eBay - Refurbished/Second-Hand figures sold as New - Experiences

Hi,

I'm wondering whether this is a thing, and whether it's a known/common issue

We buy a lot of figures with my brother, our go-to seller on eBay is timcent, who sends pristine figures each time, but some figures I received from other sellers were questionable

My theory is that some sellers might be refurbishing figures and selling them as new, or selling returned figures as new, maybe buying second hand figures and doing this systematically

Most of the times it's not a big deal, but I have one Gold Chrome Iron Man with a paint-faded butt, a Deadpool with a weak arm, an Evil Superman with weak knees and a pale cape, an ASM2 Spider-Man with head issues which likely got repackaged professionally

ASM2 is the last figure I got, which made me dig deeper into the issue, I noticed potential signs of repackaging - it was one of those "Opened Package to Check Contents - Unused" figures

Suffice to say, I won't buy figures from non-timcent eBay sellers anymore, but, I also wonder whether my suspicions have any merit

I have not had any bad experiences yet on ebay but I really prefer to buy figures from fellow freaks on the board. All my experiences have been very positive

Most people open figs and statues to make sure no damage or missing pieces when they get them, I think you are being a bit paranoid. Its normal, personally I don't like buying sealed pieces for this reason.

I'm sure it happens, but I bought almost my entire HT Star Wars collection off eBay. A Stormtrooper had a scuff mark on his leg that wasn't shown, but otherwise I got pretty good deals; some had been displayed but were in otherwise pristine condition.

dukefett said:

I'm sure it happens, but I bought almost my entire HT Star Wars collection off eBay. A Stormtrooper had a scuff mark on his leg that wasn't shown, but otherwise I got pretty good deals; some had been displayed but were in otherwise pristine condition.

Click to expand...

Sometimes even new figs have defects.