Milwaukee Impact from Amazon, loose in box with manual - keep or return?

[SouthernIllinois]

Bought a 1/4" impact off Amazon.
It was about $30 cheaper than Home Depot so I took a chance.
Showed up today, loose in an Amazon box in a clear plastic bag with a folded up manual.
Not in any original Milwaukee Tool packaging.

I now wish, I'd just paid the extra and bought if from a real retailer.

The question is should I keep it or return it - it seems to work fine and doesn't look used at all.
My concern is it's counterfeit, a return or a remanufactured tool.

Any of you guys had any similar experience?

 

[FigN⋅m]

Unless it was clearly stated as such, that's bull$h!t sales and packaging.
Your choice to keep it - it's unlikely to give you problems, but you may have
no recourse if you do. The world needs to push back on this type of commerce.

"Cheap is always more expensive."

 

[finn]

If it works, then keep it.

You’re going to throw out the box anyway.

Is a disposable box worth $30 to you?

I used to buy battery tools from CPO. They always, to my recollection, came in a bag like that, along with the manual.

Never had a problem with the tools.

 

[SouthernIllinois]

It was advertised as a new Milwaukee driver.

Returning it is a PIA where I live and a little research seems to indicate people buy the kits, separate all the tools, batteries and charger and then resell them individually on Amazon.

I guess I’ll keep it. It was $77.

I did leave seller feedback and a review on Amazon - we shall see if they publish it.

I guess I got lazy. In the past I have bought Dewalt battery tools from Amazon but they have always come in the original packaging and there was no doubt they were real and unused.

From now on, I’ll buy stuff like this directly from a local retailer.

 

[reader2580]

Milwaukee does not recognize Amazon as an authorized reseller so you may not get a lot of retail packaged tools there.

 

[tarbellb]

Gotta be careful out there in the jungle bud

Amazon has millions of 3rd party sellers now, its more of a gamble then Ebay in some cases


You need to check who the actual seller is, if its Sold by Amazon, Shipped by Amazon its still usually a safe bet


* just cancelled my 13yr Prime account. Amazon is terrible now and not worth the extra money, why do you think they have pushed so hard into other services like streaming. Online retail has finally caught up to them.

 

[haveissues]

Gotta be careful out there in the jungle bud

Amazon has millions of 3rd party sellers now, its more of a gamble then Ebay in some cases


You need to check who the actual seller is, if its Sold by Amazon, Shipped by Amazon its still usually a safe bet


* just cancelled my 13yr Prime account. Amazon is terrible now and not worth the extra money, why do you think they have pushed so hard into other services like streaming. Online retail has finally caught up to them.

The problem is even if it is sold by amazon they bin things that are the same item form different sellers. Amazon is probably not selling fakes but third party sellers might mix in their stock in with amazons and who knows what you will get. I stopped buying anything expensive from amazon after a couple of recent hassles returning defective items.

 

[Beerhippie]

There are several videos on YT about distinguishing counterfeits from real Milwaukee tools. Apparently, it's become a real problem.

 

[finn]

Gotta be careful out there in the jungle bud

Amazon has millions of 3rd party sellers now, its more of a gamble then Ebay in some cases


You need to check who the actual seller is, if its Sold by Amazon, Shipped by Amazon its still usually a safe bet


* just cancelled my 13yr Prime account. Amazon is terrible now and not worth the extra money, why do you think they have pushed so hard into other services like streaming. Online retail has finally caught up to them.

Often, I’m finding that goods are actually cheaper at Menards or Ace, for example, than Amazon.

That wasn’t always the case.

On the other hand, I went to Lowe’s, Walmart, and HD the other day looking for a bulb for a Maglite. Nobody had one, although most, if not all, could deliver one via their e-commerce system.

Ace had them, but it was cheaper to order from Amazon, and I was done with shopping and crowds for the day.

Wasted two hours on that quest, but at least it got me out of the house.

 

[PCustoms]

Link to the listing for what you bought?

 

[dnschmidt]

Gotta be careful out there in the jungle bud

Amazon has millions of 3rd party sellers now, its more of a gamble then Ebay in some cases


You need to check who the actual seller is, if its Sold by Amazon, Shipped by Amazon its still usually a safe bet


* just cancelled my 13yr Prime account. Amazon is terrible now and not worth the extra money, why do you think they have pushed so hard into other services like streaming. Online retail has finally caught up to them.

I'll give up Prime when they pry my cold dead fingers off of my mouse. The free shipping is worth the cost of Prime especially considering the amount of **** I buy from Amazon. You can't get anything from anybody for less than $10 shipping. Bezos has you by the balls and that's life in the big city. You think firing his rocket into space is cheap?

 

[dnschmidt]

It's almost certainly what a previous poster stated. They buy these fifty tool sets and then piece them out. Especially for something as common as an impact driver which is included in every set Home Depot sells. If it were something weird like a 1/4" impact wrench that would be more suspicious but impact drivers are as common as dirt.

 

[tarbellb]

I'll give up Prime when they pry my cold dead fingers off of my mouse. The free shipping is worth the cost of Prime especially considering the amount of **** I buy from Amazon. You can't get anything from anybody for less than $10 shipping. Bezos has you by the balls and that's life in the big city. You think firing his rocket into space is cheap?

Amazon ships for free over $35 which is easy to do (they still get my money )

Sifting through all the bottom barrel junk they sell now to find what im actually looking for, not as easy
And I can pass on all the other so called benefits

 

[PCustoms]

Seems like 90% of the time when someone complains about tools from Amazon they really bought (and shipped) something from stevesscammytooldepot

 

[Ohio Andy]

Very cautious about "used like new'

Least month I received some vessel screwdrivers where someone had removed all the vessel screwdrivers and inserted Pittsburgh screwdrivers of the same rough size and color.

This month I ordered 15 sheets of Norton sandpaper for use with a 9-in sanding pad and it arrived with one sheet. And that one sheet was packaged in Amazon return plastic bag inside the box. That should have had the 15 sheets.


Thankfully their return policy is pretty good, but, I'm becoming Leary of used like noon. I just have good luck with that

 

[PCustoms]

Very cautious about "used like new'

Least month I received some vessel screwdrivers where someone had removed all the vessel screwdrivers and inserted Pittsburgh screwdrivers of the same rough size and color.

This month I ordered 15 sheets of Norton sandpaper for use with a 9-in sanding pad and it arrived with one sheet. And that one sheet was packaged in Amazon return plastic bag inside the box. That should have had the 15 sheets.


Thankfully their return policy is pretty good, but, I'm becoming Leary of used like noon. I just have good luck with that

I got burned once with used like new.

Someone packed a ceiling fan back in the box, with zero of the original packaging. Everything was smashed. Had to argue a bit with Amazon to document the condition before I shipped it back, as I didn't want to get blamed.

I roll the dice on used-like new a lot (due to the return policy) and have come out waay ahead a couple dozen times. Usually the box is a little squished and still sealed.

 

[jayemm]

I'll give up Prime when they pry my cold dead fingers off of my mouse. The free shipping is worth the cost of Prime especially considering the amount of **** I buy from Amazon. You can't get anything from anybody for less than $10 shipping. Bezos has you by the balls and that's life in the big city. You think firing his rocket into space is cheap?

I'm with you there. Since I've had prime(~4 years) my average shipping cost per order has been less than $4.00. Selection is hard to beat and after searching, much of what I want isn't available locally at the B&M's anyway. Plus I get to watch the free movies included with Prime, many of which have been decent (but I also learned that a lot of bad movies were made too). Most gets delivered to my P.O. Box to pick up at my convenience. A few times I waited at home for delivery of big items. Can't beat it from my perspective.

 

[PCustoms]

I'm with you there. Since I've had prime(~4 years) my average shipping cost per order has been less than $4.00.

Why/how are you paying shipping with prime?

 

[Ohio Andy]

Why/how are you paying shipping with prime?

The cost of prime membership divided by the number of orders.

 

[jayemm]

Why/how are you paying shipping with prime?

Sorry if I wasn't clear. That's what the average shipping cost WOULD BE be per order calculated by dividing the cost of Prime by the number of orders. I remember doing 50 orders the first year and over 30 orders per year the last two years. This year about 27-28 so far going from memory and more to come. We both know we're still paying for shipping , it's just rolled into the subscription cost. Hope that explains it better.

 

[SouthernIllinois]

Link to the listing for what you bought?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BPD1C7S2?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[acer66]

I'll give up Prime when they pry my cold dead fingers off of my mouse. The free shipping is worth the cost of Prime especially considering the amount of **** I buy from Amazon. You can't get anything from anybody for less than $10 shipping. Bezos has you by the balls and that's life in the big city. You think firing his rocket into space is cheap?

He might have you by the balls but mine are free as a bird.
Even they might fly a tad too low these days.
Maybe letting someone have you by the balls is not a bad thing after all.

I still have to wrap my head around about the whole free shipping, movie etc when you have to pay for it.

 

[Ohio Andy]

He might have you by the balls but mine are free as a bird.
Even they might fly a tad too low these days.
Maybe letting someone have you by the balls is not a bad thing after all.

I still have to wrap my head around about the whole free shipping, movie etc when you have to pay for it.

On average Amazon makes money on the fee. People who order often save money.

 

[acer66]

On average Amazon makes money on the fee. People who order often save money.

Yeah, still not free in my book.

Going over $35 gives you free shipping.

But even that is not free because for it to be truly free it can't be factored in the price of the product at any point and needs to be paid out of Bezos own pockets.
But that would cut into his rocket money so he ain’t going to do that.

 

[jayemm]

Yeah, still not free in my book.

Going over $35 gives you free shipping.

But even that is not free because for it to be truly free it can't be factored in the price of the product at any point and needs to be paid out of Bezos own pockets.
But that would cut into his rocket money so he ain’t going to do that.

Of course it's not free if we pay for Prime membership and I don't consider it as such. I like that I don't have to wait until hitting $35 when it's a lesser cost item. That $9 item might have cost $6 shipping and there's no way of knowing how many sub $35 orders I'll have throughout the year. I'm not a business that continually orders supplies. And I'm not going to rack my brain trying to throw something else in just to hit that $35 mark. It's nice to just place the order and get on with things. Convenience and easy returns are the 2 big points I guess.

 

[Ohio Andy]

Of course it's not free if we pay for Prime membership and I don't consider it as such. I like that I don't have to wait until hitting $35 when it's a lesser cost item. That $9 item might have cost $6 shipping and there's no way of knowing how many sub $35 orders I'll have throughout the year. I'm not a business that continually orders supplies. And I'm not going to rack my brain trying to throw something else in just to hit that $35 mark. It's nice to just place the order and get on with things. Convenience and easy returns are the 2 big points I guess.

But wait, there's more! With your prime subscription. You get all these other things.....

And I have no idea what they all are. I just know that there are, for example, you can do certain free movie rentals.

But beware when you purchase digital content that they host for you, sometimes that digital content just simply goes away. I bought some books that I no longer have access to (kindle). I know that has happened with movies as well, but I don't remember offhand if it was Amazon prime that did it. There are some other digital provider.

 

[PCustoms]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BPD1C7S2?tag=atomicindus08-20

As I suspected, you don't buy that "from" Amazon. You bought it from ShowTimeTools "on" Amazon

 

[SouthernIllinois]

As I suspected, you don't buy that "from" Amazon. You bought it from ShowTimeTools "on" Amazon

I guess I misspoke - I did know it came from a third party. I don't know why that link says ShowTime Tools. Mine came from an outfit named "ODDFELLOWS" out of Ft Lauderdale, FL

 

[PCustoms]

I guess I misspoke - I did know it came from a third party. I don't know why that link says ShowTime Tools. Mine came from an outfit named "ODDFELLOWS" out of Ft Lauderdale, FL

Probably whomever has current stock.

3rd party fulfilled by Amazon is usually OK, but I'm always very skeptical of sold and shipped from 3rd party.

 

[username2]

You know, I'd always feel uneasy about the thing and probably send it back if possible. I've got no good reason to think this.

re: Amazon Prime. Is there any good reason to have it anymore besides not having to bunch up order to avoid shipping? I don't use any of the streaming services. My Kindle is offline 100% of the time. Is there something I'm missing besides the minimum order size? It would be a quick way to save $150 (or whatever it is) every year.

 

[Bryanthegreat]

I wouldn’t worry about it too much at that price point. My guess would be someone is parting out larger kits.

 

[AJHD]

There are several videos on YT about distinguishing counterfeits from real Milwaukee tools. Apparently, it's become a real problem.

Not just Milwaukee. I guess there is a difference between fake and counterfeit too.

 

[zendriver]

He might have you by the balls but mine are free as a bird.
Even they might fly a tad too low these days.
Maybe letting someone have you by the balls is not a bad thing after all.

I still have to wrap my head around about the whole free shipping, movie etc when you have to pay for it.

Thanks for sharing precious info about your gentials.

Not too hard to understand. With prime membership one does not pay for shipping and there is no monthly charge for much of their online streaming content.

If someone does not buy on Amazon much or use streaming service, membership probably not a good buy at all.

Otherwise the membership can easily pay for itself over a year.

After that, it is truly "free"

 

[finn]

Thanks for sharing precious info about your gentials.

Not too hard to understand. With prime membership one does not pay for shipping and there is no monthly charge for much of their online streaming content.

If someone does not buy on Amazon much or use streaming service, membership probably not a good buy at all.

Otherwise the membership can easily pay for itself over a year.

After that, it is truly "free"

The other thing to consider: While Amazon Prime isn’t free, per se, it gives you access to significant shipping discounts not many can match.

I just shipped a car cover from Tucson to Chicago. (Forgot to throw it in the Cherokee when we sent the car to my granddaughter). Shipping was $60 without a discount. The cover was $120, shipped to my door, from Amazon two years ago.

Yesterday I drove up to Casa Grande to pick up some Craftsman V series tools the local Lowe’s stores didn’t have. From memory, shipping would have been in the neighborhood of $60. Had a nice lunch up there with my wife, otherwise the trip wouldn’t have been worth it. Shipping from anywhere isn’t free, but Prime shipping is still one of the best deals around.

Im a believer in Prime, although I acknowledge that I probably don’t have the discipline to not order things I could like do without.

 

[Ohio Andy]

The other thing to consider: While Amazon Prime isn’t free, per se, it gives you access to significant shipping discounts not many can match.

I just shipped a car cover from Tucson to Chicago. (Forgot to throw it in the Cherokee when we sent the car to my granddaughter). Shipping was $60 without a discount. The cover was $120, shipped to my door, from Amazon two years ago.

Yesterday I drove up to Casa Grande to pick up some Craftsman V series tools the local Lowe’s stores didn’t have. From memory, shipping would have been in the neighborhood of $60. Had a nice lunch up there with my wife, otherwise the trip wouldn’t have been worth it. Shipping from anywhere isn’t free, but Prime shipping is still one of the best deals around.

Im a believer in Prime, although I acknowledge that I probably don’t have the discipline to not order things I could like do without.

Lowes let you off easy, they wanted to charge me $75 for three pieces. The order total was $79 before shipping. I was stumped

 

[acer66]

Thanks for sharing precious info about your gentials.

Not too hard to understand. With prime membership one does not pay for shipping and there is no monthly charge for much of their online streaming content.

If someone does not buy on Amazon much or use streaming service, membership probably not a good buy at all.

Otherwise the membership can easily pay for itself over a year.

After that, it is truly "free"

You are welcome.

On the whole on how I pay for prime to get free shipping even it includes streaming and what not equals free shipping is beyond my mental capacity.

So I bow out of this and pay my respect like Jake Paul after the “fight” and hope that we can agree to disagree mate.

 

[finn]

Lowes let you off easy, they wanted to charge me $75 for three pieces. The order total was $79 before shipping. I was stumped

My charge might have been the same. I choose to forget…

I was surprised, since I recall ordering things from the Orange guys and getting free shipping to my house.

Mox nix. Found a great Mexican restaurant Up the street from Lowe’s. Owner has been there since 1984, and it was packed at 11:45.

Got 48 mpg in the Maverick hybrid, so the 60 miles each way didn’t hurt much, plus gas there was thirty cents less than in Tucson.

 

[Ohio Andy]

My charge might have been the same. I choose to forget…

I was surprised, since I recall ordering things from the Orange guys and getting free shipping to my house.

Mox nix. Found a great Mexican restaurant Up the street from Lowe’s. Owner has been there since 1984, and it was packed at 11:45.

Got 48 mpg in the Maverick hybrid, so the 60 miles each way didn’t hurt much, plus gas there was thirty cents less than in Tucson.

A few Margaritas and not much matters

 

[username2]

My charge might have been the same. I choose to forget…

I was surprised, since I recall ordering things from the Orange guys and getting free shipping to my house.

Mox nix. Found a great Mexican restaurant Up the street from Lowe’s. Owner has been there since 1984, and it was packed at 11:45.

Got 48 mpg in the Maverick hybrid, so the 60 miles each way didn’t hurt much, plus gas there was thirty cents less than in Tucson.

Seems odd to go to Casa Grande (or Kasa Grand) for Mexican food, but then the last time I was there, there wasn't much there there.

 

[IndyGarage]

Personally I think it's better without the box. I don't have more stuff to carry to the trash can. If it's a real Milwaukee and it works, no problem.