Valuebasket reliability/experience(NOT recommended/trusted)

[aywy-s]

Saw a Tamron 60mm (A-mount) being sold for a very competitive price by valuebasket.com. Indeed if you go online to their SG website or lookup their store on ebay, you can find the item stated.

25 May - placed order for item. Received the "2-5 business days to start shipping, abother 7-10 business days to receive item." confirmation email.

16 June - made an email inquiry about the item. Received a reply on 17 June that it will take another 7 business days.

22 June - made another email enquiry. Received a reply on 25 June saying "this is an extremely popular item so we will try to ship next week. Please let us know if it has not been shipped by then." (Well that's poor - you should be the one keeping the client informed of the item's status, not your client chasing you!)


It was at this time that I realised that Valuebasket charges your credit card on order confirmation, not on order shipment. My bad for missing out on this as I have only ever dealed with merchants that charge on shipping. What I find shady is that a quick check on valuebasket's SG website and ebay store still states the item in very good stock.


My take on this:

The worst that can happen:
Valuebasket is a criminal organization and I'll probably not receive the item. So you should also not use it for your shopping needs.


The best that can happen:
Valuebasket is really short on that item. Which still reflects very poorly on them as this means they are advertising items (and continue to do so) that they have no stock of and that they can't fulfill. Remember they charge on order confirmation and not shipment, but the item doesn't even exist in their store!


I have put up a dispute application with the credit card company against Valuebasket.com as the good/service is unfulfilled after 30 days of payment, and sent in all relevant order confirmation and correspondence emails for their investigations. And of course I started this thread as a warning to others, and also titled it so that Google can index it for people searching for "valuebasket reliability, trusted".

 

[Ignatius Wang]

luckily I never buy from them. Had wanted to buy a Sigma 50 f1.4 from them, but changed my mind later. In comparison, another local online photography gear shop Techno gadgets seem to be better. Bought lens from them before, & they have prompt responses & on-time delivery.

 

[donut88]

Let's wait for this merchant to explain. We cannot hear one sided story.

If they can accept paypal, best to go with it

 

[slackerlism]

I bought from them before. No problem encountered. Note: They do request proof to verify ur address (utility or teleco bill) before proceeding with your order.

Got my 6D within 1 week.

Btw one of the reason why I bought from them is that they got a singapore office with address and number. Why dun you call them? I did call them to check out before buying.
Anyway I use paypal instead of credit card. Paypal got buyer protection.

 

[Ignatius Wang]

Why buy things still need to prove address with telco bill?

 

[Hinata76]

got a cash on delivery option..wonder if that works..

 

[eleveninth]

People actually buy from there. wow.

 

[aywy-s]

Btw one of the reason why I bought from them is that they got a singapore office with address and number. Why dun you call them? I did call them to check out before buying. Anyway I use paypal instead of credit card. Paypal got buyer protection.

Yup some lessons learned - don't just jump in with any online merchant with a nice website... Yup noticed they had a SG office address and contact with SG domain website when I placed the order, but it is not accessible now. Perhaps the complaints are accumulating that they have been selling non-existant stock and they had to do a site renewal. Their ebay listing has also disappeared.

 

[slackerlism]

Yup some lessons learned - don't just jump in with any online merchant with a nice website... Yup noticed they had a SG office address and contact with SG domain website when I placed the order, but it is not accessible now. Perhaps the complaints are accumulating that they have been selling non-existant stock and they had to do a site renewal. Their ebay listing has also disappeared.

Still works leh. Think you need to clear your cache and cookies. I encountered before.
Try with another brower.

 

[slackerlism]

People actually buy from there. wow.

Abit sceptical too. I did some research before trying. Read up on reseller rating website, the ebay review, give them a call, etc. Seen quite highly rated in Australia.
Still sceptical so that why i use Paypal to pay. Worst still got buyer protection. You can do the cash on delivery option also.
After received and everything working, not so sceptical liao. Haha. YMMV.

Regarding verifying address, their policy bah. They say to protect us but personally i think is to protect themselves. Maybe got people using fake address and do cash on delivery option. Haha. Actually I don't mind. Just take a shot with handphone of the top part of my mobile phone bill with name, address and singtel logo.

Quote from their site:
"Since online fraud activities are on the rise, all orders go through a screening process and some transactions are selected at random for additional manual verification. We have been advised to take this extra step to validate orders to protect both our customers and the company's interests.

While we understand that you may be reluctant to share your data, please be assured that your personal information is secure and your privacy is fully protected by ValueBasket.com."

 

[JoeyFO]

I have no experience buying anything from valuebasket, but recently got very close to buying Nikon 16-35 (f4) from them.

I had been looking for this particular lens and checked around quite a number of local camera stores, but not a single shop had a stock (they say they are without this lens for many months). When I desperately turned to googling for any online merchant, valuebasket came up, and says they have 5 stocks of this lens. 

Price was par with local stores, so I got very close to ordering, but eventually decided not to order after much deliberation cos it was hard to believe that they have 5 stocks and I couldn't be too confident of the credibility of the business.

I'm still without this lens, but after reading what TS says, probably I was right not to order...

 

[aywy-s]

Still works leh. Think you need to clear your cache and cookies. I encountered before.

Thanks for the heads-up! Tried again from another browser + internet connection.

Support number is SG-based VoIP line. Customer service lady has FT accent(Filipino?). Some background noise like office/warehouse? They are able to draw out my order number quickly so it's probably not a phantom office. Apologized and said "should be end of the week". Obviously does not inspire me with confidence because of "should be". And obviously "end of the week" implies no stock.

 

[aywy-s]

so I got very close to ordering, but eventually decided not to order after much deliberation cos it was hard to believe that they have 5 stocks and I couldn't be too confident of the credibility of the business.

That should have tipped me off too. When I placed my order their site said they have 8 of that item in stock!

 

[daredevil123]

Personally, I would not have waited so long. I would have filed a claim to reverse the charge within a week of them missing the expected delivery date.

 

[slackerlism]

At least it is resolved. Your payment managed to cancel?

 

[susu10]

For the COD options, they will charge sgd15 dollar to your credit card 1st. Then pay the price you saw on web page.

I mentioned to them i've concern giving out credit card particulars just like that and they said this is the process.

 

[aywy-s]

An update.... so the order cancellation went through. They were apologetic about it and offered to upgrade to express delivery when the item is available, but I decided "Nah...". According to them they will initiate credit refund with the credit card company.

Will update again when the process is completed.

 

[aywy-s]

Credit card company replies that the money has been credited back.

FINAL VERDICT:
Valuebasket is legit. But like some grey market dealers out there, can get too optimistic about stock availability. Reading through ebay feedback on different retailers reveal that this is not too uncommon and surfaces once a while. If you're looking for cheap online grey market deals it's just one of the risks that exist.

 

[sje4182]

Technogadget pricing not as good.

 

[normanbudiman]

I recently ordered a tamron via valuebasket on 24th aug and hv nt receive it till now. Called the customer service and they mentioned there is a delay in shipping though stock is available. Shld i just wait or request for a refund? Mistake was that i paid via credit card.