You can buy an Apple iPad mini 4 on amazon for a lot cheaper than what Apple sells them for. Are they safe to buy? How do they get them so cheap?

No. None of those are authorized Apple resellers. So by definition the iPads cannot be new. They are lying. When something is too good to be true it is time to be suspicious. What do you have to lose? Well, since they are not authorized resellers, they must have bought the iPads from an authorized reseller. Which means the warranty started the date the dealer bought them for resale. So they may be "new" in the sense they were never used by anyone else, but that doesn't make them New in Apple's eyes. I also tried tracking one of them - they are an importer, so most likely the reason the price is so good is they were bought from a Chinese or other foreign distributor. But Chinese iPads are missing many features that domestic iPads have. The technical term for this is "gray market."

Since Amazon is not an authorized Apple Reseller, then you have no idea where the devices came from, are they actually new, and from what I understand, you are not buying from Amazon, but another seller that is working through Amazon. A check of Amazon just now before I finished responding is they are advertised as Certified Refurbished by Amazon. That is not Apple.

nicgorman wrote:

What if it is fulfilled by amazon? Same thing?

Same as what? It still is not Apple. Who knows who this refurbisher is, and it is up to you if you are interested in saving money, or getting something you know is genuine.

Best Buy in my area (Western, MA) is still selling new iPad Mini 4 128 GBs Wifi models for $299 U.S.D..

$338 doesn't look to unreasonable to me.

I think a lot of Apple resellers are dropping the price of the smaller iPad Mini 4 because, NOW, you can get a full size 9.7 inch 2017, iPad 5 for either $329 U.S.D. for the 32 GBs WiFi models and $429 U.S.D. for the 128 GBs Wifi models.

Fulfilled by Amazon means 'third party person has stuff in our warehouse and we ship it out for them'

vs third party that uses amazon and ships it only using amazon as a store front

So those ipads are physically in an amazon warehouse somewhere.

I personally trust things from Amazon more than i would Ebay but it's 'buyer beware' time. Make your best judgement and do your research. See what the return policy is and read the full description. You can also read hte reviews not just for the item but for the seller too.

Basically you are taking a risk, and the more research you do makes it more of a calculated risk then you make the decision that works best for you

Buying from an apple or authorized reseller is far less risky however it may be more expensive.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

But Chinese iPads are missing many features that domestic iPads have.

Could you provide any reference regarding that. As far as I know all wifi ipads are normally the same regardless of where they are sold.

Feeling lucky? Buy one and let us know.

If Amazon provides return privileges, what's the risk?

As far as I know all wifi ipads are normally the same regardless of where they are sold.

Not true. Certain countries have Facetime disabled in firmware. Some have the ability to silence the camera shutter sound disabled.

As far as I know all wifi ipads are normally the same regardless of where they are sold.

Not true. Certain countries have Facetime disabled in firmware. Some have the ability to silence the camera shutter sound disabled.

Yes, I've heard about Facetime in a few Middle East countries and shutter sound in Japan. But nothing about the "many features" supposedly missing in chinese ipads.

For Apple certified refurbished, see

Refurbished iPad - Apple

I didn't see the word "New" anywhere.

Since it doesn't say new, you will not have a leg to stand when you discover it isn't new.

The only way you can get your money back from amazon is if it say new and you are able to prove it is not.

Online Apple authorized reseller PowerMax has iPad Mini 4 128 GBs Wifi models for $399 here.

https://www.powermax.com/productcategory/new/apple/ipad/ipad-mini-3-4/