finally asked her if she couldnt ship it today, then I wanted to cancel my order any purchase from IMA. I told her Im working on a deadline (borrowed tools) and I needed it right away. No response....As of this morning, no shipping confirm.

I called IMA and ordered the sections. I emailed 'reichsdepot' and asked her to cancel my order.

She responded (NOW I get a response) 'your item shipped today, please dont purchase anything from us again.'

I dont know what crawled up her butt, shes 5 days late on shipping an item and she throws me an attitude. Avoid this seller.

[JBaum]

Could it be she had to wait until it arrived from IMA before she could ship it to you?

[ScottD]

Dunno. She told me she would ship Monday. Then Tuesday. Then Wed.....If she didnt have it in stock she should have told me upfront. And the best part is she RE-LISTED the EXACT same receiver for sale...so you know Im not gonna get the one she's showing.

[noonxnoon]

I got ripped on GB for a drum and a belt.

One guy kept putting drums and belts...I watched and saw noone ordered on the auction for weeks...so when I go to put a bid in...surprise surprise...'other' bids appeared for a bit of a bidding war.

I 'won' and got the items. OK stuff...wasn't promised to be WWII or waffens.

So after being on the boards here and looking at some of the vendors...I see the exact items I bought from GB for a cheaper price. Almost double for the belts.

lesson learned.

Glad it wasn't BIG money...but still I got beat out of maybe $40.

So the game JBaum was talking about...I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't the case.

I am quite definate now I got beat

[rocco1911]

I have seen this exact same thing already with the same Company over on the weaponsguild site but it was with a Thompson receiver that IMA was selling they take your order & money & then order from IMA & ship to you its a scam outfit

[shinsoku]

I noticed a couple weeks ago on a couple WWII german forums not to buy anything from her. Do'in the shell game on her products. Just what I read, personally haven't done any dealings with her. And won't for sure now..................

[ScottD]

Good to know. I just emailed IMA with a link to her site. If she's ripping them off, Im sure they will have something to say.

[noonxnoon]

well, the sad thing is is I don't think she is ripping them off...she is actually buying product and acting like a middle man or distributor.

Good to give them a heads up...but in a way, they wouldn't have any incentive to stop selling to her...'specially if she or he is moving alot of product.

[JBaum]

There isn't anything illegal with this sort of thing, really... it's buyer beware.

These outfits buy, then resell at a profit. Any business has to do that to survive. It's not their fault you don't know the best (cheapest) places to buy, they'll be glad to charge you for their knowledge.

I've seen sellers on ebay sell a book for $100 that could be ordered from Barnes & Noble's website for $60 with free shipping. Not illegal. At it's worst, it's taking advantage of inexperienced (ignorant) people. Looking at it from the other end though, it's knowing something other people don't, and using that knowledge (where to buy cheap) to make a buck. Everyone with an education (formal or life experience) does that to people who don't have the education. Whether it's to be called "making a living" or "cheating people" is all a matter of perspective of whether you feel you've paid a fair price for the knowledge (or item), or been overcharged.

The problems come when the ignorant become educated (often associated with a monetary expense), and they don't like paying for the lesson. There are always people around to take advantage of someone who doesn't know any better, but paying someone for their knowledge, and someone making a profit because of something they know that you don't, is the way the world works.

The best thing to do is get educated before spending money. Education has a cost of either time or money. Either take the time to learn, or spend the money to learn. The choice is ours. Choose wisely.

Nobody here has been cheated, but each of us has had a time or two where we've paid more than we think we should have for a lesson learned. That in itself is another lesson.

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

hmmm.... Zwei Worten..


MITCHELL'S MAUSERS.

[rocco1911]

Bravo DA

[JBaum]

hmmm.... Zwei Worten..


MITCHELL'S MAUSERS.

THAT is in another category entirely. We weren't talking about a seller who places numerous ads which are fully misleading to those with little experience, and attempt to mislead even the rest of us. Sometimes sellers make the error (or on purpose) of omission, that is, what they DON'T say is the problem. Others purposely try to mislead a buyer, right up to the edge of the cliff..... a much more serious offense against the buyer beware philosophy.

Still, that's not as bad as a seller passing off a knowingly defective MP, hoping that it'll be someone else's problem when the truth is discovered. I'm still pi$$ed about that, and I didn't have a dime in it.

[railsplitter]

I got the impression that reichsdepot' was IMA, the items and descriptions are about identicle. Shadow bidders are bad news. I would love to see this site ban aution site listings, it does not further the cause. People can go there on their own. MG 42 need not supply free adds

[ScottD]

Im not upset that I paid more. Im upset that she was such a beyotch to me and lied to me about her shipping times. Then she gives me attitude after I politely tell her I wanted to cancel.

About the IMA thing......I dont mind that she is reselling their stuff.....but if she doesnt have permission to rip images directly off the IMA site then she should be shut down.

[www.Prussia.us]

Sometimes the bigger stores do have a presence on GB, to be honest I wondered if that so-called Reichs-depot was one of those for IMA, obviously it is not. Some stores are right up front like Allied Armament, some are more clandestine like InterOrdnance’s handle is the owner’s name. To be honest, I only have noticed IO selling Mg34 barrels, but I am not a Gb junkie watching every auction, so I am not aware what else they sell on GB.

It is really hit and miss on GB, you have to research everything you buy, google makes it about as easy as possible, as do these forums.

THANKS ScottD, these forums are communities so that we can watch out for one another and membership has its privileges, that is knowledge

[Bil]

And no need to rush with the jig,either! ---bil

[DDayDog]

Prime example of my purchase of the M53. I've always wanted an MG42 or MG34 and when the M53 was produced in semi-auto ($3000 vs. $35,000 for an original) I researched the piss out of it before I let my hard earned coin pass to someone else. I must have viewed a couple hundred different sites and forum postings to check the weapons performance, reliability, known problems and the reputation of the manufacturer as well. While the M53 has some issues, you mostly only hear about problems rather than no problems. I must say that my final decision to buy one was based upon postings on this forum - applause. Knowledge "IS" power. GB is fair place to buy firearms and related products. However, buying online will always be tricky because you cannot touch it and you cannot look your seller in the face.

D Day

[noonxnoon]

ah...if she IS lifting images directly from IMA...then that could be a problem.

thanks for the headsup though Scott...good to get reminders time to time of the games that are out there and that we need to be vigilent and keep our heads about us!

[ScottD]

Hey Bill, thanks for the extra time on the jig. I sent payment last week.


When this is all said and done, and if I actually RECEIVE my receiver, Im gonna send her a link to this forum page.

[salt6]

Here is your opportunity to speak your mind about any sales or business related dealings with reichsdepot.

http://mg42.us/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=8409