Super cheap Nuova Simonelli Oscars shipping from China... Any good? - Page 2

#11: Post by **Marcelnl** » December 4th, 2015, 4:27 am

Looks fishy....and smells like fish from last week...looks as if someone is making an effort to get a Christmas bonus for himself

If you want I can sell you a statement with that written on it for 75$ that way you at least get something delivered and you have a memento to hang on a wall

#12: Post by **mslim** » January 3rd, 2016, 9:22 pm

If it is too good to be true it probably is. As far as I know, Nuova Simonellis are still made in Italy only and given the tax imposed on imported machines into China, these cannot be cheap. The only 'known' espresso machine maker that I know of that has a factory in China is Expobar. If you check Expobar prices on Alibaba, they are ridiculous.

As an aside, when it comes to espresso machines for serious use, none of the Chinese ones are competitively priced taking into consideration factors like sourcing service and spare parts.

#13: Post by **timvinson1** » January 3rd, 2016, 9:56 pm

I've seen similar listings for Silvias and other almost reasonably attainable machines on eBay. Almost pulled the trigger myself. The stock photos and ridiculously low price are red flags, and the listings are always gone by the next day. I've done a bit of googling regarding fake items, and the buyer usually loses out. Lessons to be learned- if you go for it, use CREDIT only. Cancel the charge if you don't get what you paid for.

#14: Post by **doubleOsoul** » January 3rd, 2016, 10:10 pm

I bought 2 Oscars and a day later Ebay shut it all down. They cancelled the auction, removed the seller and told me I'd have my money returned which they got around to about 2 weeks later. I don't know if anyone else was able to successfully buy one.

January 3rd, 2016, 10:48 pm

Nice to hear from someone that pulled the trigger doubleOsoul

I know they were selling. I was hoping to get a gist of what happened from the reviews of the seller.
Nice to hear that you'll get reimbursed.
I thought it was a gamble, might be worth it in case it actually worked out smoothly, and it wouldn't break me if it ended up being a bust.
Couldn't bring myself to take the leap without seeing a little feedback first though.

#16: Post by **sdoxx** » January 3rd, 2016, 11:02 pm

Yeah, living here in China we are used to the "fake until proven real" mentality. Most of the "older" generation won't buy anything they can't touch with their hands, and for good reason. But growing up in the US, I was used to assuming that we were protected from fakes. Now the fakes are pouring in, even on Amazon and other online retailers. Never buy from a "company" online that has no reviews, no real stores, etc. Actually, in this country people even fake reviews! I don't know to what extent that is happening in US/Canada yet.

As far as the Oscar, real ones are being sold here for about $750 USD. It is actually one of the few good options in China. I considered it, but then went with the Expobar Brewtus instead.

Case in point about fakes, though... when I first searched for "Oscar" I mostly got copies of Oscar trophies. Anybody want to win an Oscar without any hard work?

Brett

#17: Post by **drgary** » January 3rd, 2016, 11:52 pm

I pulled the trigger on two. eBay notified me it delisted the item and the seller two days after the seller had marked it shipped without providing a tracking number. eBay made good on their buyer protection refund. The seller had advertised delivery could be as late as 1/26, so it could happen, but I'm not holding my breath. My reasoning is that many items including espresso machines are made in China. NS just went to a new model Oscar and may have discontinued this one. What if factory workers anticipating layoffs went in for an extra shift and assembled some machines after NS stopped ordering the current version? Someone earlier posted that NS makes all of its machines in Italy. If so, it was entertaining to give it a try.

#18: Post by **doubleOsoul** » January 4th, 2016, 12:10 am

JRock wrote:Nice to hear from someone that pulled the trigger doubleOsoul
I know they were selling. I was hoping to get a gist of what happened from the reviews of the seller.
Nice to hear that you'll get reimbursed.
I thought it was a gamble, might be worth it in case it actually worked out smoothly, and it wouldn't break me if it ended up being a bust.
Couldn't bring myself to take the leap without seeing a little feedback first though.

I pulled the trigger back in November (if I remember right). I've had more than my share of Oscars over the years but I bought these because I had lofty ideas of maybe paying it forward to whomever since the coffee community was been so good to me over the years. The sellers seem to keep popping up with the same m.o.: x amount sold already, no feedback, etc.