$55 'refurbished' Firefly vaporizers on eBay

[RobDaBomb]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ONE-RED-FIR...779838?hash=item4af4de27fe:g:TmIAAOSwiLdV905z

Hello, long time visitor but first time poster here. This seller on eBay seems to have a bunch of refurbished Firefly's (in all colors) in bulk as they've been selling a lot at $55 each. This seems to good to be true, plus I can't seem to officially verify if they are a certified retailer or anything. I'm so overly paranoid about my health when it comes to vaping (I'm honestly scared to even try inhaling off of 85% of the vapes on the market) that I wouldn't risk buying this unless I have confirmation that it's completely genuine and safe to use.

What do you guys think? Anybody know anything about this seller or these 'refurbished' models he seems to have access to?

Random details below:
I'm trying to find the cleanest and healthiest vape (i.e. no risk of chemicals leaking off the internals, inhaling off cracked heating elements, etc...) and I've narrowed it down to the Lotus or the Firefly. I know it's not a huge issue, but personally I'm quite concerned about the nickel used on the Lotus as I plan on using a device multiple times every day for a few years. The Firefly is ideal for me in most ways (as I could still drive and hit it, like I do with a normal bowl, unlike the 2 hands required for a Lotus) except for the cost. Additionally I personally believe a second generation is on the way and I'd rather not spend 250 dollars on something that will be out of date before I know it.

For $55 and the price of a new (guaranteed second edition) battery, you can't argue with this seller's Firefly's. Granted thats only if they are legit and 100% safe for use.

Thanks for the help and, again, greetings FC!

 

[j-bug]

Seller has positive feedback only, but a very small sample size. Product doesn't include battery. But you don't often see a Firefly on sale for much less than $200 even in the classified on this site or on entexchange. I'd say at best these are probably units with problems that you're unlikely to be able to get properly serviced and that will pop up over time. At worst these are cheap counterfeits and you're out $55. Depending on your confidence in eBay's buyer protection it may be worth it to get one and try it out, but if it's a counterfeit who knows what kind of harmful materials may be in the air or vapor paths. I'd recommend checking out the classifieds or entexchange if you want to get a deal on a used firefly. If I were you and wanted a firefly but figured a new one was coming out soon I'd probably pick up a used less expensive vape with a good reputation off of the classifieds or entexchange to hold me over till then. The firewood is a less expensive option that is a convection vape that I'm personally really enjoying and has a wide fan base, the Arizer portables are also very popular, last a damn long time and have excellent reputations that are in my opinion fairly well deserved, but they are conduction afaik and you seem to be leaning toward a convection device. Good luck, and remeber if it seems too good to be true it probably is.

 

[Vakas]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ONE-RED-FIR...779838?hash=item4af4de27fe:g:TmIAAOSwiLdV905z

Hello, long time visitor but first time poster here. This seller on eBay seems to have a bunch of refurbished Firefly's (in all colors) in bulk as they've been selling a lot at $55 each. This seems to good to be true, plus I can't seem to officially verify if they are a certified retailer or anything. I'm so overly paranoid about my health when it comes to vaping (I'm honestly scared to even try inhaling off of 85% of the vapes on the market) that I wouldn't risk buying this unless I have confirmation that it's completely genuine and safe to use.

What do you guys think? Anybody know anything about this seller or these 'refurbished' models he seems to have access to?

Random details below:
I'm trying to find the cleanest and healthiest vape (i.e. no risk of chemicals leaking off the internals, inhaling off cracked heating elements, etc...) and I've narrowed it down to the Lotus or the Firefly. I know it's not a huge issue, but personally I'm quite concerned about the nickel used on the Lotus as I plan on using a device multiple times every day for a few years. The Firefly is ideal for me in most ways (as I could still drive and hit it, like I do with a normal bowl, unlike the 2 hands required for a Lotus) except for the cost. Additionally I personally believe a second generation is on the way and I'd rather not spend 250 dollars on something that will be out of date before I know it.

For $55 and the price of a new (guaranteed second edition) battery, you can't argue with this seller's Firefly's. Granted thats only if they are legit and 100% safe for use.

Thanks for the help and, again, greetings FC!

Ask the seller for serial number and email firefly.

 

[RobDaBomb]

Ask the seller for serial number and email firefly.

Thanks for the suggestion, here are the results. Spoiler, stay away from this!

At first I asked if he'd be willing to give out a serial number or two before I make a purchase, explaining that I wanted to use them to verify their authenticity. His response:
"HI - NO I AM NOT ABLE TO GIVE OUT THE SERIAL NUMBER. IF YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT THE PURCHASE - YOU MIGHT BE HAPPIER WITH A NEW ONE. THANKS"

Afterwards I decided to ask him if he could at least tell me if there were serial numbers intact on any of the devices, thus maybe I could purchase one and then call Firefly to verify the SN. His response:
"HI - NO THERE ARE NO SERIAL NUMBERS STILL INTACT.
I AM PRETTY SURE YOU WOULD BE MUCH HAPPIER BUYING A NEW FIREFLY.
THERE ARE MANY AVAILABLE ON EBAY. THANKS"

So clearly not a single one of these 'refurbished' devices have an actual serial number. Additionally I find it amusing that they insist on me purchasing a new one instead -- almost as if they know their product isn't real and they'd prefer not selling it to someone who'll catch on.

Thanks for the help FC! Hopefully future buyers can find this thread before deciding to buy one of these.

 

[CarolKing]

I would be concerned about the warranty or no warranty. Portable vaporizers don't always hold up like a plug in and sometimes they need to be sent back. I see the eBay seller would be responable for any repairs. You really aren't getting the unit for $55 because you have to purchase a battery. If it looks too good of a deal it probably is.

I've seen a lot of fake Fireflys around at different websites so buyer beware. The serial numbers are scraped off too.

You might be able to find some Christmas sales with a known seller or an advertiser on FC - the bottom of this page. Puffitup sells the Firefly.

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

Thanks for the suggestion, here are the results. Spoiler, stay away from this!

At first I asked if he'd be willing to give out a serial number or two before I make a purchase, explaining that I wanted to use them to verify their authenticity. His response:
"HI - NO I AM NOT ABLE TO GIVE OUT THE SERIAL NUMBER. IF YOU ARE UNSURE ABOUT THE PURCHASE - YOU MIGHT BE HAPPIER WITH A NEW ONE. THANKS"

Afterwards I decided to ask him if he could at least tell me if there were serial numbers intact on any of the devices, thus maybe I could purchase one and then call Firefly to verify the SN. His response:
"HI - NO THERE ARE NO SERIAL NUMBERS STILL INTACT.
I AM PRETTY SURE YOU WOULD BE MUCH HAPPIER BUYING A NEW FIREFLY.
THERE ARE MANY AVAILABLE ON EBAY. THANKS"

So clearly not a single one of these 'refurbished' devices have an actual serial number. Additionally I find it amusing that they insist on me purchasing a new one instead -- almost as if they know their product isn't real and they'd prefer not selling it to someone who'll catch on.

Thanks for the help FC! Hopefully future buyers can find this thread before deciding to buy one of these.

Isn't selling counterfeit items against ebay rules?

...in fact it is. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/replica-counterfeit.html

I'm sure FF or ebay or both would appreciate hearing about it.

 

[RobDaBomb]

It should and is against their rules. Sadly though its not enforced very properly, and eBay also makes a cut from every sale... so if 50 people bought these counterfeit Firefly's unknowingly and haven't complained yet - eBay is going to look at that as just an easy way to make extra revenue (after all, if I still remember correctly, eBay takes a crazy amount of every sale - like around 10% or something). It definitely doesn't hurt in anyway to try to report it to eBay, but I gave up after they never responded to any of my complaints of people selling fake Beats headphones on their site a year or so ago.

I've seen it before when buying literal fake Beats headphones on eBay for $50, hell the words "Fake Beats" were physically in the title of the ad (glad I paid an extra few dollars for the warranty on those lol. Thanks SquareTrade!). Sure enough eBay didn't want to give me my money back or reprimand the guy after they broke. It's good to point out that I have over 100 purely positive feedback (mostly as a seller) and the guy I purchased from had nearly half as much good feedback on his profile - yet eBay still chose not to punish him for blatantly selling a fake product. So instead I used the SquareTrade warranty claim to get more money than I paid for the product (yeah, crazy lol) and used that to buy a pair of new 'official' Beats on sale for around $130 that I felt were real. Sure enough, there's no serial number on those headphones either... and there are other questions with it, but I gave up on trying to beat scammers so I just kept those headphones without bothering to start another drawn out and useless case with eBay again.

Oh, also it's good to note that the other day I believe I read a thread here where @mightyhigh claimed they purchased a Mighty on eBay for $300 just to find out it was fake. Later he contacted the manufacturer and they explained + sent him information regarding the differences between real and counterfeit models - so he went to eBay telling them this, basically saying he had PROOF it was counterfeit, but apparently eBay still sided with the seller on it :/. Hell S&B even told him it was counterfeit. I'm sure in a case like this if you persistently fought hard enough, then perhaps eBay would change their mind -- but in the meantime it just goes to show how eBay feels about potential counterfeit products.

There's a grey area with selling and purchasing 'fakes/knockoffs' in general, and I feel eBay tries to avoid using the word "counterfeit" as much as possible for this reason. I used to work in production design departments on film sets and I remember we were allowed to buy and sell fake [but convincing] products as 'props' legally from basically any source, not sure exactly how they workaround the law though. I wonder if eBay tries to use a defense like that if it ever came down to something serious.

 

[BadDog No]

Sure glad I hadn't read this thread before purchasing mine or I would have missed out. I paid $59 for mine just a few months ago, it's the same seller. The two I purchased (one for a friend) have serial numbers very neatly crossed out. Not that there wasn't any drama involved in my purchase of course. The first FF was fine and worked perfectly. The second worked fine except for one disturbing detail; it wouldn't charge it's battery. Much tedious correspondence with the seller later, and he sent me a new unit without requiring I send the old one back! So while I'm aware of counterfeits, mine aren't and work fine. Yes, I've compared them to "genuine" FFs (including the one I bought from the classifieds here). My feeling is that the seller was buying returned units to FF that they didn't want to do a "repack" of. Last time I looked he was selling them for $79; so no longer such a killer deal. Still cheap though compared to new. Obviously your mileage may vary....