19 thoughts on “BuckSaver Review: Android Tablet Daily Deal Scam”

1. Hi Geoff,

   $75 is a market value for this Tablet PC (with shipping) because it is the price offered by other retailers, i.e. what consumer who wants to buy this thing will pay.

   That’s right, market value of “Apple 32GB iPad 2 With Wi-Fi & 3G” is about $750 + extra options/fees:
   – Apple store: $729.00
   – Walmart: $729.00
   – FutureShop: $749.99
   – BestBuy: $749.99
   – Amazon: $729.00
   – MacConnection: $729.00

   Thanks,
   Trueler

2. @Trueler Market value is what the consumer will pay, not what you say it is. “Buying a Tablet PC of questionable quality with a market value of $75 for $120” Why is $75 market value? I’d say if most people are buying them for $120 that is market value. An Apple 32GB iPad 2 With Wi-Fi & 3G selling a Future Shop for $749.99, market value? Probably. Is it fair value? Absolutely not. It shouldn’t cost $800.

3. just wondering if anyone actually recieved one of these tablets from deal find [fabuless products] or not. i ordered one and still haven’t heard from them.

4. I got one form BuckSaver it got more the 10 Language support. and when you buying something directly from China you donot know anything about supplier – mostly fraud on Alibaba and Dhgate, Buying fromLocal Supplier atleast can give some kind of Customer Service- there is additional fee when u buy from Alibaba or Dhgate..

5. As per my price comparison for Tablets from different sources, its form $99 to $149, lets spouse it’s on Deal form BuckSaver for $119 (Including Shipping) is that a bad deal? I bought one got it from BuckSaver, happy with that tablet in that price, I am not expecting it to be a Apple Ipad which is $600 – 800, to me that make sense to buy a tablet for $119, with any deal site.
   So telling its a Scame does’t make any sence…. site like http://trueler.com are good to get some reviews from buyers but have to be careful before you give any review before using that product.

   thanks

6. Hi J,

   There are same Tablets with 1.3MP camera being sold for $54, with shipping included for $77:

   http://www.aliexpress.com/store/12345/211215177-508412269/SecKill-VIA-8650-7-Infotmic-IMAPX200-android-2-3-tablet-pc-1GHz-256MB-4GB.html

   http://www.aliexpress.com/store/100099/211285943-515615277/cheapest-tablet-pc-1GHz-CPU-256MB-RAM-4GB-HDD-android-2-3-OS-7inch-infortmic-flytouch3.html

   The difference is $3, not $275, and not even $45…

   Item from BuckSaver does not have high quality keyboard case. It also does not have languages support (from the description). The value of that keyboard case was about $20, as I remember.

   Shipping methods offered by “Import and Go” or “Aliexpress” (DHL, UPS, FedEx Express) already include brokerage fees, so it should not be subject to additional fees.

   So it’s still about the same product, but from deal sites and BuckSaver you may get it for higher price only in months comparing to one week from other places.

   Thanks,
   Trueler

7. I wasn’t aware of that rule in the Consumer Protection Act, thansk for pointing that out. However, it’s obviously not widely enforced as many products are sold with inflated values. I could understand why this sort of thing would be very difficult to enforce since it’s hard to quantitatively and definitively prove value.

   Going back to the product, I just noticed that the one on Bucksaver has a 1.3MP camera while the one on Import and Go has a 0.3MP camera. So they are in fact two different products and you’re showing an apples to oranges comparison. Another difference is that although both offers include shipping, the one from Bucksaver seems to ship from Saskatoon. Import and Go ships from China, so it may be subject to additional duties and brokerage fees.

8. BTW, $119 (SlamBuy’s offer) > $75 (other retailers offers).

   No, the “value” in any promotion is not just a number, it should be a real value of the product, and the merchant making an offer must be responsible for it in accordance with Consumer Protection Act:

   http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_02c30_e.htm#BK17

   14. (1) It is an unfair practice for a person to make a false, misleading or deceptive representation

   Examples of false, misleading or deceptive representations

   (2) Without limiting the generality of what constitutes a false, misleading or deceptive representation, the following are included as false, misleading or deceptive representations:
   …
   11. A representation that a specific price advantage exists, if it does not.
   …

   So, it’s not just “a bad” deal, it is a serious violation of Consumer Protection Act, because BuckSaver with the help of deal sites advertise $230 discount, but in fact consumers pay $45 more.

   Thanks,
   Trueler

9. In your example, the $200 deal from Canadian Tire is a bad deal because $200 > $150 > $99, not because $600 > $150.

   There are many types of products that are never sold at or above their stated “value” or MSRP, so yes, I would agree that “value” is just a number. That’s why I usually ignore it.

   A smart consumer would make a purchasing decision based on the following factors:

   a) Does this merchant offer the product at the lowest price compared to other merchants and offer a decent quality of service?
   b) Does the value I would personally receive from owning this product exceed the price I’m paying?

   Note that quoted “value” is not considered in either of these questions. Nobody should be asking themselves, “Is the price lower than the stated value?”

   Your definition of quoted value seems to match more with the definition of cost. Upon noticing the high “value,” a smart consumer might ask why, if “value” is equivalent to cost, would the product be sold by a retailer below cost (at a loss). There are very few scenarios where this might happen.

   Perhaps some consumers were duped into buying this product based on the quoted value, and that’s unfortunate for them. But they would be better served by reading about general smart buying guidelines instead of an arbitrary example of a product with an inflated “value.”

10. Thanks for your point. But this is different. For GPS example, let’s say that its value is $150, i.e. it is sold for this price at most locations like Walmart, Costco, NoFrills… But just imagine that Canadian Tire offers the same GPS at 66% discount for $200 claiming $600 value. Good deal, eh?

    Example in the post (with BuckSaver and SlamBuy) is a scam by definition:

    – People trust daily deal sites and their promotions
    – False advertisements/promotions are illegal
    => So, we assume that the marked value truly represent the product.

    – Value of the product means that the product has a combination of quality, reliability, brand name, characteristics, warranty, service, etc., which really cost that value. Also value means that the product is sold for this price at majority of retailers. If nobody buys the product at a “value” price, then it’s just a number.

    The value of Tablet PC offered by BuckSaver and featured on SlamBuy is $75-$85. Just search for it.

    BuckSaver was created purely for deal sites and they put $299 price for the tablet initially, but then decided to put $349 to make discount on SlamBuy look more impressive.

    People expect to receive a reliable Tablet of a great quality and characteristics with $349 market value, not $75.

11. I agree that this isn’t a great deal, and I’ve chosen not to partake in it. But it isn’t a scam, by any definition of the word (at least not solely based on the quoted value – there could be other issues with the product or offer I don’t know about).

    I’ll repeat: it’s standard practice in many industries to quote a “value” that’s inflated. While perhaps this isn’t ideal, it’s something that all consumers should be used to dealing with.

    It sure would be nice if retailers provided a comparison shopping service for all their products, and quoted the “value” as being the lowest price available even if that price were lower than their own, but that ain’t the way things work. I don’t expect this to change in my lifetime.

    The onus of comparison shopping falls on the consumer. If you find one retailer selling the same product for a lower price, then great. Buy it from them. But don’t expect all the other retailers to tell you to go elsewhere for a lower price.

    For countless examples, visit any online comparison shopping site. For example:

    http://www.canadapost.ca/shopper/items/3271924/TomTom-XXL550M-Auto-GPS-1EP001902

    In this case, Tigerdirect sells the GPS for the lowest price: $99. The next lowest price is from Amazon: $138. Do you really expect Amazon and all other retailers to scour the web for the lowest price and quote a value of $99? Do you even expect Tigerdirect to quote a value of $138? All the retailers here quote a value greater than the lowest and second lowest prices, and the values differ from each other.

    I’m reminded of Progressive Insurance’s service where they show their auto insurance quote side by side with a comparison of offers from other companies. So the utopia does exist in one case, but this is hardly the norm – it’s the exception. And even here, I wouldn’t fully trust it and would still go to a third-party comparison service to double-check.

    Buyer beware, indeed. It’s up to consumers to do their due diligence and check that they’re getting a good deal. If a consumer doesn’t do this and gets ripped off based on price alone, then it’s their own fault, not the retailer’s. This is especially true in online shopping, where it’s so effortless to compare other offers.

    If you still want to call this kind of behaviour a scam, there’s not much more I can add. But keep in mind that you’re also calling almost any offer online or in bricks and mortar stores a scam.

12. @J: Consumers usually trust promotions and advertisements on deal sites because false/deceptive advertisement is illegal. Violating this is indeed a scam.

    “Value” of the product is the price for which it is usually being sold on the market.

    If nobody buys pants mentioned in your post for $100, but only buy them for $40 or $50 at Walmart, Sears and all other places, so Walmart and Sears are both pulling a scam because they artificially inflate the value of the product. If the same pants are successfully sold for $100 at all other places, so Walmart and Sears are doing a good job by offering a good discount.

    This case is much worse… It’s like most retailers sell pants for $85. Some of them sell pants for $75 with a marked value of $85, but “CoolMart” (who people trust) sells the same pants for $120 with a marked value of $350. Isn’t it a scam?

    People believe that offered Tablets are great and reliable which really cost $350. But in fact they may only receive cheap $75 tablet for $120 in several months.

    Thanks,
    Trueler

13. @Felix: It is very unfair way to conduct business, and customers should avoid merchants and deal sites who rip-off people.

14. I’m not endorsing this deal or the quality of the tablet, but it’s a stretch to call this a scam. “Value” is always used somewhat loosely in any industry. If Sears sells a pair pants for $50 with a marked value of $100 and Walmart sells the same pair of pants for $40 with a marked value of $100, is Sears pulling a scam by not quoting the value as $40? I would say no, they’re simply selling a product at a higher price. No rule against that, the consumer is free to buy the product from anywhere.

15. All of these deal sites seem to over estimate the value of the products, but what retailers doesnt? Still looks like a better deal than the Dealfind tablet

16. Thanks Jenna. It’s true. Android Tablet offered by another retailer is even better than the one on BuckSaver, but much cheaper.

17. @Roger: Buying a Tablet PC of questionable quality with a market value of $75 for $120 from a merchant who claims it to be $350 is a good deal? Why?

    Thanks,
    Trueler

18. I’ve done my research on a lot of these tablets and no two tablets are the same if you look into the fine print of each. People who are buying any products online should look into all the info pertaining to each because no two products are the same . That 73″ android tablet does not have the same specs as the one on bucksaver.

19. Looks like a good deal to me. Far from a scam.