www.maniacool.com

wary

My son keeps hounding me to buy him some designer headphones from Mania Cool (www.maniacool.com). I'm somewhat dubious of this site though.

Anyone know anything about it, or in particular, have first-hand experience of it?

Coopdivi

There's no contact address or phone number as far as I can see but I can tell you that they are based in Hong Kong. That means:

1. Any branded goods will almost certainly be counterfeit (because that's what Chinese websites do).
2. The prices are in US Dollars but Paypal will convert them to Pounds at an unfavourable exchange rate.
3. You'll have to pay 20% VAT on top of the purchase price plus the £8 Royal Mail administration fee.
4. They accept payment by Western Union. Chinese companies like this payment method because there's no merchant fees to pay like with credit cards and Paypal and, of course, the payment is non-traceable.
5. You won't be covered by the excellent UK consumer legislation should you have an issue with your product. That's assuming you get it of course.

Incidentally the site was only registered on the 29th of October last year.

http://whois.domaintools.com/maniacool.com

Your best bet is to find out which headphones your son wants and ask on MSE. That way you won't get ripped off.