Buying an MP3 Player via Ebay

eamon

Hello Folks

My last MP3 player sadly expired (took it back to the "real" shop and got a refund). Anyway I've been looking at Ebay for a replacement and my questions are "Has anybody here ever bought an unbranded MP3 player i.e. supplied from Hong Kong? Would you recommend this course of action?

Look forward to any replies

Eamon

soolin

Personally I wouldn't touch one from overseas, it is an awful long way away to send it back if it doesn't work.

mikey72

I bought one though Amazon.
It broke, and I did manage to get something like a 50% refund.
Try ebuyer instead. You can read the reviews on there at least.

elfieb

I bought one, delivery time was ok , but the quality of the player wasnt very good. Lasted about a month, before it took its last breath and decided to no longer switch on.

With hindsight I would have been better putting the extra money to a decent player (ie one with an actual brand), as it cost me more money in the end having to replace it.

elfen

I've bought 4 MP3 players this year, and even I gave up, admitted defeat and got a iPod Nano. Best decision of my life

StaffsSW

With the HK sellers, you get what you pay for. I'm happy to risk a few quid on a gadget with a view that if it works, bargain, if it doesn't then I've not lost much.

Like elfen above though, there is a very good reason why the iPod (in whichever variant) has sold millions more than any other music device.

It's worth saving up to buy one, even a previous generation version, rather than mess around with cheaper alternatives which could work out to be a false economy.

elfen

OH has a 2nd generation one (the square one) and second hand they're about £60. Pretty good, and I think they have radio on. Have tested the quality on my iPod and it's pretty good, much better than my phone

Heavenly

Eamon how much are you willing to spend and what specs are you looking for?

Have you looked at Apple's rivals including Philips GoGoear, Creative Zen etc? You'd be likely to get 16GB for around £100 and probably more reliable than something from HK.

If you are buying online, remember you'd be able to get cashback from most retailers and get a bit of money back.

Kilty_2

If you're looking at the cheap no-name chinese stuff then just buy a Technika brand one from Tesco / equivelant in Asda/Aldi/etc etc

Not going to be much more expensive and you'll get at least a year of no-quibble swaps/refunds if it packs up.

I have bought one from HK before though through eBay (ages ago) and it's still working - and regularly buy things from DealExtreme.

steven_garner

The reason a lot of ones from HK don’t work is due to hacked memory.

If you but a 16GB MP3 player for £10-20 then its going to be hacked, it will show on your computer as 16GB and seem to allow you to move about 16GB of data but it will be corrupt and stop working after you fill up more then its real capacity (Normally 1GB)
If you want cheap then i would buy a cheap HK 2-4 GB MP3 from a top rated UK seller, they normally give warranty and will only have a couple of £ mark up.

peter_the_piper

Big Pockets do a lot of "end of line" models and bankrupt stock, mostly known brands at a reasonable cost. any problems they deal with it.