A certain web based seller is advertising to sell prospective buyers Oculus Rift Development Kits in bulk. Something’s amiss here, Road to VR investigates.

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Buyer Beware

You know your product has ‘made it’ when scammers begin to target your product for nefarious purposes. It appears that’s precisely the point the Oculus Rift has now reached as at least one organisation is prepared to sell you Development Kits in quantities not less than 50 at a time! The seller in question is using the Alibaba.com website, which gives users a platform to trade globally, to offer buyers Dev Kits at an unlisted price as long as they agree to a quote based on a minimum order of 50 units. What that price is, I’m still waiting to find out – after messaging the seller, one Mr Jones Goodman in the UK – annotated as an ‘Unverified Seller’ by Alibaba an using the company name ‘Ali Mc’.

We contacted Oculus VR for comment on the matter and they assured that they do NOT supply in bulk to anyone and deal only through their buyers portal at the Oculus Website (unless of course you were a Kickstarter backer). This leads us to believe that there is no possble way that Mr Goodman or Ali Mc can supply these goods and that the offer is in fact bogus or the devices being offered as in some way counterfeit. This is current unproven I must stress and should Mr Jones Goodman or Ali Mc provide an suitable explanation that checks out I will update this post accordingly.

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We felt it important to bring this to our readership as a warning against anyone who might possibly be tempted. We’ve not linked directly to the page or the profile and I’m currently awaiting answers as to my above questions and will update the post accordingly.

UPDATE: I received the following back from — make of this what you will. Again, Oculus VR have assured us they do NOT ship in bulk to anyone:

Hello Goodday Mr xxxxxxx,

Thanks for your mail, Its nice to hear from you.

We are genuine wholesales supplies of 100% Original products, we have the Brand New Oculus Rift kit available in stock for Supply.

Wholesale Prices For Brand New Oculus Rift kit With Shipping Cost Inclusive:
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150 Unit Brand New Oculus Rift kit With Shipping Cost Inclusive = US$19500

200 Unit Brand New Oculus Rift kit With Shipping Cost Inclusive = US$25000

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SHIPPING AND DELIVERY TERMS:-
We do same day express shipment immediately after the confirmation of your payment And is done through UPS or DHL or FedEx or EMS or TNT. Depending on your preferred courier company and it takes just within 3-5 days to arrive to you at door step.

After shipment we will send you shipment tracking number immediately after shipment is made, to enable you trace your order any where

ORDER PAYMENT TERMS:-
We accept payment for this order Via Bank Payment or Money Gram

Send us your complete delivery address, your direct contact numbers, your direct contact E-mail so that we can proceed with your order.

Looking forward to your favorable response and a long term business relationship with you.

Best Regards,

Jones Goodman.

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Paul James
Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.
  • Mageoftheyear

    What a steal! Ugh!- I mean deal!
    …
    Oh no wait, I was right the first time.

  • WormSlayer

    Yup smells fishy to me too! XD

  • Guillaume

    Ftw, not saying that’s happening here, but chineese manufacturer are well known to sell “outside” the normal supply line.
    That could be genuine OR made by the mafufacturer who’s trying to get a little extra…

    Few ways to find out : Oculus could initiate an order and compare the bank/account/swift info or whatever they can get which is relevant, or you can try to negociate to get 1 items for a very low price, just pretending you need a quality check before ordering a large batch, or find someone in china who is able to check the product…

    Either way, counterfeit is bad for the customer, and cutting profit from oculus is bad for the customer on long term too… :)