ARDUINO with ATmega8A-PU not working

[Rick Law]

They were quite clear that it is a 328p compatible in the title, and from the eBay page:
"Package Content:
1 x ATmega328P Version Board
1 x USB Cable"
They didn't say "1x Compatible board with ATMega328P installed"  But they were not clear that it is NOT installed with the ATMega32P - except in the picture.

Frankly, if I am eBay adjuster and I got the complain, I probably rule with the seller.

If you look a bit further up in the description you quoted, you'll also see:

Features:
100% Brand New
Size: 7.5 x 5.4 x 1.7cm (L x W x H)
Input voltage - 7-12V
ATmega328 microcontroller
14 Digital I/O Pins (6 PWM outputs)
6 Analog Inputs
32k Flash Memory
16Mhz Clock Speed

They specifically say it's a '328, and the specs are of a device with twice as many PWM outputs & 4x the memory of an ATmega8.

I think, if I understood right, the money back was due to the length of time wait (thus unsure if it will ever get there.)  And it did get there. 

Staying on "if the refund was due to wrong chip" hypothetically...

Yeah, I saw what you quoted too and I found that confusing as well.  Question is the way it was stated, does features describes the content or describes the capability of the board.  I wont go buy a 4 passenger car expecting it to come with 4 passengers.  So features of what it supports is not necessarily what is equipped.

Since the package content did not clearly say it is equipped with that chip, add to that a picture clearly showing it doesn't come equipped with that chip - I would therefore not conclude it came with that chip.  Given that conclusion I drew, for me, I would not feel justify asking for money back.

[Shobos]

Money back was due to wrong chip. As seller said to me, someone had delivered wrong chips for this board because seller told me too that there should be 328P inside not this ATmegaA8...

[paulie]

"compatible" means "not a real Arduino board"

you are making up your own definitions. this is ok as long as you preface every discussion with your interpretation. id suggest real ardunio boards are "arduino compatible".

Pictures don't count, except in the case where the description says "exactly as pictured."

unfortunately ebay customer service will disagree. with over two thousand transactions and opened 100+ cases i have a good idea what the rules are. pics generally considered #1 and verbal descriptions not far behind. that said chinese sellers do play loose with both and imo its fair to take them to task when they go too far. for example as mentioned "arduino" is put in virtually every listing now but experienced buyers know to ignore. 24l01 and 7105 in every transceiver chip ad is another. it can get tiresome when you are actually trying to locate something.

kinda a reflection of american marketing tricks (ever try to actually take advantage of "free cell phone" deal?). imo ebay should clamp down to protect sellers from beginners if nothing else.

[retrolefty]

I'll only comment in general about my experience with buying maybe 100 E-bay items from Asian sellers over the years. As a retired hobbyist the low prices allow me to buy lots of stuff on impulse that I would most likely never consider buying otherwise. I usually don't spend much time selecting specific sellers, just a quick look at their feedback rating. I've only had a few cases where the wrong thing was sent for example ordered a could of dual-gang pots and received single gang pots. The seller only asked that I take a picture of what I got and send to him, and he resent the order and said to just keep the wrong ones. I've found that they generally really work hard to maintain a high positive feedback rating. Being on the west coast I usually get my stuff in 10-12 days, but a few have taken longer.

  As a long time arduino forum member there was always a lot of concern/anger from several even many about the Asians cloning of arduino boards at much lower prices. Being open source hardware that is to be expected and the Arduino company only asked that their trademark name Arduino not be used in their clone copies and over the years more and more are doing that, using 'arduino compatible' rather then just copying the arduino silk screening. Still many in the arduino world feel that buying cut-rate asian arduino boards is not the right thing to do. I'm somewhat in the middle and feel any beginner should first buy a 'real' arduino, but after that the clones are too good a deal and one can not live on one arduino board alone. I've found the quality of the Asian clones to fine so far.

[casinada]

I just needed a couple of Atmega328P without bootloader but this are cheaper than the virgin ones:
http://www.dipmicro.com/store/CPU-ARD328P
They have free shipping on orders greater than $15 using coupon code: ILOVECANADA

[paulie]

you can get 5 of them with free shipping on ebay for less than they charge for 1:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5pcs-NEW-ATMEGA328P-PU-DIP-28-Microcontrolle-r-With-ARDUINO-UNO-Bootloader-Li2-/360914886927?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item540834210f

if you shop smart (bid, bo, aliexpress, etc) and buy a few more its even possible to get cost down to a dollar and change. m8 as low as 40 cents.