offer too good to be true?

hi,

i'm looking to buy the asus w2v model and have come across it at this website: http://www.boffindirect.com/boffin2/dispatch/results?act=search&stype=bc&bc=B-C-1105833

The price is pretty cheap but do you guys reckon its genuine or not?
Appreciate any feedback

 

Most likely too good to be true.

I don't know the exact conversion rate but that seems pretty cheap even for british lbs.

The site does not look very professional and there are no certifications from outside sources like the BBB here or Microsoft or Intel or anything.

 

Price is in British currency - Pounds. That price translates to about $2500, right in the ballpark for this laptop

 

$1,375.95 is their price including their VAT tax...... that comes out to about $2,510 USD........ if you're in the US, expect to pay more than $90 for any sort of reputable shipping and I believe the duties coming from the UK to the US are 15-20% at this point.

If you're in the US.. not a good deal. If you're in the UK, that's around the going price..... If I'm missing something, let me know.... but basically if their not an authorized Asus dealer, they wouldn't even be able to get the unit...... and even most authorized dealers worldwide haven't even been able to sell the units yet........ and there's only two of us in North America who have any stock here.

 

yea. I just did the conversion too.

 

i've noticed that they have a valid verisign security certificate at the bottom right hand corner of the homepage. i presume this is hard to fake and the site is genuine. any thoughts?

 

I can't say whether it's fake or not..... but the link below is the link to our SLL cert auth... and ALL verisign customers should look like ours... and be hosted by versign... not what they have.....

Now, regardless of that, if you notice ours, verisign provides our SLL (which for all intents and purposes only secures your payment between what you put in on their site and what they get)...... it doesn't mean they can't rip you off or have a price for something they can't sell you...... We've also got our payment processor and fraud protection through verisign and they use that one certificate page to show everything's on the up and up..... Their's and weird and I wouldn't trust it 100% .... go to verisign and enter their name and see what pops up. But regardless..... looking for a "deal" on Asus' systems is like finding a needle in a hay stack.... and even then, like I've told others before, Asus sets these prices and if a company actually wants to continue to deal with Asus there are things they must do. If they want to sell for a lower price it means they probably don't want to sell Asus' products for long... so do expect any sort of support through them.

https://seal.verisign.com/splash?fo...=GOLD&sealid=2&dn=WWW.PROPORTABLE.COM&lang=en

 

Just to confirm that price is really incredible. The RRP for the W2V in the UK is around 1800 including VAT. There were a couple of places that quoted around the 1500 mark but when I looked into ordering they changed their prices pretty quickly.

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

One cannot compare UK prices with USA prices. UK prices are always much higher (especially DELL). That price for a W2V is very good, although that site does look very shabby. I purchased my ASUS from www.asuslaptop.co.uk and their service is very good although their prices are a bit high. I personally would never take the risk of buying from a shabby looking website as chances are that their aftersales services would be non-exitent.

Reviews on online stores can usually be found at pricerunner.co.uk (UK stores), and look at what they have on boffindirect.com: http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/retailer/14935/

I have learnt not to trust an online store that DOES NOT list a physical address (you can sue them if they have a physical address), and boffindirect.com seems to be one of those sites: http://www.boffindirect.com/boffin2/dispatch/contact

In the end you will still have to judge for yourself whether you will trust this site with £1300+ of your hard earned money.

 

just an update, the sites verisign certificate is dubious when compared to proper certificates. i spoke to a rep and he sounded very unprofessional to such an extent that i knew more than he did! My verdict is not to trust these guys. Be warned!

 

I wouldn't expect a typical sales rep to know the intricacies of network security mechanisms used on their website. However the FAQ says, the site does not ship to countries outside UK. Price is pretty wild though! Dirt cheap!

 

It's a legit reseller, it may not be an Asus reseller like ProPortable, Geared2play, or who ever on these forums, but more like an NewEgg or Walmart. They won't know much in detail (heck, they may not even stock it in their own warehouse, if they had one), but they'll know the model number and maybe a brief description of it- whatever's on their screen. So if you want to save a few bucks, I would go for it.... that is IF I was living in the UK.

 

I could be wrong here and I don't know if Justin will want to buy in on this but I doubt the margins exist to sell the W2V at this price. I'm guessing it's a misprint. Someone has forgotten to add the VAT or something like that. It's about 20% cheaper than every other price in Europe and as I mentioned before I found two other stores in the UK at this price and they both refused to supply when I went to order from them.

If you were suspicious you might even suggest they're just putting these prices up to generate traffic.....

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

I can hardly comment on if the margins are that big, but margins in this business are widely known and not much. Also, Asus controls their pricing very very tightly..... they make the money on these units and not the dealers.... you'll have to trust me on this... and it's not even say the US office.. it's the Taiwan office... Taiwan is the one who gives those "rebates" to offices like the US and then those are passed to customers...... margins are tight and what Asus tells you to sell it for....... 1. you will sell it for to even make it worth your time.... and 2. if you don't Asus will eventually make you or stop selling to you...... it's plain and simple.

I can't comment on UK pricing that much because all I can do is a conversion, but that doesn't mean it doesn't sell for more in the UK than it does in the US (which is typically what they do anyway because they can make more money on their systems there, where they have to compete more here)......

But if you're in the US, and are cheap... it only serves you right to order from a place that you think is going to save you money. It's always the cheap ones that end up paying more when it's all said and done. I don't mean that in a bad way, but 8 times out of 10, (instead of saying cheap, lets say the people in that bunch that really don't have the money)........ those are the people who in the end, will pay more... whether it be through taxes, duties, shipping, etc...... or worse yet, get shafted from some bad store...

1. You check the rep of the store
2. You check with Asus about that store
3. You somehow find out if they really have them and why they are selling for that price (that's something to ask asus first and then the store)

 

When you click on the stock status from the store in question it openly states that the W2V's get ordered when you buy. I personally wouldn't mind waiting a bit longer to save 20% but I'm very dubious that there is even a 20% markup on these in the first place so I don't see how a store could sell at that price without selling at a loss. Maybe it's just a bargain and if it is I'm kicking myself for missing out on it.

Having said that I'm very happy with the help and support I've had from http://www.comdor.de so I can't really complain.

Phil
W2Vc-U005P