12-qt box (plastic bag in box) of Mobil1 full synth off ebay. Fraud concerns?

[puellarum]

I recently bought this off ebay:

Mobil 1 Advanced Full Synthetic Motor Oil 5W-30 12 Qt Box Auto & Tires Motor | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Mobil 1 Advanced Full Synthetic Motor Oil 5W-30 12 Qt Box Auto & Tires Motor at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I have read commentary that sometimes counterfeit oil is sold in various parts of the world (including the US, obvisously). This particular seller appears to have lots of containers of various types of brand name oil. no idea how they would procure these items. But it looks like this is sort of their business. I did notice several sellers of brand-name oil from Vietnam And Africa. That doesn't automatically mean it's counterfeit, but still. How can it make sense to ship 15 quarts of oil from Africa to the United States?

The box I received looks legitimate. It has shipping stickers and such on it. Box was sealed. I'm convinced it is legitimate.

Counterfeiting this item would require either getting bags of cheaper oil and sticking them in the Mobil1 box, or refilling existing Mobil1 bags with cheaper oil, then sealing it back up in a box and shipping it. It would be a lot of trouble for not much profit. The prices they are asking are close enough to basic Walmart prices. Which of course begs the question, if they are within a few dollars of Walmart, I'll probably just go ahead and buy it at Walmart next time. Walmart ships to my house anyway.

Any experience or commentary on buying brand name oil off eBay?

 

[fantastic]

I recently bought this off ebay:

Mobil 1 Advanced Full Synthetic Motor Oil 5W-30 12 Qt Box Auto & Tires Motor | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Mobil 1 Advanced Full Synthetic Motor Oil 5W-30 12 Qt Box Auto & Tires Motor at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I have read commentary that sometimes counterfeit oil is sold in various parts of the world (including the US, obvisously). This particular seller appears to have lots of containers of various types of brand name oil. no idea how they would procure these items. But it looks like this is sort of their business. I did notice several sellers Of brand name oil. from Vietnam And Africa. That doesn't automatically mean it's counterfeit, but still. How can it make sense to ship 15 quarts of oil from Africa to the United States?

The box I received looks legitimate. It has shipping stickers and such on it. Box was sealed. I'm convinced it is legitimate.

Counterfeiting this item would require either getting bags of cheaper oil and sticking them in theMobil1 box, or refilling existing Mobil1 bags with cheaper oil, then sealing it back up in a box and shipping it. It would be a lot of trouble for not much profit. The prices they are asking are close enough to basic Walmart prices. Which of course begs the question, if they are within a few dollars of Walmart, I'll probably just go ahead and buy it at Walmart next time. Walmart ships to my house anyway.

Any experience or commentary on buying brand name oil off eBay?

The seller appears to have been selling quite a few items for a while now with almost 3,000 feedback. I'd say you're in good shape w/the oil.

 

[Wingo]

I shared the same concerns. But in my opinion replicating the packaging and just putting in a cheaper oil, coupled with shipping cost, really doesn't leave much room for profit. In my mind a fair bit of the products like this sold on eBay are genuine, but also a good chance it has been stolen.

 

[TheOilWizard]

I shared the same concerns. But in my opinion replicating the packaging and just putting in a cheaper oil, coupled with shipping cost, really doesn't leave much room for profit. In my mind a fair bit of the products like this sold on eBay are genuine, but also a good chance it has been stolen.

I watched a short YouTube documentary about counterfeit engine oil so it's definitely a thing. It was so bad in some regions the oil companies were even putting special markings and QR codes as a way to verify authenticity. I think it's more applicable in other countries where name brand oil is a lot more expensive. Here in the US, I think you're right, doesn't seem to be very profitable.

 

[Bighorn2500]

I’ll spend the extra $6 and get mine from Wally World, rather than risk my luck again. Tried it once before off eBay and the guy was reluctant to ship after ten days I had to involve eBay to get my money back. Lesson learned.

 

[walterjay]

I recently got screwed on eBay. Never again.

 

[2heeldrive]

ebay is a counterfeiter's paradise.

I got burned on some fake Makita batteries recently.

I don't trust anything on there anymore.

 

[WeyounDS9]

I had good luck with ebay.
When it comes to shipping in the global postal system, First World countries subsidize shipping from 3rd world counries to 1st world countries.
This is the sole reason why "free shipping" from China (to make but one example) can exist as its sitll listed for postal purposes as a developing country.

 

[celicaxx]

My kinda logical guess would be less that they're shipping counterfeit oil from all the way overseas, but if a seller is overseas based they're simply drop shipping and content to make a few dollars on the transaction. In that depending on where you are overseas, the wages from a min wage job might be $100-300 a month, so even if your ebay business only makes $200-300 a month, you're ahead of the game without much effort.

It's also why recently you see so many Youtube channels monetizing say, Vietnamese construction workers and filming their jobs, or farmers, or whatever. Even if they don't make a million subscribers (and a lot do) it's not hard for them to make $200-300 a month from just 10-15K subs, let's say.

 

[fisher83]

Retail arbitrage and drop shipping are not uncommon on eBay so there are tons of sellers on there making really small margins just buying products and having them shipped to you directly without them even handling the products. The items can ship from anywhere really. While anything can be counterfeited, certain categories like electronics or luxury clothing items are much more at risk for that than something like motor oil is.

 

[puellarum]

Thank you for the intelligent comments. I agree with you all. I bought counterfeit razors one time that ripped a good chunk out of my face. This box of Mobil1, I looked at it carefully and it is factory sealed. It is authentic. But like someone said above, if I can get the same thing for $5-6 more at my local Walmart then what's the point really...

That said, I do like the 12 quart box. I have a couple of extra five quart jugs, can fill them up from the box etc to pour into the crankcase. But these 15qt boxes look to be mostly available on eBay and not on Amazon or Walmart...

 

[TheOilWizard]

Retail arbitrage and drop shipping are not uncommon on eBay so there are tons of sellers on there making really small margins just buying products and having them shipped to you directly without them even handling the products. The items can ship from anywhere really. While anything can be counterfeited, certain categories like electronics or luxury clothing items are much more at risk for that than something like motor oil is.

As another poster pointed out, counterfeit batteries for power tools are rampant on eBay. In fact, the counterfeits are so prevalent and so convincing that many people don't know until they attempt to get an RMA from the manufacture and the serial is invalid. They tend to be toward name brands like Makita, Milwaukee, and Dewalt, but that may not always be the case.

Probably the best way to help minimize the chances of getting scammed on eBay is to play close attention to the sellers profile. Particularly, if the seller's account is relatively new (1-2 years old), I would be very cautious compared to an older and more established account. Many of the scammers on eBay eventually get caught and have their accounts closed, but it appears to be a process that takes time.

 

[scotty.honda.dog]

I recently bought (on Ebay) a 3x5 qt box of M1 EP 0w20 for a price about $15 cheaper than Walmart. Bought for entertainment to see where it came from what I got. Box came from a Walmart distribution center in a neighboring state. Box and jugs are identical to all my Walmart store purchased M1 EP.

I was going to decifer the date codes on the jugs but I couldnt find a key for the current date coding system.

 

[puellarum]

I recently bought (on Ebay) a 3x5 qt box of M1 EP 0w20 for a price about $15 cheaper than Walmart. Bought for entertainment to see where it came from what I got. Box came from a Walmart distribution center in a neighboring state. Box and jugs are identical to all my Walmart store purchased M1 EP.

I was going to decifer the date codes on the jugs but I couldnt find a key for the current date coding systeso it's authentic . . Possibly several years old, maybe?

So it's authentic . .maybe several years old, like gathered dust at a wal mart distribution center and someone bought a truckload of them, maybe?

 

[Rand]

probably clearance at walmart.. IIRC last year they were under $30-$40

or bought with stolen CC.

 

[scotty.honda.dog]

So it's authentic . .maybe several years old, like gathered dust at a wal mart distribution center and someone bought a truckload of them, maybe?

No, they were shipped by Walmart.com from a Walmart distribution center with the same Walmart shipping labels I get when I order from them. No evidence of anyone other than Walmart handling it. Drop shipping if you are familiar with that term. The bottles were Triple Action label which is the current labels which has been around for just last 2 years maybe.

I think it is might be someone using some sort of business/volume discount deal to basically resell Walmarts stock at a small loss (or small profit) to build up sales volume on Ebay.

 

[scotty.honda.dog]

probably clearance at walmart.. IIRC last year they were under $30-$40

or bought with stolen CC.

This was 3 x 5 quart jugs for $75 shipped. In store and online they are $29.97 each now and I have seen them $27.

Seller is listed in China and has 11,000 items sold with 300 items listed now - they list some M1 Euro 0w40 for $75, M1 EP 0w20 is up to $83.

I hear ya on the stolen CC thing but if they have done that for 11k items sold, dunno. Maybe be some US / China currency hedge/exchange thing.

Looks like real new oil that I got.

 

[nicholas]

I’ll spend the extra $6 and get mine from Wally World, rather than risk my luck again. Tried it once before off eBay and the guy was reluctant to ship after ten days I had to involve eBay to get my money back. Lesson learned.

Yup.....
Me too.
Ebay and Amazon do nothing to stop this issue.
Almost encouraging it.

Might seem like little profit to you.
But in other countries that don't use usd it can be A Huge profit for them.

 

[Rand]

This was 3 x 5 quart jugs for $75 shipped. In store and online they are $29.97 each now and I have seen them $27.

Seller is listed in China and has 11,000 items sold with 300 items listed now - they list some M1 Euro 0w40 for $75, M1 EP 0w20 is up to $83.

I hear ya on the stolen CC thing but if they have done that for 11k items sold, dunno. Maybe be some US / China currency hedge/exchange thing.

I was responding to the OP not you.

 

[puellarum]

To me, if it is authentic, that's all I care about. So even if it is only like $2 cheaper than wal mart then I am good with eBay shipping it to my door. And I like the 12-qt box (already have enough 5-qt jugs).

Also found a decent deal for a box of 6 qt bottles (Mobil1 full syn for $35.91 to my door, tax included) thru Sam's Club (which is a great company/service!).