I've really enjoyed these forums and finally decided upon purchasing the VW60 for my first projector. What saddens me is I started my research only recently and wasn't aware this was a brand new product. Thus, I was tricked by an eBay auctioneer who claimed this item was 'In-Stock'. After talking with Sony it appears these hadn't even shipped yet. I made my purchase last Tuesday and the seller has made all sorts of clever things up claiming he is only in contact with a reseller, the reseller doesn't provide shipping information, blah blah.

SO, my first projector purchase has resulted in a refund (I hope) or a dispute and leaves me craving for it when I thought it would be arriving today. I'm here to warn you to be careful on eBay and then to beg for a reputable seller that has stock on these puppies. Are we allowed to discuss sellers? If yes, where can I get one for a good cost? This time I'd really like to find a seller that really has stock and will provide shipping info in say 24 hours vs 14 days?

Thanks for any information you can provide. To save any of you from the deceit the sellers name on eBay is:

eBay Seller Name: home-theater-projection

He claimed in stock last Tuesday (September 18, 2007). He has great eBay feedback but to my dismay I didn't realize this was primarily for a $0.01 fuel modification ship for vehicles. Stupid me! Not here to complain; it was my dumb lack of research that got me here but figured I would save folks from impulsing to the same result if I can help it. Also, I don't think the guy is necessarily scamming me; just a deceitful auction and lots of weird business practices that have resulted in me wanting to buy elsewhere. Best of luck to anyone else that went down this road.

Kind Regards,
~Benjamin

ever heard of AV Science :p that is where to get your 60 ;)

-Gary

Here's a thread that Alan (AVS owner) started on shipping status of the new Sony.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=911796

Alan also started a thread (which I can't find) that shows 6 Sony units in-stock at his warehouse. It's 99.9% those are spoken for as a pre-order. He did say that a large shipment would be arriving soon (next week???-can't remember for certain).

BTW: We can't discuss street pricing and "where to buy" threads will be deleted by the mods without warning per this thread

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=500886

Thank you for prompt information. Looks like being new around here has awarded me the noob mistake of the weak. I suspect this thread will vanish soon.

The eBay seller has been in constant communication and while the deal seemed a bit fishy thus far he has stood his ground. Sounds like at worst case he's at the mercy of his vendor.

Regardless, while this thread lives on thank you for the quick information and links to the shipping status and rules regarding 'street pricing' and 'where to buy'.

Kind Regards,
~Benjamin

Thank you for prompt information. Looks like being new around here has awarded me the noob mistake of the weak. I suspect this thread will vanish soon.

The eBay seller has been in constant communication and while the deal seemed a bit fishy thus far he has stood his ground. Sounds like at worst case he's at the mercy of his vendor.

Regardless, while this thread lives on thank you for the quick information and links to the shipping status and rules regarding 'street pricing' and 'where to buy'.

Kind Regards,
~Benjamin

Hey at least your seller has been in communication.I have called Jason and emailed him about the vw60 and have never got a reply.Maybe I will try fleabay.BOB:(

You have to be super careful with ebay, especially when something seems too good to be true.

buddahead, I don't recall getting a call from you (although I don't know your name) but a message may not have been given to me. I apologize for that. Regardless, I am no longer in sales so you can feel free to contact Rich or Marc at the main 877 number if you need assistance.

I would stick with the vendors here if possible. I was going to order one myself from one of the vendors on here despite a very slightly higher price but I actually got a killer deal on a brand new VW50 so I went that route instead. Saved me over $1000 so I can spend a bit more on the screen.

I imagine this won't put your mind at rest but it seems to be a common story regarding this projector. It is a 'very' popular projector and a few resellers of reiterated the same sentiment; they haven't seen this kind of demand in a while. The projectors did ship towards the end of last week but depending on where you bought and the initial inventory of that particular place there might be delays that don't normally exist.

I have been quite paranoid with my eBay adventure. I still think it was a bit misleading to say it was in stock on the 18th when that was a bit impossible 'but' after now doing a bit more research I possibly could have had the same experience with several resellers. It's not necessarily their fault as they can't ship something they don't have and this thing seems to be quite the hot item based on the 4 or 5 projector stores and Sony resellers I've contacted around the U.S. For as paranoid as I've been I should be fair to say that the seller on my auction has been as informative as he can be and continued to field my paranoid questioning while I impatiently wait.

I wish the best for you.

Benjamin
Welcome to the forum and welcome to the exciting world of buying a newly announced product not yet shipped by the manufacture. Manufactures do not allow sales via ebay and some not through the internet at all so be very careful. In this case the dealers work around was to have someone else represent them via ebay. If Sony were to get the serial number they could trace which dealer these are coming from and I am sure his account would be closed.
Best of luck!

I dont know about the seller you mention but...

In the past ebay projector listings were selling units direct from Japan. They have no US warranty and cost lower to buy.

Nothing wrong with that as long as you know thats what your getting. Then you can decide if the savings are worth it. You can usually 'save' $400-$2000 depending on the model if you order direct from Japan. You can do it yourself, there is a big exporter in Japan that does just that and ships all over the world. I've dealt with them, no problems at. Items arrived in just 2 days. You may get a warranty, but you have to pay to ship it back and forth to Japan when service is needed.

The Japan exporter makes the warranty terms very clear, problem is many ebay sellers do not, or eager buyers wanting to save, dont read the listing close enough. A few eBay US sellers figured its a easy way to make money. List a projector price that looks low and just wait for a sale, ...THEN order the product from Japan.

Some people like to forgo the warranty and save, and even some like to have another deal with the initial overseas shipping. The problem is most of the ebay listings don't make it totally clear its a NON US warranty projector, and that's where problems start when something goes wrong.

You should get your projector soon, as they are shipping in Japan, and it will probably work just fine for years, just every once in a while we hear stories where something goes wrong, like the on screen menu is all in Japanese and can't be changed :)

Most of the time all is fine.

If the price is close buying from a full US dealer here makes the process much easier.

You have to be super careful with ebay, especially when something seems too good to be true.

buddahead, I don't recall getting a call from you (although I don't know your name) but a message may not have been given to me. I apologize for that. Regardless, I am no longer in sales so you can feel free to contact Rich or Marc at the main 877 number if you need assistance.

Sounds great I thought you did sales.I will call the other no.THNAKS BOB

Welcome. Thanks for being patient. If you called the 315 number I am no longer at that number so that might have also been the problem.

JackLT you ended up being exactly correct. My unit ended up coming from Japan and I will have to deal with the Japanese distributer to handle the Warranty. To back out of the deal required paying 5%. Thus I'm kinda stuck but my projector now has shipping information and will be arriving Friday.

Perhaps I failed in my researching but I didn't find a place that outlined the information you provided prior to making my purchase decision. I'm the type of buyer that would have paid a few hundred to buy from a reliable U.S. vendor that had the respect of the video heads here on the forums. Too late for this purchase but for my next purchase I shall be a bit more edumacated.

I don't know what the numbers are but if there are more buyers like me a sticky at the top of the projector forums regarding purchasing from eBay would have made some money for a local dealer. Not sure if that sort of thing is allowed here but just a thought for a moderator some day. Your information would have been very valuable in the buying decision.

Thank you to everyone who has provided any information. This has been my one-stop-shop for any useful information and invaluable. I wish it would have resulted in a sell for someone that would have benefited here on the forums. Next time it will.

Kind Regards,
~Benjamin

Benjamin - dont feel bad, look on the plus side, you saved some money, and you'll have the VW60 projector long before most others.

You'll probably have to change the on screen menu to english as it will be Japanese out of the box.
So try to find a online english manual to know where the language settings are in the menu.
Once that is done, you'll love the projector, and you will soon forget where you ordered it from.

Be sure to post here on how it looks!

That stinks. Well could be worse...they could have taken your money and given you nothing. At least you have a brand new fully functioning piece.

Benjamin - dont feel bad, look on the plus side, you saved some money, and you'll have the VW60 projector long before most others.

You'll probably have to change the on screen menu to english as it will be Japanese out of the box.

My Japanese VW60 was set to English out of the box, strangely enough.

I don't know what the numbers are but if there are more buyers like me a sticky at the top of the projector forums regarding purchasing from eBay would have made some money for a local dealer. Not sure if that sort of thing is allowed here but just a thought for a moderator some day. Your information would have been very valuable in the buying decision.



Kind Regards,
~Benjamin

Sticky on ebay or on-line purchases in general would have some value.

But to be honest, I'm surprised people that spend anytime on the internet or reading the daily paper aren't aware of the pitfalls of buying and selling on ebay. Not that crooks and scammers aren't (at times) ahead of the curve in perfecting their scams, even savy buyers and sellers can get taken. But if the phrase hadn't already been coined, the term "buyer beware" would have originated within the first year of ebay's existence. The sad reality is the problem of scam artists has creeped into other reliable sites like audiogon etc. I would imagine we'll have issues even in hobbyist forums like this eventually. Sad reality of today's world.


If you put ebay scams or ebay fraud in google or yahoo

http://reviews.*********/Buyer-Beware-Top-5-Scams-and-Fraud-on-eBay-WATCH-OUT_W0QQugidZ10000000001811114

http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/ebaytips/fraud.php

http://pages.*********/securitycenter/

I've also avoided scams by googling the person's name, phone and address. I sold a scaler recently on audiogon. One new member wanted the unit with zero questions asked about it. I googled the phone number and it came up in a speaker forum attached to a member complaining about being scammed by this person. The googled address showed up in connection with someone who got sent golf clubs to this person and the money turned out to be bad.

So one needs to assume their maybe something fishy about the buyer or seller and do the necessary research.

Ron

I don't think its fair to suggest the ebay projector listings are scams just because they sell a product at reduced prices from Japan.

Example on the VW60 in Canada vs Japan,
many people will choose to save $1600 even if it means you have to ship to Japan at your expense for warranty.
The savings buy a lot of shipping. Warranty claims are rare for many of us.

The concern I have is that listings selling 'new' goods, should be required to clearly state the country you have to ship to for warranty claims.

US buyers are better off, as AVS and Japan prices are more in line, but Sony Canada seems to be the land of high MSRP only prices.

Benjamin - did you get your VW60, how is it?

JackLT,
Actually the VW60 has the same MSRP in Canada as it does in the US.

JackLT,
Actually the VW60 has the same MSRP in Canada as it does in the US.

However, as I understand it, the warranty is 2 years in the US and 1 year in Canada.

JackLT,
Actually the VW60 has the same MSRP in Canada as it does in the US.

It might have the same MSRP, but the US selling price at least on AVS is a fair bit lower than I've been able to find in Canada. If you know of any great CND offers on the projector please PM, but its my understanding the dealer cost is higher here...

It might have the same MSRP, but the US selling price at least on AVS is a fair bit lower than I've been able to find in Canada. If you know of any great CND offers on the projector please PM, but its my understanding the dealer cost is higher here...

AVS does have a lower price than I have been able to find in Canada. The difference though is not as great as it is with most other projectors and is close enough that the extra cost to buy within Canada may be worth it to have a Canadian warranty. Also if you purchase from out of province you can avoid the PST which will be added when purchase from across the border. Now having said that, if I purchase a VW60 it will probably be from AVS as I prefer to give then my dollars than some unknown reseller.

A lot depends on the time of year. Currently the RS1 is relatively straight forward pricing wise. But for instance during the preorder no one was close to us. Best to just check with us at a given time.

I just took the plunge into VW60 'land with AVS. The sales associate was very helpful and the price was very good. (I even double checked that I hadn't accidentally ordered the VW50)

My thanks to all who had posted information about this projector. For me, it was a personal comparison of LCoS to LCD that started my changeover. All of the reports of the picture quality on the VW60 did the rest. I can't even look at my LCD projector anymore without noticing the obvious contrast differences. I like to see black as black, not grey. :)

Now I just have to play the waiting game.

Anyone have any clue as to when prices will drop to that of the Japanese import Black Pearls? Looks like the price difference of a couple of lamps. Does that signal that prices will drop here after the first few waves?

Call AVS they have great pricing with a US warranty, hard to find a deal in Canada.

Anyone have any clue as to when prices will drop to that of the Japanese import Black Pearls? Looks like the price difference of a couple of lamps. Does that signal that prices will drop here after the first few waves?

The problem is that Sony doesn't drop the dealer price based on this. This means that the dealer will hit a basement pretty quickly and will not be able to do anymore (without giving it away or worse, losing money). But, the US warranty is a strong selling point for many who don't want to risk issue.

Has anyone heard of the internet seller called BHAREA (www.bharea.com)?

I couldn't find much info on them even via Google and seems to be one of those places selling the Japanese version of the Black Pearl. :rolleyes:

Has anyone bought any SONY products from them and what's been your experience?

I've purchased a couple of projectors from Japan years back (Panasonic AE100 and AE300). I purchased from price japan. They were (or are) an honest business from what I've experienced. They were upfront with their actual shipping delays, etc. That being said, when all was said and done I ended up paying out a lot more than expected. I had a warranty return to Japan which was extremely slow and expensive to ship. Then I was stuck with a nearly $200 import tax (one that was payed once already when purchased!) that showed up in the mail. In the end the repairs were done but at a pretty high cost and time delay. Realistically, repairs are probably just as slow here in the US.

In my opinion, the prices are very appealing but really do not justify the risk for a moderately priced piece of equipment. This is also considering that price japan seems to back up their sales well. I can only imagine thoese companies that don't truly back up their imported electronics.

I've purchased a few projectors from AVS and before that, projectorpeople. I can really appreciate the service AVS provides and the simple fact that they allow us the opportunity to get involved in this community.

(Hey Jason, can I get a discount now that I thew in that plug?) ;)

Does anyone has information or past experiences with bharea ?

My friend ordered from them but this company seems to be a fraud :mad:
He paid for the projector, but after he said that one of his friend checked out their physical address where there's actually nothing, they stopped replying to his emails and he still of course didn't receive his order... :(

Please help me, do you guys have any idea how to get out of this mess?
By the way, I have to precise, my friend is in France... ;)

Thx a lot.
Xander ;)

Contact Paypal, Ebay Fraud Department, Cancel the Check, Call Your Credit Card Company, Call your bank or your higher powers to be.... If you sent cash or money order I have nothing to say.

If you sent cash or money order I have nothing to say.


:eek:

I took a look at BHarea - they only accept payment via "e-gold." - from you e-gold account, the money gets transferred to them immediately - you have no protection! Smells very very scammy to me! If they are for real, they would accept credit card so you would have some protection. I have not purchased from them, but this fact alone scares me away.

I took a look at BHarea - they only accept payment via "e-gold."


And another :eek: :eek:

They have send to me this email:


Dear Sir
We process the transactions trough e-gold system because they offer us the opportunity to avoid the business taxes. By this way we are able to offer you the best deals from the market. E-gold is for you, not for us because trough this system you have the possibility to buy a brand new item for a good price.
All we want is to offer the best prices for our customers. The e-gold account is absolutely free and there are no obligations.
Please go to e-gold.com and open your free no obligation e-gold account then go to an exchanger like
icegold.com or me-gold.com and fund your e-gold account with US $ (buy e-gold funds from the exchanger for your e-gold account).
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.


Regards
Lacey Moss
Customer Service
Beverly Holdings Inc
bharea.com

Ice gold? me-gold? Please...I'd stay FAR away from that site...