Solar Panels from eBay

[philpaine]

Hi

I am researching an article for my blog on buying solar panels cheaply. So far I have the following info:

Retail costs range from $5 - $7.30 per watt, with a few notable exceptions such as the very good deals available on Amazon ($3 per watt). Add shipping costs.

Wholesalers work out at $1.85 - $4.76 per watt, plus shipping. Minimum order quantity can be as low as 2 panels and they will deliver directly to your house. However, just because they are wholesale does not always mean they are bargains.

eBay costs range from $1.88 - $4+ per watt, shipping is sometimes included. Some are UL certified and have 25yr warranties. (The $1.88 per watt is for a 117watt panel with a buy it now price of $220, UL cert, free shipping, US supplier). I personally would be very very wary of buying from Asia or China directly as they tend to have very poor warranties and expect you to pay shipping costs on any returns.

Anyway - has anyone any good or bad experiences of buying solar panels from eBay or wholesale? Please can you post details.

Thanks

Phil

[philpaine]

Still waiting to hear from anybody who has bought SPs from eBay or wholesale.

Thanks

Phil

[Aussie Bob]

I've bought panels off ebay, off an established retailer. I've had no problems with them. They were 80w BP panels and bought them off www.todae.com.au through their ebay store. The pricing on their ebay store was less than on their website's store.

[Aussie Bob]

I previously purchased solar panels from eBay. I was quite surprised actually because they were not good quality. I've found that I can actually design my own quality solar panels at home for a fraction of the cost.

Good luck trying to grid connect home made solar panels. Watch for fires too. Home made solar panels are ok for little solar projects, but you can't grid connect them for serious use.

I've bought 6 solar panels off ebay and they're all excellent quality BP panels.

[philpaine]

Good luck trying to grid connect home made solar panels. Watch for fires too. Home made solar panels are ok for little solar projects, but you can't grid connect them for serious use.

I've bought 6 solar panels off ebay and they're all excellent quality BP panels.

Thanks for the feedback on eBay sourced solar panels. eBay definitely looks the cheapest place as long as you are not in a hurry. It can take a couple of weeks of patiently monitoring eBay activity before you come across a good bargain.

I was very pleasantly surprised to come across some solar panels with UL cert going for under $1.90 per watt on eBay and that included free delivery within the USA (great for my American cousins not so great for the UK!).

I put details of some of the eBay auction prices on my website.

Kind regards

Phil

[John_in_NC]

I got a little 10 watt multicrystalline panel to play around with.
Very nice and cheap.

[rootytootie]

I have bought my hole solar panel array off of ebay and have had not complaints yet. I bought 6 80 watts panels and have had them running for 3 months now. Got great rates on all of them. I had 1 problem with a solar panel seller. They shipped me the wrong panel 2 times.haha. But they paid for all shipping costs and returned my money in the end, so I had no worry about that.

[Drew@solarmaxaz]

I would watch out on panels off of ebay... just my 2 cents..