Buyer Beware: Why You May Not Want To Buy Harbor Freight Off Facebook Marketplace

Most DIYers know that there are several ways to save money at Harbor Freight. The discount hardware retailer offers all kinds of ways to get discounts, whether it's coupons, member-exclusive deals, or instant savings opportunities. Harbor Freight is not shy about discussing its business model, either, which involves buying tools directly from manufacturers and eliminating the middleman while also offering lesser-known brand names that are cheaper than more popular, well-known brands. Harbor Freight focuses on delivering its own proprietary brand-name tools at a bargain in its stores and online.

If the day-to-day savings you get at Harbor Freight aren't enough for you, though, you might be tempted to shop around for its proprietary branded tools in other places, hoping to save. However, Harbor Freight owns several brands of tools and its the only retailer that sells them, meaning you won't find the same brands in other hardware stores.

That's why some people may be tempted to turn to third-party sellers to save extra on Harbor Freight products. You may have heard of people taking advantage of Harbor Freight sales, purchasing large quantities of products, and then reselling them on places like Facebook Marketplace or eBay. Reddit and various forums have hundreds of posts discussing whether these resellers — who many Reddit users call "scalpers" — are "cheating" the system or are taking advantage of people by selling products at inflated prices. Should you be wary of buying Harbor Freight tools from these third-party sites? As with any third-party seller, you always have to look out for counterfeits, damaged products, incorrect product information, and unfair return policies.

Reddit has several threads dedicated to discussing the ethics of people selling Harbor Freight tools on Facebook Marketplace, and many of the posts treat the resellers with disdain. When some Harbor Freight stores have limited quantities of popular items, such as Harbor Freight's mini toolboxes, sellers on Facebook Marketplace may begin selling them for a higher price than what the store would offer, taking advantage of shoppers who didn't have the opportunity to snag one in store. One Reddit thread showed a screenshot of a Marketplace seller offering the mini toolboxes for prices of $40 and higher (along with $10-plus shipping), while Harbor Freight normally sells these boxes for $19.

Additionally, some Reddit users say the Facebook Marketplace sellers might take advantage of Harbor Freight's Inside Track Club membership. Club members receive access to member-only deals and early access to sales. The resellers might join the club and buy large quantities of products at a major discount. They then attempt to sell them at a profit. Because these sale items may have limited stock available for purchase, one reseller buying out the remaining stock leaves other club members unable to buy the items. Making this technique even more frustrating is the fact that Harbor Freight recently stopped offering "rain checks" that allow people to purchase sale items at the discounted price once they're back in stock.

Another area of frustration for Reddit users, if the scalpers cannot find a buyer at the inflated price, they often return the product to Harbor Freight, meaning they aren't risking any money. The retailer allows you to return most items within 90 days of purchase.

If you're buying Harbor Freight tools on Facebook Marketplace, Reddit users say you should be wary. Scammers using Facebook Marketplace to sell items may misrepresent the tools in the product description, potentially making you believe you're getting a new item when it's actually used. They might steal actual photos from the Harbor Freight website. However, the product they're selling looks nothing like the item in the photograph. For example, because Harbor Freight frequently sells tools and other products "as-is" with an orange tag, a scammer could purchase one of these as-is items at a major discount and try to portray it as new on Facebook Marketplace. The orange tag products are often returned from customers and might be missing parts. Additionally, products bought on Facebook Marketplace won't have the same warranty options that you receive when purchasing items directly from the store.

Essentially, people shopping for Harbor Freight tools using Facebook Marketplace have to watch for the same dangerous situations that occur when using Facebook Marketplace as a furniture shopping site. Scammers might try to force you to make advanced payments (and then not deliver the products) or try to sell counterfeit, broken, or stolen products as new items. If a price seems too good to be true on Marketplace, it's probably a fake item or a scam.