Author Topic: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100  (Read 17075 times)

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Offline Leo Bodnar

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #50 on: February 24, 2018, 04:37:59 pm »
top-quality-tools is my favourite pet peeve.  I confront our Farnell sales reps about this account all the time and have not had a coherent answer yet.  My curiosity is piqued by the fact that this guy is copying Farnell images, description and stock level wholesale while they are ignoring it.
The problem with Farnell is that their sales reps are leaving quicker than you get to know their names.  Our last one left before Christmas.

Leo

There are at least a couple of UK sellers who scrape and re-list most of the Farnell website with a significant markup - they seem to get a lot of business.

e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/top-quality-tools/m.html?item=391966742564&epid=907435671&hash=item5b4309d824%3Ag%3AfrkAAOSwi7RZJIGN&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

270K listings, 130K feedback
 

Offline PlainName

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #51 on: February 24, 2018, 06:47:09 pm »
Quote
top-quality-tools is my favourite pet peeve

What's the problem with him? Since you know how to undercut him you wouldn't buy from him anyway, would you? And those that don't know they can just go straight to Farnell get an acceptable deal.

Sure, there is an IPR issue with Farnell, but surely that's their problem and if they want to deal with it they could probably figure out how to.

 

Offline bd139

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #52 on: February 24, 2018, 06:51:54 pm »
Farnell don’t own most of their images anyway.  If you fired that gun it would only shoot your own head off.
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #53 on: February 24, 2018, 07:16:42 pm »
Quote
top-quality-tools is my favourite pet peeve

What's the problem with him? Since you know how to undercut him you wouldn't buy from him anyway, would you? And those that don't know they can just go straight to Farnell get an acceptable deal.

Sure, there is an IPR issue with Farnell, but surely that's their problem and if they want to deal with it they could probably figure out how to.

It's the clutter factor in trying to pick through searches, especially when you add in the other several people doing the same thing.

I run occasional searches for some parts that can be had at very economical prices as NOS or the left-overs from someone's production run. I've picked up some real bargains in small-medium sized batches of high-precision, low tempco resistors and small signal relays. If I have to cope with Farnell's stock, repeated seven times over, being admixed into search results for those type of things then they become impossible to find.
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline PlainName

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #54 on: February 24, 2018, 07:26:42 pm »
Quote
It's the clutter factor in trying to pick through searches

Fair enough. That seems to be the case for pretty much any search, so much so that my eyes have learned to skip the stuff all by themselves ;)
 

Offline bd139

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #55 on: February 24, 2018, 07:27:47 pm »
If in doubt write software to avoid spending that effort. I have. I rarely look at eBay now unless something interesting appears.
 

Offline bitseeker

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #56 on: February 24, 2018, 07:59:23 pm »
I haven't gone to the extent of writing my own software, yet. However, I do make Greasemonkey scripts to filter out the egregious annoyances in eBay results.
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Offline namwosTopic starter

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #57 on: February 24, 2018, 08:02:10 pm »
Quote
We are pleased to inform you that the following listing(s) you reported have been removed from eBay in response to the Notice of Claimed Infringement you recently sent:

mav_2014
122977603185

We have notified the seller and all participating bidders that the listing(s) has been removed due to your request.

Great help now, seeing as the auction has ended. Still maybe that'll teach him!
 

Offline bitseeker

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #58 on: February 24, 2018, 08:16:46 pm »
Day late and a dollar short. But, yeah, maybe it'll send a message. Then again, he may not care.
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Offline namwosTopic starter

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #59 on: February 24, 2018, 08:23:24 pm »
If the winning bidder got the message, that might make them check the item more carefully and realise it's not the same unit, then dispute the sale.

I hope this ends up costing the seller and not the buyer.
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #60 on: February 24, 2018, 08:58:03 pm »
Then again, he may not care.

Given the seller's tone in his reply to the original approach I would imagine that he*  doesn't give a flying one.

* It's bound to be a *he*, women don't generally go in for gratuitous rudeness as an opening gambit.
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Offline Leo Bodnar

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #61 on: February 24, 2018, 09:34:54 pm »
He's short-circuiting the Internet.  Every time I search for something on eBay I have to build a huge exclusion search "stuff -crap -rubbish -junk" to cut through ware he flogs.  If anybody has a known way of excluding search result by seller name please speak up.
Quote
top-quality-tools is my favourite pet peeve
What's the problem with him?
 

Offline bitseeker

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #62 on: February 24, 2018, 09:38:58 pm »
Leo,

Go to Advanced Search, then scroll down to the Sellers section. There, you can filter the search to include or exclude particular sellers.
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #63 on: February 24, 2018, 09:50:35 pm »
Leo,

Go to Advanced Search, then scroll down to the Sellers section. There, you can filter the search to include or exclude particular sellers.

And to bring it full circle, I commented on that earlier. It's something, but you have to enter a list of names to exclude every time on every search you don't want corrupted by the Farnell drop shippers. I do it, I keep a pre-formatted list of sellers to exclude, and it's a pain in the fundament to maintain and cut and paste every time I want to get a 1/2 clean search result.
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 


Offline bitseeker

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #65 on: February 24, 2018, 10:03:46 pm »
you have to enter a list of names to exclude every time on every search you don't want corrupted by the Farnell drop shippers

Yep. eBay's interface isn't anywhere near advanced. To really get some control over it requires programming (e.g., Greasemonkey script or custom code interacting with the eBay API).
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Offline mikeselectricstuff

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #66 on: February 24, 2018, 10:33:33 pm »
top-quality-tools is my favourite pet peeve.  I confront our Farnell sales reps about this account all the time and have not had a coherent answer yet.  My curiosity is piqued by the fact that this guy is copying Farnell images, description and stock level wholesale while they are ignoring it.
The problem with Farnell is that their sales reps are leaving quicker than you get to know their names.  Our last one left before Christmas.

Leo

There are at least a couple of UK sellers who scrape and re-list most of the Farnell website with a significant markup - they seem to get a lot of business.

e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/top-quality-tools/m.html?item=391966742564&epid=907435671&hash=item5b4309d824%3Ag%3AfrkAAOSwi7RZJIGN&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

270K listings, 130K feedback
Why would Farnell have a problem with it?
They are selling more items, presumably in reasonable numbers per order, to end-users who would probably otherwise buy elsewhere.
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #67 on: February 24, 2018, 11:08:34 pm »

Why would Farnell have a problem with it?

Presumably because frequently the pictures on the listings have had a watermark to something of the effect of "Property of Farnell, do not reproduce".
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline mikeselectricstuff

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #68 on: February 25, 2018, 12:29:22 am »

Why would Farnell have a problem with it?

Presumably because frequently the pictures on the listings have had a watermark to something of the effect of "Property of Farnell, do not reproduce".
They are being used to get more sales for them - why would they have a problem with that?
A lot of Farnell's images probably come from the manufacturers anyway.
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Offline Brumby

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #69 on: February 25, 2018, 03:11:24 am »
My understanding - at least for Australia - is that eBay have backed off from the "No watermark" policy.

As for other sellers stealing photos - there are two kinds.  The ones that will copy an image, save it and put it up on their own hosting ... and those who simply use your hosting by just copying the URL.

With these lazy ones, you can do some really "fun" things.  The best I have heard of consisted of a seller changing the item photo in his listing to another name and then uploading a rather graphic image with some very clear text outing the thief, using the original name - the one the thief was using.  Visitors to the thief's listing would see the message ... and something rather shocking.  They contact eBay and dob them in for pornography.  Instant takedown - and possibly a suspended account!
 

Offline ralphrmartin

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #70 on: February 26, 2018, 12:03:16 pm »
Quote
top-quality-tools is my favourite pet peeve

What's the problem with him?

The problem is trying to find genuininely useful listings. He greatly degrades the signal to noise ratio.
 

Offline ChrisLX200

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #71 on: February 26, 2018, 01:18:44 pm »
Quote
top-quality-tools is my favourite pet peeve

What's the problem with him?

The problem is trying to find genuininely useful listings. He greatly degrades the signal to noise ratio.

All I need is a global 'ignore' filter to make him (and others like him)  disappear from my searches - including any temporary new ones I set up. Bloody annoying to have to add all these over-priced dealers to each discrete filter. A simple right-click/ignore button would be nice.
 

Offline bd139

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #72 on: February 26, 2018, 01:28:03 pm »
I've added a "shitlist" to my script:

Code: [Select]
shitlist = [
    "top-quality-tools",
    ....
    ]

This is worth automating.
 
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Online tggzzz

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #73 on: February 26, 2018, 03:55:02 pm »
Personally I hate very expensive prices for very old equipment, where the blurb includes "Guaranteed Working - 5 days to complete full testing process"

Example: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tektronix-1502C-Time-Domain-Reflectometer/401141897985
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
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Offline bd139

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Re: WARNING: eBay UK - Keithley 2100
« Reply #74 on: February 26, 2018, 04:16:40 pm »
Ah yes agree entirely. As they say around these parts "are you muggin' me off?"
 


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