Hi Chris, I too am in your shoes almost exactly. I’m in Canada and looking at the same seller, the blue 100W machine.
I inquired in April and said they would have a machine available in May at the Canada location. Very shortly I received another message saying it was now spoken for and would have to wait until late June For the new ones to arrive in Canada.
I’m not too worried about that business practice, either they ship a few at a time, and with China sea shipping it’s around 30-45 days, the timing makes sense. On the other hand, they may say it’s available but perhaps the reality is they ship only once order is confirmed. Just my thoughts there.
I have done some checking on AliExpress and based on these specs, I agree that this machine appears to have some of the better options Listed with auto level probe, RECI tubes, RuIDa controller, (without foreign language on buttons), a real chiller (5000 model), etc, I’d be happy with those features.
Price wise, the eBay offering and HL website price (Currently around 5k CAD) is steep. However after placing an offer on eBay the seller contacted me outside of eBay (definitely against eBay terms, but I get why, saving on fees)- and said they can give a discount if purchased with PayPal but outside of eBay. Still awaiting a confirmation of their final best price.
Paying with PayPal should still give buyer protection, BUT here’s my concern. The fine print on PayPal says “industrial machinery- for manufacturing-NOT covered.” Now in my case and sounds like yours as well, it’s a hobby machine at best, but I wonder how PayPal sees this?
That said, reading that others here have successfully received their laser from HL, gives me a bit more confidence.
But still feeling cautious.
Anyhow- personally, I like this machines specs, appearance, and also like that the seller will handle all of the importing and shipping to my door. I tried getting estimates on using a importer service (if I went the AliExpress route) and I was getting around $1000 in import and service fees. Add this to the cheaper machines, and this one actually still seems to be a better deal, less headache, etc.
Now, to take that small chance or not?
Good luck
Jason