The Galaxy S3 Mini has been a much awaited phone across the world, coming hot on the heels of the success of its elder sibling the Samsung Galaxy S3. However, availability has been spotty to start with, with stocks getting delayed in Europe, and no word yet of availability in some of the major Asian markets, chief of them being India.

Although not available officially in India yet, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini has been listed on eBay’s Indian page for a selling price of INR 26,999 ($490). The price does look a bit too steep, considering the LG Nexus 4 8GB is also listed on the same page at a price of INR 25990 ($471)! Beat that!

While consumer interest and youth craze to get the latest device before anyone else can is understandable, we would advise caution on account of the following reasons:-

Warranty Support – The listing only offers a seller warranty, which only covers software related issues, and no hardware support. This could be a serious problem if  something were to go wrong with your device. The device is likely to have been imported by the seller, which means that even if Samsung India were to officially launch the phone later, you would still be left out high and dry. On the other hand if Samsung were to forego an Indian launch for this phone, then there wouldn’t be any parts available, should you reach a situation where this needs to be repaired. So its a lose-lose situation either ways.

Price – Given the fact that this is a non-warranty phone, the price seems too high. I’d rather spend INR 1000 lower, and take the same risk with a more capable device like the Nexus 4 which is also listed on eBay India.

Seller Credentials – The seller has a Positive feedback rating of 93.2%. While that may seem fine by itself if you were to be ordering a product of much lesser value, one needs to exercise extra caution with anything under a 95% rating – especially so if you’re ordering a high-value product. That said, the seller has received mostly positive feedback for high-value products that he has sold.

We’ve given our two cents, but the choice still remains yours. There is no denying the fact that the Galaxy S3 Mini is a very capable mid-range device, and perhaps the only mid-range device currently available which comes with Android 4.1 out of the  box. If you think it is worth the risk, you can check out the eBay India listing through the Via link below.