i’ve bought stuff from wiggle before, and chain reaction, and numerous record stores in the states. it’s always worked out pretty well. i don’t have any reason to doubt their authenticity.
but now i’ve found a sweet deal on a frame at some online bike store in indonesia, and i’m hesitant. the site looks a bit average, and they don’t take credit cards - only paypal (which could be a good thing, actually).
this raises a number of questions for me, questions i hope you good folks will be able to help me out with.
am i being racist?
should i take advantage of this sweet deal?
if the deal does turn out to be shonky, do i have any recourse to anyone anywhere?
I’ve never had to actually do it so you may want to double-check this, but I think this type of situation is where Paypal is very beneficial. If the goods arrive and there is any discrepancy, you can lodge a complaint with Paypal and the seller has to resolve it or your funds are refunded. Paypal is geared to the purchaser’s advantage, not the seller’s.
One thing to make sure is that it’s not a fake Paypal site. They are very common, and very good at ripping you off.
Chances are you’re being racist and it’s just a good deal.
The Paypal resolution process looks to be pretty good, and assuming your reasons for ever wanting a refund were vaild, I would doubt you’d have a problem getting one.
it would be nice to know what the website is, you can use whois services on the web to verify the site and who owns it. It can even tell you how long the sites been registered if its only been there a few weeks it sounds dodgy else if its been there years then it could be ok.
The other advantage is whois often lists a phone or contact of the person who registured the site.
of instance here is the link the the Australian register Registry Portal :: Whois Lookup
I think it also depends on how much the frame is. Inherent risk intensifies the more money spent.
But you are probably being racist.
What is the frame?
Strange, I get the opposite. Looks like way too much work has gone into that site to rip people off for a couple of months. They have plenty of info on their contact page, why not send them email inquiring about international shipping and see what vibe you get from the reply? Obviously it’s not impossible for a spammer to send a nice reply, but often one-on-one contact can help in making a decision like this. And don’t forget that you’re protected to some extent through Paypal.
Pretty sure a mate bought a bunch of DA stuff from this mob a while back, he was happy with the deal - among other things they sent the wrong length crankset initially, replaced it with the correct length without asking for the wrong one back (in which case it’s a wonder they’re still in business but there you go)
Is there any reason they can sell cheap? I know that they have Araya’s factory in Indonesia but I’m pretty sure they don’t manufacture Cervelo in Indonesia.
I once emailed a store in Indonesia called yopisuyudi.com about their stuffs, and yes they replied promptly. But when I asked about how they get to sell cheap and why is there words around the net saying that their scam. They didn’t reply that one.
I say don’t buy it. It’s a scam. And this is also a reason why some US websites don’t ship to Indo.