Author Topic: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread  (Read 398975 times)

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Offline Kjelt

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #150 on: June 08, 2016, 05:52:36 pm »
When the outside has exposed aluminium (somehting of the past, by now), the driver will most likely be of the galvanic isolated type (read: SMPS). You can even find them in no-name stuff...
Sorry but that example looks like crap, those solderings are amateur (children made this?)
And I wonder if those isolation distances are within the tolerance or this is one other of these dangerous examples of live threatening electronics.
Anyway to answer your question if prices go down and consumers don't want to pay decent prices the design in BOM cost also has to come down or nothing will be sold.
 

Offline jitter

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #151 on: June 08, 2016, 06:04:13 pm »
When the outside has exposed aluminium (somehting of the past, by now), the driver will most likely be of the galvanic isolated type (read: SMPS). You can even find them in no-name stuff...
Sorry but that example looks like crap, those solderings are amateur (children made this?)
And I wonder if those isolation distances are within the tolerance or this is one other of these dangerous examples of live threatening electronics.
Anyway to answer your question if prices go down and consumers don't want to pay decent prices the design in BOM cost also has to come down or nothing will be sold.

Agreed, that's not the best example there is.
Big Clive does a teardown of an Osram here:

« Last Edit: June 08, 2016, 06:06:28 pm by jitter »
 

Offline Kjelt

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #152 on: June 08, 2016, 07:04:51 pm »
Ok well I wonder if they fit in all the GU10 fixtures out there, I had the early GU10 lamps from Philips and they did not fit in my fixture  :palm:
The new ones do. Anyway, it is all a matter of price and profit, since the chinese and Ikea are flooding the market with cheaper bulbs , the western companies can't stay behind.
 

Offline jitter

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #153 on: June 08, 2016, 07:55:11 pm »
Most of the stuff is now the same size as the halogens were. Improvements in efficiency have made the use of thermally conductive plastics viable, so drivers isolated from the mains are no longer a necessity.
Since a couple of years single chip solutions are available, ICs that are powered off the mains directly and driving the LEDs without the help of any external components. High flicker is, of course, a trade off of this kind of technology.



Edit: sorry for going off topic. If you'd like we could continue in my 2mTD (2 minute teardown) of that Philips LED lamp.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2016, 08:04:59 pm by jitter »
 

Offline MotorMagic

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #154 on: June 09, 2016, 03:41:04 pm »
I  can offer some insight into the other side of the equation in terms of Aliexpress, as I've helped some businesses sell products there. You have to keep in mind most electronics shops are racing to the bottom. There are a few problems with Aliexpress as I see it:

Thanks for the great insight! It was clear to me that the sellers don't make much money, but I didn't know it's just cents. Is that also the reason for 5W LED lamps sold as 10W? Sorry, if I'm making fun of it and calling it the Chinese Watts or Amperes. Usually a factor of 2 up to 3 works fine, e.g. if the seller claims the PSU is 1A at 5V a measurement shows 0.5A. The same goes for most products. Recently I bought a 7W LED lamp from a German seller in Amazon's marketplace and the lamp draws just 4.3W.

Many factories will ask OEMs if they want to write fake information on the product to make it more attractive. It's seen as a feature, and so many people do it that a certain percentage of buyers assume that EVERYONE does it. 

Shoppers for the most part seem to fall into two camps:
Camp 1 - those who assume specifications are genuine.
Camp 2 - Those who assume everyone inflates their numbers, and so look for products spec'd a bit higher than what they need.

Camp 1 will choose the product with the higher specs every time within their price range, so long as it's not ridiculously astronomical (200000mAh wallet sized power bank for example). Camp 2 will often choose those with higher specs also, because not only are "10w" lights listed at just above the price of a 5w light more exciting to click on and browse, but a better choice if you choose not to trust anybody. After all, you could get a 1w bulb if you shop for 5w.

Let's also mention that camp 1 has been giving those dishonest shops more business and making them appear more reputable and visible as a result as well. Some would assume buyers will know when you're being genuine or not, but that's not usually the case.

I wish people would start leaving negative reviews on shops who use clearly fake specifications. Until shops are punished for listing fake specs, few people will volunteer to do more work verifying the actual product information from the source, and make less money while competitors also are listing the same product with better specs. 

That's just my opinion/experience anyway.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2016, 03:57:29 pm by MotorMagic »
 

Offline FrankBuss

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #155 on: December 16, 2016, 01:34:15 pm »
I bought some of these USB to RS232 adapters:

http://cgi.ebay.de/161886451086

The adapter was recognized by Windows 10 as a Prolific PL2303 adapter, but with error code 10. So probably a counterfeit chip, as described here. But I could install the old driver from the CD which was delivered with the adapter and it worked.

At least this is what I was thinking, because I did the usual test, shorting pin 2 and 3 of the DB9 connector and check in a terminal program if it echos. But it didn't work with my benchtop multimeter. Measuring it with the scope it turns out that the output voltage is 5 V TTL :o Did I miss something in the ebay description? It says "RS-232" and has the standard DB9 connector. Why does it use TTL levels? I told this all the seller, and got an eMail that I can send it back and get the money back, but the auction is still online and no notes added, that the chip is crap and the voltage level is TTL instead of the standard RS232. Doesn't make sense, because other people will complain, too  :-// Do they hope that not too many people complain for this price and they want to clear the stock from it?
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Offline PlainName

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #156 on: December 16, 2016, 01:51:07 pm »
Quote
Do they hope that not too many people complain for this price and they want to clear the stock from it?

More likely they know that most people will look at the cost of sending it back and just write it off as a bad experience - are you going to pay shipping to get your 5 euro refund? They'll say they'll refund when they've received it (back at their China factory). I'm sure you'll think it's a) worthwhile and b) will actually get there :)

So, not expecting return customers, what do they have to lose? It is all gain, and once they have enough negative feedback they'll close the account and start again with something else.
 

Offline FrankBuss

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #157 on: December 16, 2016, 04:29:06 pm »
I bought 3 of it, otherwise I would have just tossed it, but it was all automated in eBay: A click to a link in the eMail, then print a label, stick it on the packet, and I just delivered it at the post office and they scanned the bar code, no payment required, all payed by the seller. The seller was from Germany, but I guess they are just forwarding the things from China. So at least a bad experience with a somewhat happy end for me :)

But now I have to find a good adapter. I don't understand why they fake such chips. It's not rocket science to build a decent and cheap original adapter. Starting with Windows 10 you don't even need to write your own driver, it just needs some special bits set in the USB descriptor so that it is detected as a generic virtual COM port. And the mechanical design was good and looked nice. They could even spend the one dollar to buy something like a CP2102 chip. If the adapter costs two dollars more, but is good quality, they could print their name on it, get a good reputation and more people would buy it.
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Offline PlainName

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #158 on: December 16, 2016, 04:35:50 pm »
Quote
delivered it at the post office and they scanned the bar code, no payment required

OK, that's a bit different to many vendors demands and my suggested scenario doesn't apply. Your assumption that many won't bother is probably the reason, then :)
 

Offline Kjelt

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #159 on: December 18, 2016, 09:16:33 am »
It says "RS-232" and has the standard DB9 connector. Why does it use TTL levels?

I have a bunch of IT colleagues that would not know the difference and make the same mistake, the blame are a lot of microcontroller proto boards that do not follow the rules and have a db9 connector without max232 or other interface chip to make it real rs232 levels.

I guess that the term RS232 is watered down to "serial port communications" without level specification, just as no one uses the different rs232 a/b/c specifiers anymore.
at least the decent interface manufacturers stiil make a difference and their ttl adapters end in wires or a header not a db9 conn. There is still hope.


 

Offline FrankBuss

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #160 on: December 24, 2016, 07:57:18 pm »
Got another one, pricey, but I can highly recommend this:

http://cgi.ebay.de/322260436067

No problem with Windows 10, gets detected automatically, no manual driver installation required, +/-9 V levels and even 3 LEDs showing power, send and receive.
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Offline ZomBiE80

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #161 on: March 03, 2017, 01:22:56 pm »
I've had bad taste in my mouth from Ebay in general. For example: I'm looking an used scope, but people are asking insane prices for these OLD tools. Nothing antique value about those.
 

Offline wraper

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #162 on: March 03, 2017, 01:35:06 pm »
I bought some of these USB to RS232 adapters:

http://cgi.ebay.de/161886451086

The adapter was recognized by Windows 10 as a Prolific PL2303 adapter, but with error code 10. So probably a counterfeit chip, as described here. But I could install the old driver from the CD which was delivered with the adapter and it worked.
Likely fake, however Prolific just dropped support for older devices in their drivers. So they might be made with discontinued chips as well.
 

Offline PlainName

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #163 on: March 03, 2017, 03:50:56 pm »
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asking insane prices for these OLD tools

Just being old doesn't make something worthless. Does it do the job it's intended to do? Is it cheaper than buying a more recent tool? Can't fault the price, really.

What do you call 'insane' anyway? Can you give an example (don't need a link, just tell us what it is and what it was priced at)?

 

Offline ZomBiE80

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #164 on: March 03, 2017, 04:07:18 pm »
People are asking new scope prices or even more. Those boneheads seem to think that 2 channel 20MHz scope and 20+ years old is worth hundreds, few years ago i got those free. My old scope was destroyed by fire as with my other equipment and now i just want to get "back in business", which is impossible with those asking prices.
 

Offline PlainName

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #165 on: March 03, 2017, 04:16:50 pm »
Either they don't sell and the price will come down (or not - see comment below) or they do sell and the price is hardly insane.

You say you have a problem getting back into the game because of the price. But consider the sellers: if they are selling their scope to upgrade, it's going to cost them more to replace it, so there's a point below which it just isn''t worth their while to sell. I have that problem myself - an old 'name' scope which is perfectly capable and still working as well as it ever did, but to replace it I'd need to sell it at a price that you would probably class as insane, so I'm not even considering it.

Even where a price is such that buying new is cheaper, that's probably a silly price but you can't really berate someone for not giving kit away to you.
 
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Offline Satbeginner

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #166 on: April 01, 2017, 06:14:57 pm »
I bought an 2465B Tektronix scope from eBay seller fga2014 , based in Italy.

Although I specifically asked if parts were removed, I received the scope with the A5 controller missing..........

Filed for a refund, but eBay policies are not really buyer friendly lately, so I do not get my hopes up.
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Offline Jamebonds1

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #167 on: April 01, 2017, 09:38:49 pm »
I had bad experienced with amico part from amazon.com.  My transistor always blow up until I switched to IXYS or International Rectifier.  It is a bit expensive than amico but better. 
 

Offline Rbastler

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #168 on: April 02, 2017, 09:16:47 am »
I bought an 2465B Tektronix scope from eBay seller fga2014 , based in Italy.

Although I specifically asked if parts were removed, I received the scope with the A5 controller missing..........

Filed for a refund, but eBay policies are not really buyer friendly lately, so I do not get my hopes up.

If you paid via Paypal you should get your money back very easy. The seller lied to you, so there shoudn't be a problem...
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Offline Neganur

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #169 on: April 02, 2017, 10:31:41 am »
If you paid via Paypal you should get your money back very easy. The seller lied to you, so there shoudn't be a problem...

Won't the seller just claim that the unit was complete and that the buyer removed the  assembly...?
Obviously, the buyer had to open it in order to assess the situation and I think it is also clear that the seller is ready to say anything.

Which makes me wonder, what did the seller say when you complained about the incomplete instrument?
 

Offline Photon939

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #170 on: June 07, 2017, 03:15:47 pm »
If you paid via Paypal you should get your money back very easy. The seller lied to you, so there shoudn't be a problem...

Won't the seller just claim that the unit was complete and that the buyer removed the  assembly...?
Obviously, the buyer had to open it in order to assess the situation and I think it is also clear that the seller is ready to say anything.

Which makes me wonder, what did the seller say when you complained about the incomplete instrument?

Ebay and Paypal almost always side with the buyer, if the buyer kicks up enough stink they get their money back 99% of the time. Ebay is a much worse place for sellers than it is for buyers
 

Offline bozidarms

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #171 on: February 04, 2018, 02:08:22 pm »
!!!!!!!!E-BAY false seller - fraud!!!!!!!!

Attention - seller with this Name, IBAN and BIC is false:

Empfänger
ALCARAZ CARDONA GALO

IBAN: IT17T0760105138221016821034
SWIFT: BPPIITRRXXX

Hi use different seller(e-bay) names! >:(
« Last Edit: February 04, 2018, 02:10:18 pm by bozidarms »
 

Offline GerryBags

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #172 on: April 21, 2018, 02:07:51 pm »
I won an auction for a Tek P6137 probe, at a really low price, about £20 with postage. Three hours after the auction ends I get a message saying he'll have to refund me because he just realised the tip is broken. I said oh, no you don't, I'll have the probe anyway and I'll fix the tip.  :rant:

So I get the probe, what do you know? No broken tip, because... no tip. The little fuxtik just removed the tip and sent the probe. I thought he'd at least take a pair of pliers to the tip to back up his tale, but that tip will probably turn up for sale fairly soon. I won't be buy anything ever again from Rakman1UK on Ebay, so I'll have to get one from somewhere else. The Tek UK site lists the part no. but doesn't seem to stock them.

Any ideas, on the Ebay thing or getting a new tip? Any tip tips?
 

Offline rsjsouza

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #173 on: May 02, 2018, 12:02:45 pm »
Did the auction show photographs of the product? If so, you would have the upper hand in any conversations between you, eBay and the seller.

When I buy something on eBay I tend to save the original listing page to a PDF file just to avoid any issues if the seller tries to change the item conditions, terms and photos. Nowadays eBay saves a copy for you, but I still don't trust them 100%.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2018, 12:04:54 pm by rsjsouza »
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Offline jancumps

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Re: The Bad Shopping Experience Thread
« Reply #174 on: May 02, 2018, 12:10:44 pm »
Did the auction show photographs of the product? If so, you would have the upper hand in any conversations between you, eBay and the seller.

When I buy something on eBay I tend to save the original listing page to a PDF file just to avoid any issues if the seller tries to change the item conditions, terms and photos. Nowadays eBay saves a copy for you, but I still don't trust them 100%.

yes: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tektronix-P6137-Oscilloscope-Probe/152979784643?hash=item239e4e43c3:g:BqEAAOSwFHNazj3g
 


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