Table tennis table - unsure as to whether this deal is TOO good to be true or not....

daniel_b

Greetings all,

after some experiences and opinions really.

I'm looking to purchase a table tennis table, and as Costco have this reduced by a decent amount, I was pretty much set on it:

£430 (plus £15 online membership cost) is a great price, and as far as I am aware Butterfly are a decent make, with a good warranty.

I searched to see if I could find any reviews, and an ebay seller popped up, selling apparently the same item, brand new etc, for £286, so a whopping £160 less than the already reduced table above.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116229659848

They seem to have fairly decent feedback overall, and I dropped them two messages yesterday just to ask whether they are indeed brand new, and not returns or damaged, and also to ask about the warranty etc, latterly dropped them an e-mail as well, but nothing back yet on either front.

I notice that yesterday it said 10+ available, 3 sold, and today is 6 sold, so people are 'buying' them.

I'm asuming if I buy through ebay, and either use my CC and or use my CC through paypal it will give me adequate levels of protection, but I'm torn on whether to just take a punt, and see if it's a mega bargain, or just stick to the safe route of Costco.

I don't even know if counterfeit table tennis tables are a thing, but the hassle factor could be significant if it arrives and is not genuine, and or is damaged/incomplete etc etc.

What are forumites opinions please?

*I appreciate outdoor tables are not ideal, I did post a thread last year about this, but space wise indoors it's what we have to go for.

MidlandsGrimpeur2

This is a 50/50 for me. It does look like a slightly incongruous item when you look at the sellers main area of business, but as you said their feedback is good and it does seem like a genuine outfit. My educated guess, particularly as there are 10 of them, is that the seller has got their hands on a small batch of tables and thought lets have a go at flogging them on ebay.

Obviously, that does raise the question of where they have had them from and potential issues of provenance (or quality if they are genuine). The price factor is also a slight concern, but again if they have had a job lot cheap from somewhere, then the price they are offering at means it is not beyond the possibility they are genuine.

I think a gut call on this, wait to see if the seller responds to your email. If they don't, I would say decision made and don't buy. If they do and there are no red flags in the responses, I would be willing to take a punt.

daniel_b

Thanks @MidlandsGrimpeur2 ,

yes it's a tricky one, the companies name has no bearing on the actual item, but as you say they might just have been offered a good deal, but they must have been at a rock bottom price, but perhaps from a company who went into administation is a possibility I guess, or bought at some kind of wholesale auction if such a thing exists.

My instinct was to wait to see if any reply came in, and I think that is what I will do - if there is no reply by cob on Friday, I will place the order with Costco, for the extra piece of mind, and guaranteed warranty etc.

Think it should be 3 year table top warranty and 10 year general warranty.

*Just looked up the company at companies house, and also looks legit on that front.

Stevo_666

Paging Mr. Ping Pong @pinno to the thread (and no, that's nothing to do with Thailand...)

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Off-topic, but Costco are also doing a decent spec gaming pc with Nvidia 4060 gpu for ~£650. ;)

daniel_b

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21076468#Comment_21076468

Do you happen to know if they ever sell gaming laptops?

N0bodyOfTheGoat

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21076472#Comment_21076472

I didn't, but using link from hotukdeals to the desktop pcs showed they do, albeit at a 30sec glance they don't look like the desktop gaming pc bargains.

https://www.costco.co.uk/Computers/Laptops-MacBooks/c/cos_16.1?sort=price-asc&q=:price-asc:type:Gaming%2BLaptop

daniel_b

The listing I was looking at was mysteriously ended last night, still with 6 of the 10 being sold.

Looking on the advanced search I see they also ended another listing on June 24th, same item, same price.

That one allegedly had 3 sold.

It's smelling a bit more scammy as things go on, and still no reply to any of my contact methods.

Looking like Costco to me now.

focuszing723

I was absolutely fantastic at table tennis as a kid, my smashes were monumental. That all ended when we went to another school and a kid I was up against could probably spin the ball, the ar$ehole made be look a right pr@t.

daniel_b

I feel your pain!

Just ordered the Costco one, hopefully have it by next weekend.

focuszing723

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21076657#Comment_21076657

Nice. Get on YouTube and learn those cunning spins.

oxoman

Decathlon carry a fair few different ones and may be worth a look at if not to late.

daniel_b

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21076668#Comment_21076668

Thankyou, I did have afew tables bookmarked from Decathlon and several other sites, and plan to buy some of their 'outdoor' table tennis balls, but I still think the Butterfly offering from Costco is the best deal currently, for the spec and warranty etc.

Going to invest in some semi-decent bats (or is it racquets? Bat I would assume, as no strings involved) and some other balls as well, could have sworn I had a box of them, but nowhere to be seen, reckon someone has 'tidied' them away.

daniel_b

https://forum.bikeradar.com/discussion/comment/21076660#Comment_21076660

Definitely planning to do that :-)

daniel_b

Just to update, the super cheap listing on ebay has not re-surfaced, and their feedback is steadily plummeting.

Several very recent reviews stating no goods recieved and no reply to any e-mails, so it looks like they have either simply decided to scam people, or they have somehow been monumentally hacked.

My money is on the former, as I sent an external e-mail to their gmail address, which they would still have received.

I don't overly understand how this scam will work, as presumably the card companies will come and get the money back off of them after refunding the customer?

Unless they go bankrupt and somehow dissapear I suppose, but presumably debt companies won't give up easily.

A (hassle & stress) bullet dodged, thanks for the feedback, as I was on the verge of chancing my arm.

New bats arrived yesterday, along with just over 50 balls (3 seperate orders) and I had an e-mail to say the table has been despatched from Costco though no tracking yet, hoping it will be here by the end of the week, and that setup is not too lengthy - think I saw an hour mentioned.

Might be worth noting, that Decathlon now offer free delivery on small/light items with an order value over £20, not something they ever used to do, think it used to be £4.99 minimum charge, oh and they are also on TCB.