It's really kind of a two sided situation. A lot of times members will buy lasers off of random chinese sites, basically taking a risk. If the lasers turn out to be overspec, often they are sold for more than the purchase price, or even more often just kept.
On the flip side, a used laser, like a used car, doesn't exactly keep it's price well. Especially if the person selling isn't able to actually LPM the laser.
With the 200mW transformable I bought recently... I'm taking a risk... owner doesn't have LPM, but i figure if it's even half way up to spec it's good enough for the price. If this laser was not from o-like I wouldn't take that risk though. O-like isn't perfect, but it's one of only two relatively cheap chinese companies that actually stands by their output claims.
The beamshots in that review are real. The quality of the beam depends a lot on ambient lighting though, and also on particulates in the air. Even a 5mW laser will produce a visible beam in fog at night, with no light on around.