The prices of excavators
When I work in sales, I often receive inquiries about scams involving used excavators.
And in almost all of these cases, there is one common feature: the price is unrealistically low.
A normal machine always has a normal price.
If your budget is extremely low—especially less than half of the normal market price—then the chance of running into a scam is much higher.
Because your demand itself is not normal.
And when the goal is not normal, the people you meet usually don’t have honest intentions either.
Think about it—how can someone sell a machine at half the normal price?
Other than delivering a machine that does not match what was promised, what else can they do?
At that price level, it’s almost the same as selling the machine for scrap metal.
To achieve such low prices, sellers usually use one of the following methods:
- They refurbish a machine from decades ago and make it look “almost new.”
As long as it looks okay on the outside and can barely work, that’s enough. - They buy an empty excavator frame and stuff it with parts from unknown sources.
As long as it can start and make some basic movements, they consider it acceptable.
These machines are never properly optimized or rebuilt. - The videos look perfect, but before shipping, they replace brand-new tracks with used ones, remove connectors, or swap parts.
All of this can be done within one or two hours. - After receiving the deposit, they simply disappear.
There may be other tricks as well.
So if your budget itself is unreasonable, a legitimate seller refusing to sell to you is actually the right thing.
If a seller agrees to all your unrealistic demands, then a scam is probably about to happen.
To help avoid this situation, I created a used excavator price reference PDF based on models available in the Chinese market.
Before buying a machine, you can check it first.
The document includes more than 1,000 models, which should cover most needs.
On Alibaba, sellers often list abnormal prices just to attract inquiries.
So Alibaba prices should not be used as a real reference.
Of course, if you don’t care about the machine itself and only want the cheapest option,
or if you’re buying on behalf of a company and are only interested in commissions or kickbacks,
you can simply tell the seller your real intention. Just say it directly—it’s fine.
Chinese law does not have jurisdiction over you, and honestly, this kind of behavior is quite common in China.
The price list is available at www.panyh.com
and can be downloaded directly.
Instructions are included in the document.
I hope this helps you.
I'm Mike Phua.