OLX for pre-owned gear

Rud31

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I don't know if this is the right place to make this thread but I'm hoping on benevolence of Moderators to put it in it's right place if it isn't.
My query here is regarding pre-owned gear on OLX. What is the general experience of members who have traded on it? More so what are some tips/do's and don'ts one should take to not get ripped off on OLX? In short, how to know if a deal/ad is really genuine one?
 
So how to go about discerning it? More so, what should be the ideal way of transacting there?
 
So how to go about discerning it? More so, what should be the ideal way of transacting there?
Most important is that one needs to apply commonsense and the following may also help:
a) If the offer is too good to be true - it is indeed too good to be true and you should backout
b) Meet in public places and at times when there will be people around
c) Check out the items in person and then agree the price
d) Never reveal your UPI/account/email details, you will only need the seller's details to make the payment
e) Send a token amount to their account/UPI first and confirm receipt, then send the rest
f) Dont go for partial payments, do a single payment and close the deal in one shot, collect the item and move on
g) If the value of item is high (camera/AVR etc), take one or more firiends with you to the meet
h) If you sense any issue, backout and get out.
 
My strict advice is to never buy without taking a thorough Demo for a good hour or so. It happened in my purchase of an amplifier. It worked quite well for the 10 to 15; minutes of testing I did at the seller’s place. But when on returning home. I tried the next day, and played my phono through it, for just an hour or so,the speakers just went off never to restart again.
My complaint was if no use as he requested me to repair it at my cost with one of the technician he knew, and it cost me a good 3000/-

Also check not 1 or 2 functions, but check all without skipping any functions, as some may not get activated.

Never pay online. Choose a seller who you can approach from the same city and pay only once you are satisfied with a sellers note stating that he or she has sold that item to you with details of model no, serial no, description and date. It may happen that this seller may say that the item was stolen by you. (Though not all sellers are crooks, but few are on Olx) Or may be he or she is selling an item stolen by the seller himself, and you may land at the police station, if the original owner complains that his item was stolen and a case was registered at the police station.
 
There are a lot of dealers on OLX. If looking there, make sure you buy local and test the product thoroughly before committing. You'll find a lot of sweet deals in other cities (often small towns), stay away from those.

I had bought a DAC on OLX many years back. The person I bought it from eventually became a friend.
 
OLX is a great place to hunt. It's like hunting for a car part in a Junk Yard. Venture into one only if you have the knack of spotting the right part.

MaSh
 
Here are my tips enlisted below ( read this as RED FLAG ALERTS) that I use specifically for discerning the authenticity of Olx ads from amchi Mumbai given my colourful experiences dealing with dodgy resellers especially with regard to HiFi gear.

in no particular order..

1) Check the location of the seller. For ex: An ad for an Audiolab 6000a / iPhone 11 and the map location invariably points to a slum, that’s a red flag straightaway that screams FRAUD / DRUG ADDICTS / THIEF / TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS!

2) An ad that seems too good to be true usually is just that! For ex: Q Acoustics Concept 500 selling for 50,000 INR
conversely a Telome 2.1ch pair of satellite speakers + passive subwoofer with a vulgar asking price of 30,000.

3) be extremely alert/suspicious of ads selling vintage/ new equipment with descriptions featuring words such as ‘well-maintained’, ‘pristine condition’, ‘hardly used’, ‘mint condition’, ‘never repaired’, ‘ works well but may require a little servicing’, ‘imported directly from Japan’, ‘strictly for audiophiles/ music connoisseurs’, ‘used for only 2 hours’, ‘urgent/distress sale hence selling at throwaway price’, ‘no low ballers pls’, ‘price is non-negotiable’, ‘parsi-owned hence lovingly cared for and maintained to an impeccable standard’, ‘downsizing massive collection amassed over the years’, ‘bilkul badhiya chalta hai’, ‘ultra-rare stuff’, ‘highly sought after’ , etc etc …. I hope you get the drift.

4) Ads with blurry pics taken in poor lighting, pics brazenly copied off the internet instead of the actual images. (morons forget there is Professor Google)

5) After you arrive at their location, seller insisting ‘as their policy’ that due to previous bad experiences all potential buyers are screened by them on their building terrace ( 21st floor!!!) to ‘check your antecedents’ before they take you into their ‘home’ on the 1st floor which eventually turns out to be a glorified pigsty replete with paan-stained walls and malfunctioning/ partially functioning equipment! (yeah I’ve done this too with my heart pounding smh) Turn around and run the other way as fast as your legs can carry you lol.

6) seller insisting that you go unaccompanied to their place!

7) ads rife with hilarious typos.

8) ads stating ‘demo not possible’, ‘first payment then pickup/ delivery of equipment’. Always demo to your heart’s content, check every feature of the equipment under consideration! Ask questions till the seller gets a splitting headache!

9) seller who despite being flagged multiple times as unsafe by Olx keeps deleting ads and shamelessly pops up with a new user ID!

10) seller who keeps changing mobile numbers ( 4 numbers were swapped within a month of incessant back-n-forth texting…)

11) stick to sellers close to your location!

Of course there are always exceptions and you might just be lucky enough to stumble upon a decent seller offering an unbelievable deal with well-functioning equipment at a throwaway price! Wishing you the best of luck!
 
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How to identify these masterpieces?

When Olx deems that a certain seller is dodgy, it automatically deletes the chat between buyer and seller and a pop up appears warning that seller is unsafe to chat with or something on those lines iirc
 
I have sold and bought ipods, high end car amplifiers like zapco, Helix car dsp, iPads and few other stuff on olx.
When you talk to seller or buyer you usually get the idea what that person could be up to.
I never faced any problem since 2010 but recently I got saved by FM drkrack.
 
I don't know if this is the right place to make this thread but I'm hoping on benevolence of Moderators to put it in it's right place if it isn't.
My query here is regarding pre-owned gear on OLX. What is the general experience of members who have traded on it? More so what are some tips/do's and don'ts one should take to not get ripped off on OLX? In short, how to know if a deal/ad is really genuine one?

Hi

I believe you already would have read the Tips and FAQs from OLX website but fraudsters and cheaters always find some new way to con someone....

FMs above have covered it well and provided really good insights which I support and agree with.

Bottomline....chat as much as you can over the app as then you have proof. Meet in person after asking all questions. If it is a high value deal, please take someone along with you for the demo / purchase. Inform someone else too where you are going etc.

Better to clear the terms of payment in advance before visiting...so either cash or Google pay or Pay TM or IMPS etc.

Do your research before visiting the seller so that you are aware of what to expect from the product you are buying...see Youtube videos or read reviews....

The way the seller communicates back with you will tell you a lot if the person is genuine or not. In the past years....there were only individual sellers, nowadays you find a lot of dealers and even resellers....so you need to be very careful.

Never rush into cheap deals.....it maybe too good to be true!
 
Yes OLX does look into ads which have been reported on. A number of ads I have reported, have been deleted.

OLX has actually come a long way and improved. Well in the end its not OLX's fault, its the Humans using the platform.

MaSh
 
Yes OLX does look into ads which have been reported on. A number of ads I have reported, have been deleted.

OLX has actually come a long way and improved. Well in the end its not OLX's fault, its the Humans using the platform.

MaSh

So true
 
Something that's too good to be true usually is lol.
This scamster was selling a 6gb 128gb Redmi Note 8 for 5500

Screenshot_2020-07-10-10-14-03-960_com.olx.southasia.jpg
 
Yes OLX does look into ads which have been reported on. A number of ads I have reported, have been deleted.

OLX has actually come a long way and improved. Well in the end its not OLX's fault, its the Humans using the platform.

MaSh

Yes I also have had this experience. It seems OLX is also proactive in scrutiny of ads with generic pictures / or pictures taken from Internet. If you report such ad with unoriginal pictures I’ve seen the ad been taken down quite promptly.
 
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