I have no experience with this seller, or these circumstances but I must offer this warning.
Beware of any electrolytic cap or power semiconductor purchase made on Ebay. There are plenty of counterfitters out there that can create some downright dangerous situations. I had one exploding moment with Ebay sourced capacitors, so I don't buy electrolytics, expensive RF parts, or big power transistors on Ebay any more.
The most common "fake" involves creating a shrink wrap that says Nichicon 100 uF 450 volt (or whatever) and putting it on whatever capacitor that they can find for cheap on the surplus market. If the fake happens to be a 200 volt cap, you are going to get a rude surprize when you flip the power switch. It is very hard to catch this but often the physical size isn't right.
When you get the parts, check the specs for the exact Nichicon part number that you get, then make sure that your caps are the right size. Sometimes tha counterfitter is lazy or stupid and there are obvious flaws in the shrink wrap, like spelling. Then connect one to a power supply through a resistor and gently charge it to the rated voltage. If it draws current or gets warm, don't use it!
There is a lot of counterfitting going on in the semiconductor market particularly with high dollar or hard to get output transistors or RF power parts. There are whole threads devoted to this in the solid state forum.
Hi,
Thanks , I now understand what you mean, It is also a good thing that you won , as long as the final price is still low.
George is absolutely right on the capacitor issue, however there are some reputable capacitor sellers on eBay, however the ones I have dealt with are all located here in the USA. You have to check very carefully.
Generally I purchase most of mine from Digikey or Mouser. More exotic types from Michael Percy..
I was trying to purchase a tonearm for a TT project on eBay and I bid on a lot of different arms over the course of several months and was unsuccessful in every single instance, and I was bidding late and high.
There is a lot of competition for certain types of items on eBay right now, but such shenanigans with common electronic components particularly when there are many more items from the same seller with no bids is a big warning.
IMO You also get what you pay for, a lot of the components, although by no means all, sold by Far Eastern vendors are of very low quality. Better to spend a little from a reputable relatively local seller (on eBay) and know exactly what you are getting. One thing I will say is I do buy ex Soviet surplus parts from a number of sellers in former iron curtain countries and have nothing but good things to say about those experiences.
Generally I purchase most of mine from Digikey or Mouser. More exotic types from Michael Percy..
I was trying to purchase a tonearm for a TT project on eBay and I bid on a lot of different arms over the course of several months and was unsuccessful in every single instance, and I was bidding late and high.
There is a lot of competition for certain types of items on eBay right now, but such shenanigans with common electronic components particularly when there are many more items from the same seller with no bids is a big warning.
IMO You also get what you pay for, a lot of the components, although by no means all, sold by Far Eastern vendors are of very low quality. Better to spend a little from a reputable relatively local seller (on eBay) and know exactly what you are getting. One thing I will say is I do buy ex Soviet surplus parts from a number of sellers in former iron curtain countries and have nothing but good things to say about those experiences.
This scam is thousands of years old and is not going to go away. It has been used as long as there has been people selling things. There are many variations but it all boils down to hiring people to show interest in what you are selling.
Reporting this to eBay will not do anything, eBay makes money from this practice.
Thanks for the input on the couterfit stuff, I will certainly check them before I install them. I did a little bit of searching on this forum for Tzeng_.....He appears to have done this to others but there is also some people defending the parts he sells. I hope mine are decent. I only spent $8 and got free shipping so if they are counterfit I didn't lose much. When I get them in a couple of weeks I will report back here what I found. I will carefully measure them and see if they match the real deal. I have a couple Nichicon 100uF 450v caps I got from somewhere reputable (Digikey or somewhere like that) but I doubt these are exacly the same caps.
I also downloaded the Sniper program linked above...still trying to figure out exactly how to make it work. Seems like it is pretty easy to use, I just haven't actually put it to work yet.
Thanks again,
Jeff
I also downloaded the Sniper program linked above...still trying to figure out exactly how to make it work. Seems like it is pretty easy to use, I just haven't actually put it to work yet.
Thanks again,
Jeff
In my 10+ years ebay experience I found that reporting anything to ebay (in particular shill bidders) is a COMPLETE waste of time. Ebay isn`t AT ALL interested in truth. The ONLY thing in what they`re interested is money. They care a damn about shill bidding, fake items etc. Their system get`s increasingly worse, they do anything to make it easy for scammers. With any new ebay "improvement" this get worse.
My guess is that about 90% of all ebay sellers (be they private or business) do bid on their own items.
Meanwhile, with the insane increased sales fees ebay charges today, I can almost understand this practice (nonetheless I`m still among the few jerks who still don`t bid on own items in case I sell something).
So, I don`t care much about shill bidding anymore. Only to the extend that those who are bidding on own items, perhaps might not be the most faithfull persons in general (but it don`t have to be so). Therefore if I suspect shill bidding, I do check feedback more exactly and if I don`t find anything otherwise suspicious I don`t have any objection to bid what I´m willing to pay for and be done with it. If I get it, fine, if not, there`ll always be a next time. In cases of shamelessly forcing up prices, I simply stop bidding and forget about it (or do not bid in the first place).
I have placed bids on various tubes and relate items (sockets etc.) with what appeared to be three different sellers but was really just one person (audiotek + some numbers in two cases and something else in third case). I bid on those auctions because I wanted to compare what were allegedly newly produced Chinese small signal tubes (Shuguang) to my old stock.
I was wary of those auctions due to seemingly unreasionable offers (ending price + free shipping was likely less than the shipping alone would have cost, even though shipping is very cheap from China and related parts) so I filed the dispute with Paypal after not receiving anything before the 45-day deadline has passed. The seller's feedback just strarted getting a flood of negative ratings.
The end result was that I never received any of those items (despite seller's silly excuses and claims that they would resend them and whatnot so that I woudl miss the deadline), but I got my money back in full from Paypal and all three accounts were terminated by eBay at the same time. I believe that same seller is active again but they are more careful this time around (charging actual shipping) so they presumeably don't even have to scam buyers anymore.
I will throw my .02 in here.
Jmiller, Having been with Ebay for years and sold and bought many items I think the issue here is just plain confusion. Just because someones bidding is 90% with one seller is not always and indication that he or she is a shill.
This bidder might in fact have noticed that this particular seller tends to offer many items that he needs with excellent starting prices and free shipping. He might setup a sniper program to bid at the last few seconds with a price that is his "max" just as it has been suggested for you to do.
The fact that he bid on an item for $8 or $9 dollars and there was another item identical for less might just be do to the item end date and time. He might be bidding on all of them, since the item you bid on was ending sooner you noticed it. Did you check back on the later item? It might have sold as well for a similar price.
I suggest you check out http://www.auctionsniper.com the cost is very reasonable and I have used it for items that I really want and have had good luck.
"Sniping" has long been debated as to it's honesty, etc but IMHO it also is a counter against the "emotional" side of Ebay bidding. When you are the "highest bidder" you all but have the item in your hands. This posession increases your "need" for the item and makes you to bid more to keep it.
I read about some research done on this topic, it seems that the researches took groups of 20 "man on the street" type people and did the following.
They separated them into 2 groups of 10 people. Group "A" they showed a coffee mug with a unique design on it. They told the group that it was only $5.99 at a store down the street.
Group "B" they handed each person the same mug to hold and look at in person. They also told them it was 5.99 at the store down the street.
Then they asked everyone to write down a "bid" on a piece of paper for the cup.
The group that got to hold the mug bid an average of 40% higher on it and 20% bid over the retail price.
Jmiller, Having been with Ebay for years and sold and bought many items I think the issue here is just plain confusion. Just because someones bidding is 90% with one seller is not always and indication that he or she is a shill.
This bidder might in fact have noticed that this particular seller tends to offer many items that he needs with excellent starting prices and free shipping. He might setup a sniper program to bid at the last few seconds with a price that is his "max" just as it has been suggested for you to do.
The fact that he bid on an item for $8 or $9 dollars and there was another item identical for less might just be do to the item end date and time. He might be bidding on all of them, since the item you bid on was ending sooner you noticed it. Did you check back on the later item? It might have sold as well for a similar price.
I suggest you check out http://www.auctionsniper.com the cost is very reasonable and I have used it for items that I really want and have had good luck.
"Sniping" has long been debated as to it's honesty, etc but IMHO it also is a counter against the "emotional" side of Ebay bidding. When you are the "highest bidder" you all but have the item in your hands. This posession increases your "need" for the item and makes you to bid more to keep it.
I read about some research done on this topic, it seems that the researches took groups of 20 "man on the street" type people and did the following.
They separated them into 2 groups of 10 people. Group "A" they showed a coffee mug with a unique design on it. They told the group that it was only $5.99 at a store down the street.
Group "B" they handed each person the same mug to hold and look at in person. They also told them it was 5.99 at the store down the street.
Then they asked everyone to write down a "bid" on a piece of paper for the cup.
The group that got to hold the mug bid an average of 40% higher on it and 20% bid over the retail price.
The thing about eBay is that no matter what you say about it, it's true. There are so many sellers.
I've sold stuff and done it honestly but I know there are a large number of scams and outright fraud. But I think most fall into a grey area. For example the pawnshop owner who has 10 eBay accounts and lists each item as if it were a private party sale and grossly overstates the condition of the item. He used eBay to unload stuff he could not sel in the shop.
I've sold stuff and done it honestly but I know there are a large number of scams and outright fraud. But I think most fall into a grey area. For example the pawnshop owner who has 10 eBay accounts and lists each item as if it were a private party sale and grossly overstates the condition of the item. He used eBay to unload stuff he could not sel in the shop.
Speaking of the devil... Am I the only one who notices the psychological angle that eBay tries to play in their email?
I usually have a couple of auctions on my watch list. A lot of times I don't intend to buy but I'd like to keep track of what the item sells for. I'll get these emails from eBay that go along the lines of "Bid NOW or you will LOSE and NEVER get a chance to bid on an item like this EVER AGAIN!!" (Emphasis and over-dramatization mine). Clearly, they're trying to get me into an emotional state where I'll be more likely to spend more money. If it was less obvious, I would consider it to be manipulation. At this point it's just annoying drama in my inbox.
I guess I could turn that eBay feature off...
~Tom
I usually have a couple of auctions on my watch list. A lot of times I don't intend to buy but I'd like to keep track of what the item sells for. I'll get these emails from eBay that go along the lines of "Bid NOW or you will LOSE and NEVER get a chance to bid on an item like this EVER AGAIN!!" (Emphasis and over-dramatization mine). Clearly, they're trying to get me into an emotional state where I'll be more likely to spend more money. If it was less obvious, I would consider it to be manipulation. At this point it's just annoying drama in my inbox.
I guess I could turn that eBay feature off...
~Tom
tzeng_albert is a scammer, he engages in shill bidding and if you order multiple items, you get the first items, then nothing but excuses.
music-in-life is another of his seller names, and it's the same scam.
He owes me a refund, but will not deliver. He was also successful in removing my negative feedback, if you notice he had a lot of negative fb, then it all went away, likely because someone in ebay China is being paid. I asked ebay USA to investigate and they won't do anything for you.
His email addresses are:
nemo.mole@gmail.com
limin.wu@gmail.com
I've used ebay for 1000s of transactions, this is the first outright criminal I've dealt with.
My advise is, don't trust anyone, and file claims with paypal and ebay if anything isn't on time. Don't wait, you only have 45 days.
music-in-life is another of his seller names, and it's the same scam.
He owes me a refund, but will not deliver. He was also successful in removing my negative feedback, if you notice he had a lot of negative fb, then it all went away, likely because someone in ebay China is being paid. I asked ebay USA to investigate and they won't do anything for you.
His email addresses are:
nemo.mole@gmail.com
limin.wu@gmail.com
I've used ebay for 1000s of transactions, this is the first outright criminal I've dealt with.
My advise is, don't trust anyone, and file claims with paypal and ebay if anything isn't on time. Don't wait, you only have 45 days.
I'm surprised eBay doesn't use auto-extend on their auctions.
Auto-extend means that if a bid is placed within 2 minutes of the closing time for the auction, the closing time gets extended 2 minutes further. This means that there is no way of "sniping" as it is called, by bidding at the last second. I have seen auctions go on for over 30 minutes past their original close on our local auction site (TradeMe)
Auto-extend means that if a bid is placed within 2 minutes of the closing time for the auction, the closing time gets extended 2 minutes further. This means that there is no way of "sniping" as it is called, by bidding at the last second. I have seen auctions go on for over 30 minutes past their original close on our local auction site (TradeMe)
If eBay did that I'd stop using it. Ubid works that way and look at all the activity they have. I snipe all the time using eSnipe.
G²
I always snipe. 
This is because I'm a buyer not a seller.
There is no point in me bidding up the price. This is only good for the seller. If everyone sniped then Ebay auctions become a "sealed bid" type of auction with the exception that the winner may not have to pay his maximum bid. Good for the buyer, not so good for the seller. Extending the time limit by two minutes allows emotional bids to creep in, good for the seller, not so good anymore for me.
Brgds Bill
This is because I'm a buyer not a seller. There is no point in me bidding up the price. This is only good for the seller. If everyone sniped then Ebay auctions become a "sealed bid" type of auction with the exception that the winner may not have to pay his maximum bid. Good for the buyer, not so good for the seller. Extending the time limit by two minutes allows emotional bids to creep in, good for the seller, not so good anymore for me.
Brgds Bill
We don't have any choice when it comes to auction sites. Sure, there are a couple of small ones online, but they get little business. The dominant one has as many auctions online as there are people in the country. eBay tried to set up in competition to them, and pulled out a few weeks later.
Sniping is not an option here I'm afraid. The vast majority of people here don't know any other way than what is offered, so the auction site thrives (and has now been sold to an overseas buyer, Fairfax Media, itself).
This is the reality of living in a small country.
Sniping is not an option here I'm afraid. The vast majority of people here don't know any other way than what is offered, so the auction site thrives (and has now been sold to an overseas buyer, Fairfax Media, itself).
This is the reality of living in a small country.
I always snipe.
In a "real" auction, the bidding closes when there are no more bids in a certain time (decided by the auctioneer). This makes the Trademe system closer to reality, where the winner is the person prepared to pay the most, rather than the gamer with the high-speed network connection and auto-snipe software.
I used to hate snipers. Got sniped too many times. So I had to join them. I've used a sniping service for the last 6 years. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. The highest bidder still gets it. If your maximum bid is higher than mine, it does not matter that I bid in the last second.
Sorry to say Don, eBay is now a "real" auction. The rules are different because the format is different. Both have their merits.
Sorry to say Don, eBay is now a "real" auction. The rules are different because the format is different. Both have their merits.
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