Can I trust amazon 3rd party sellers

[johndoe73]

Hi,

I'm going to buy a 17" MBP when I'm visiting the USA later this month. Obviously I'm looking for the best deal. Apple charges $2499 and will add California sales tax. Amazon seems a much better deal with $2345 and not charging sales tax.

However, while at Amazon I noticed some of the other sellers there have even better prices, for example $2139. This lowest price is from a retailer with only 54 ratings (all positive). I'm not from the USA myself and have no experience with 3rd party retailers on amazon. Does amazon assess them and can they be trusted or is there a real risk of running into a scam on amazon?

Saving a couple of hundreds on a MBP sounds tempting but is this one of those situations where too good to be true literally means that?

 

[miles01110]

Feedback rating is all customer feedback, as customers are the ones that experience the sale/product with the reseller. As far as I know Amazon takes no action against resellers with generally positive feedback.

I've found that the ratings speak for themselves. If they have less than 99% positive with a minimum of 200 reviews, I don't bother.

 

[arkitect]

I'd trust them as much as I'd trust eBay sellers.
Do your homework and watch for the obvious things like low sales and bad feedback. And the old caveat, if a deal looks too good to be true, then… well… it usually is.

On the plus side I can say I have never had a problem with Amazon's 3rd party sellers. But then again I tend to buy cheap items like out of print books and computer cables from them.

 

[johndoe73]

If I follow the >200 reviews, >99% rule there's only a single retailer (out of 20) left. That one charges $2335 which is almost the same as amazon themselves. I was hoping I could go with one of the cheaper retailers but don't know how trustworthy one with 54 reviews (100%) can be that's been in business since January 1st 2011.

I guess most "good" deals on craigslist turn out to be scams, but do you know if in general amazon retailers can be trusted?

 

[miles01110]

I guess most "good" deals on craigslist turn out to be scams, but do you know if in general amazon retailers can be trusted?

"In General" yes, but "in general" the only sellers that remain in business on Amazon are the ones that get good reviews.