eBay Shopping

Joined
Jul 15, 2019
Messages
37
Reaction score
10
Age
70
So I was browsing eBay recently to see what's available and to keep an eye on prices. I own a P3A. I see that one can buy a Phantom 3 A or P copter only (no camera, batteries or RC) for $150 to $170 and they are advertised as in excellent condition. The sceptic in me wonders why these "excellent" drones have been stripped down to begin with. One even says "new in box" but with no camera, batteries or RC. That really got me wonedering why. I bought my P3A used on ebay and have learned how to fly with it. Consequently, I've had two "contacts" with trees along the way but it survived both...tough drone. With that in mind, finding a nice replacement copter for that price seems like something worth looking into. My question to you folks on the forum here is "what am I missing?" about these aircraft for sale. Also several have quaility photos with a gray background that appear to be taken by the same person but list different sellers (bokebros and trueblue884)...both sellers have excellent ratings, btw. I'm curious what y'all think about buying a very affordable replacement AC to have on hand if needed.
 
Can't really say unless we see the post?? Like you, I have to wonder..............
 
I sometimes see things on ebay too cheap. I once purchased an item that too cheap just to see. The order went thru; then the order was canceled and the ebay account was suspended. Thinking they were just trying to get some money and hope people forget about ordering the item.
 
Just thought I'd mention this...
eBay has turned into a cesspool in the last year or so.
They will no longer pay Sellers into their PayPal accounts,
but will take PayPal payments from Buyers.....
As a Seller you NEED to attach a Bank account where
they can willy-nilly add or subtract funds without prior
notifications.

I recently went through a 3 week fiasco trying to get
$350 back.

Jerry
 
Quite agree lasersbee! I've stopped selling on there now, used to use it a lot.
They say that when someone buys something off you, post it immediately and Ebay will worry about getting the money! NO, I will not send anything until the money is IN MY ACCOUNT - PayPal because that's the bank I use.

And you cannot contact them!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: lasersbee
Interesting discussion about ebay. Can a buyer contact the seller and arrange for a diiferent route of payment such as Venmo (that I think PayPal owns), or even a cashiers check in the mail? I thought the whole idea of a PayPal acct was to make these buy/sell transactions easy and safe. I guess greed has taken over PayPal too. Now does ebay take their commision for using their site to market things?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: lasersbee
I guess greed has taken over PayPal too

Just in case you didn't know, Ebay and Paypal split in 2015 but maintained 5 year operational relationship. That has ended and Ebay wants to establish their own payment back end indipendant of PayPal. I believe the effects of that are what you are seeing at Ebay.

 
  • Like
Reactions: lasersbee
I'm curious what y'all think about buying a very affordable replacement AC to have on hand if needed.

I think there are deals to be found. I have a well used P3P sitting here that hasn't flown much for about 3 years. I'm a commercial op and have a couple of P4Ps that get the most use when a Phantom is needed, mostly for mapping. The P3P works perfectly, has 3 batteries, a 3-way multi-charger, ND filters, and a hard case. I think I have some prop-guards too that have never been installed if I remember correctly. I've never listed it for sale anywhere but if anyone is interested, get in touch by DM and I can answer questions and maybe we can work out a good deal.
 
Ebay BUYING hasn't changed much, you can still buy and pay using PayPal. It's the selling that has changed.
Ebay will not let you register PayPal as your preferred receiving bank, it has to be something else.
Also YOU have no control over receiving your money, Ebay handle it, your buyer pays Ebay. They then deduct their fees and only then pay you. So you have to ship your item BEFORE you have your money and THAT is the thing I don't like!
 
  • Like
Reactions: lasersbee
Interesting discussion about ebay. Can a buyer contact the seller and arrange for a diiferent route of payment such as Venmo (that I think PayPal owns), or even a cashiers check in the mail? I thought the whole idea of a PayPal acct was to make these buy/sell transactions easy and safe. I guess greed has taken over PayPal too. Now does ebay take their commision for using their site to market things?
A buyer can always contact a Seller but the Seller is
not allowed to offer a different payment or selling
option other than eBay. Doing so will get the seller's
eBay account suspended. All URLs to your site are not
allowed on the listings and eBay messages containing
URLs are flagged and are not sent. eBay has a bot or
algorithm to check for URLs on listings and in messages.

BTW... eBay Seller Fees used to be about 10% and now
are closer to 15% that I noticed on an eBay sale.

Jerry
 
Last edited:
Before buying anything from the internet, read some reviews about the seller, compare prices on other websites, read about the refund policy, and only after that you can buy something from the internet. Also, you can use different discount coupons that work on Amazon or eBay. There are many websites on the internet where you can find such coupons. Visit https://www.dontpayfull.com for more.
 
Maybe I'm off track but I thought Quister was asking why there were so many stripped down P3A's on E Bay. Well me for one clipped a branch. Gimbal and drone ended up 10 Feet apart. Put a new Yaw arm on and new non DJI flex cable. Does the dance but wont stop it (yes I mounted the camera on the right way) and no camera feed. Drone flies perfectly. Everything on screen works but no Camera. So in the mean time I got a DJI Mini 2. I can fly it almost anywhere. I dont have to renew my Canadian Pilot certificate every 2 years. So I feel its not worth putting more money into a 7 year old drone. That is why I think you see so many for sale without Gimbal. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chrislaf
I think there is more money to be had in parts. By stripping down a drone and selling the parts separately, especially for discontinued models like the P3’s there is more money to be made for vendors who specialize in doing that.

A year ago, I replaced the camera/gimbal assembly on my P3S with one I got from A vendor in China. It was obvious that it had been rebuilt from parts but it has worked perfectly since.

My original camera just failed - became limp (no crashes). I tried replacing the ribbon cable 3 times including with an OEM one but had no luck so instead of buying buying part after part to try to figure out what part was bad, I just order a whole assembly. At the time, it cost about CAN$170. Well worth it for me as my P3S is still going strong to this day.

Chris
 
A year ago, I replaced the camera/gimbal assembly on my P3S with one I got from A vendor in China. It was obvious that it had been rebuilt from parts but it has worked perfectly since.

Chris
Don't forget DJI are a Chinese company headquartered in Shenzhen, China's Silicon Valley so they know what they're doing when it comes to rebuilding!
 
Don't forget DJI are a Chinese company headquartered in Shenzhen, China's Silicon Valley so they know what they're doing when it comes to rebuilding!
Yes, but the vendor I purchased from wasn’t affiliated with DJI and the camera itself had scratches on the casing. Likely parts from a crashed drone re-assembled into a working unit. There was stickers placed on it so that the vendor would know if it had been taken apart if it had been returned. I imagine there are dishonest people who buy stuff on eBay, disassemble the item and take the parts they need then return it and claim it doesn’t work.

I am thankful there are people/businesses that are thriving and providing parts and services to keep old outdated technology working. They in essence are being environmentally friendly and helping the planet by keeping the old tech working and out of landfills - so kudos to them!

Chris
 
There are still a few people here in the UK specialising in the repair of these old birds. About to send my P3A to them to sort out the RC issues I've got.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chrislaf
So I was browsing eBay recently to see what's available and to keep an eye on prices. I own a P3A. I see that one can buy a Phantom 3 A or P copter only (no camera, batteries or RC) for $150 to $170 and they are advertised as in excellent condition. The sceptic in me wonders why these "excellent" drones have been stripped down to begin with. One even says "new in box" but with no camera, batteries or RC. That really got me wonedering why. I bought my P3A used on ebay and have learned how to fly with it. Consequently, I've had two "contacts" with trees along the way but it survived both...tough drone. With that in mind, finding a nice replacement copter for that price seems like something worth looking into. My question to you folks on the forum here is "what am I missing?" about these aircraft for sale. Also several have quaility photos with a gray background that appear to be taken by the same person but list different sellers (bokebros and trueblue884)...both sellers have excellent ratings, btw. I'm curious what y'all think about buying a very affordable replacement AC to have on hand if needed.
EBay is full of counterfeit crap that you have to wade through in order to find real components. It's strictly a buyer beware. One thing I have found over the years is if you use paypal, they are better at getting a counterfeit item reimbursed than just EBay alone.
 

Recent Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,357
Members
104,935
Latest member
Pauos31