I have had several parcels from different sellers over the past year. All small and all arrived within a week or so. All sent airmail.
For larger items, you either have to bite the bullet and pay the extra for airmail...
or
Play the vendors at their own game.
If they send it surface, they know that there is a fair chance it will not arrive before the Ebay deadline for claims. Packaging is probably not as good as it could be. They don't care. They don't answer your claims.
Put in an Ebay claim for "goods not received" well before the deadline. That way the claim is in progress. If the goods are receive damaged, claim anyway.
Andy
EDIT ...not that I am proposing anyone commits fraud.....
For larger items, you either have to bite the bullet and pay the extra for airmail...
or
Play the vendors at their own game.
If they send it surface, they know that there is a fair chance it will not arrive before the Ebay deadline for claims. Packaging is probably not as good as it could be. They don't care. They don't answer your claims.
Put in an Ebay claim for "goods not received" well before the deadline. That way the claim is in progress. If the goods are receive damaged, claim anyway.
Andy
EDIT ...not that I am proposing anyone commits fraud.....
Hi folks,
I've bought a couple of items via ebay from sellers in China/HK.
One is a XIANG SHENG 708B Tube Headphone Preamp and was from on9mart. The packaging for this item was a work of art and more than adequate for getting bashed around in airmail.
I would quite agree that if they'd pacakged a larger amp in that way, without removing/packing the valves, then that could be a different matter. The valves in this amp are spring-clipped into the sockets anyway.
The other amp (ebay seller richtonaudio) was packaged in almost bomb-proof packing, loads of thick foam and a very sturdy cardbox. The valves were removed and in their original boxes very safely wrapped.
Both sellers gave me tracking ID's which could be tracked using the UK's ParcelFarce system. Both were shipped airmail, and landed in the UK within 36 or so hours of my payment - shame it took customs/ParcelFarce another 5+ working days to get their acts together and deliver them to me!
I've maybe had 2 good experiences, but then I did some homework before I bought, and you have to expect a certain amount of risk. I've personally packaged $2m of kit to ship from the UK to Tailand and Czech Rep and it's got there unscathed, whereas another shipment 30miles up the road was trashed by specialist removers/couriers.
My next purchase is likely to be some iron for a homebrew amp and 2A3/300B's, which will almost certainly be bought from China/HK/Taiwan.
Re ebay fees - if ebay weren't such robbing sods, we'd probably find that the sellers we're discussing might price them correctly, innstead of adding the item costs into the shipping charge, obviously to save on the ebay fees. Ok, it's against ebays regulations, but we're paying one way or the other - and probably less this way around...?
Cheers,
ChrisC.
I've bought a couple of items via ebay from sellers in China/HK.
One is a XIANG SHENG 708B Tube Headphone Preamp and was from on9mart. The packaging for this item was a work of art and more than adequate for getting bashed around in airmail.
I would quite agree that if they'd pacakged a larger amp in that way, without removing/packing the valves, then that could be a different matter. The valves in this amp are spring-clipped into the sockets anyway.
The other amp (ebay seller richtonaudio) was packaged in almost bomb-proof packing, loads of thick foam and a very sturdy cardbox. The valves were removed and in their original boxes very safely wrapped.
Both sellers gave me tracking ID's which could be tracked using the UK's ParcelFarce system. Both were shipped airmail, and landed in the UK within 36 or so hours of my payment - shame it took customs/ParcelFarce another 5+ working days to get their acts together and deliver them to me!
I've maybe had 2 good experiences, but then I did some homework before I bought, and you have to expect a certain amount of risk. I've personally packaged $2m of kit to ship from the UK to Tailand and Czech Rep and it's got there unscathed, whereas another shipment 30miles up the road was trashed by specialist removers/couriers.
My next purchase is likely to be some iron for a homebrew amp and 2A3/300B's, which will almost certainly be bought from China/HK/Taiwan.
Re ebay fees - if ebay weren't such robbing sods, we'd probably find that the sellers we're discussing might price them correctly, innstead of adding the item costs into the shipping charge, obviously to save on the ebay fees. Ok, it's against ebays regulations, but we're paying one way or the other - and probably less this way around...?
Cheers,
ChrisC.
The amp was packed very well, thick foam all round in a very strong box, the problem was they left the tubes in place. as for HK Postal services, they suck big time for surface. took on9mart 14 days to get it out the door, took their post office another 16 days to get it through customs and into a container. I lost track at that point for 5 weeks till it showed up in the US postal services (no comment on that one )
Total of 64 days to get to my door. amp was perfect except for the scratches caused by the broken glass. Box was not damaged at all.
last I heard from on9mart was they were filing a claim with their postal services, maybe that'll take 3 months, I dunno. Just bought a set of tubes and it runs fine, nice amp, lousey service.
My guess is bias set = 50ma as the cathode load resister is 10 ohms and the schem indicates 0.5v. I'm currently set to 60ma using Amperex 829b's and its clean and loud.
What does amaze me is there is no audible or measurable hum at all.
There must be some recource action I might follow up on for this in Hong Kong, but where to start.
Total of 64 days to get to my door. amp was perfect except for the scratches caused by the broken glass. Box was not damaged at all.
last I heard from on9mart was they were filing a claim with their postal services, maybe that'll take 3 months, I dunno. Just bought a set of tubes and it runs fine, nice amp, lousey service.
My guess is bias set = 50ma as the cathode load resister is 10 ohms and the schem indicates 0.5v. I'm currently set to 60ma using Amperex 829b's and its clean and loud.
What does amaze me is there is no audible or measurable hum at all.
There must be some recource action I might follow up on for this in Hong Kong, but where to start.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Poindexter said:
I believe it's the same thing as an old 829B dual pentode with the two plate pins on top.
edit: Yes it is. And the 3E29 is the mil. or JAN version.
itsmejto said:
You're pretty much just wasting your time at this point. 🙄 Not to be excessively negative or anything, but your sole recourse was really with the seller, and they are not willing to own up to their responsibility in this matter. I'd advise you to just accept the inevitable now, and avoid additional heartburn later.. (Sorry..) This is not to say there are not a lot of good HK based electronics outfits, I've had similar bad experiences shipping things from there - the major difference was the seller actually wanted to help. Hong Kong Post lost control of the shipping situation the moment it went to expediting for container shipping, so you can't really blame them for the slowness of shipping - and they don't run the sea mail packet service. I hate to say it, but the mostly likely venue for the damage you experienced is right here in the USA - if you ever see how the teamsters treat the stuff coming out of those containers you would be appalled..
You got a great deal, and yes it would have been nice if the seller had packed it properly, but they did not. No one else is very likely to take responsibility for their mistake. Just chalk it up to experience and make sure to remind future sellers to not ship with tubes in place. Insurance incidentally as you have discovered is only useful with companies willing to honor the insurance contract. (Read Western and/or major freight expeditors only.)
Lest you think I am unsympathetic, my last shipment from China was about $4K worth of badly mangled oem amplifiers I was supposed to sell to clients. These were adequately packed for a drop from at least 6' and they were trashed. I decided at that point to terminate the last remnants of my commercial operation so I know what heartburn is about. Incidentally they were damaged in Boston Harbor FWIW... UPS incidentally is NO better.
kevinkr said:
It's amazing what UPS can get away with. Twice, ive heard packages HIT my front door when they throw them from the street. Once I actually saw it. Last fall I received a box of GE el84's complete with a bonus tire track.
An FU29 is the chinese version of an 829b, the 3E29 is NOT a direct equiv at all, it is a higher freq RF tube similar to and better designed than the 829b but much lower power. It can/will function as an 829b at lower output levels. JAN stands for "Joint Army Navy" and any tube can be labled JAN if it suited the forces needs/specs.
itsmejto said:
I can certainly relate to that... 😉 The day after I saw that last shipment I was feelin' it..
I've just bought one of these amplifiers from Hong Kong and it arrived by air mail in a week. Both of the 829Bs were halfway out of their sockets and I can see that with longer periods of handling they might have been swinging by their anode leads and smashing the other valves and themselves in the process. One of the 829Bs was dead on arrival but I have managed to substitute a Pinnacle QQV06-40 (their anode pins are similar to the 829Bs in that they are pointed at the top unlike the Mullards I have) and the amplifier works OK. I have a question, though, about the 6N2 valves. I had assumed that they would be Chinese Shuguang 6n2s which have an ECC88 pin layout but the circuit diagram above says they are ECC83/12AX7s. So which are they? I would be grateful for a reply from anybody who knows. Thanks.
6N2, 6N2P ~ 12AX7/ECC83 (I actually prefer the 6N2P in pro audio apps). Draws twice the heater current of a 12AX7 and cannot be run on 12 volts (pin 9 = shield).
Cheers!
Cheers!
Ah yes, that's the Russian 6N2 (which it would presumably be dangerous to substitute with a Mullard ECC83) but there is also a Chinese 6N2 with a mu of 27. What I want to know is which is used in the Audioromy amplifier.
cuibono said:
I am always very wary of ebay.
It is very expensive to send heavy stuff back if it doesnt work.
I simply wont buy second hand heavy stuff off ebay now.
I have bought "hardly used" equipment that failed very quickly.
Maybe I have been just a bit unlucky.........
Mea culpa
I must apologise to "Geek". Looking again at the horribly printed Shuguang spec sheet for 6N2 I see that I have misread 27.5 for 97.5 so we are in ECC83/12AX7 territory. They are still not directly interchangeable because of the pin 9 divergence. Having listened to the amplifier for an afternoon I have to say it's quite good though a tad oversensitive, so there's scope for revisions to the driver stage and feedback.
I must apologise to "Geek". Looking again at the horribly printed Shuguang spec sheet for 6N2 I see that I have misread 27.5 for 97.5 so we are in ECC83/12AX7 territory. They are still not directly interchangeable because of the pin 9 divergence. Having listened to the amplifier for an afternoon I have to say it's quite good though a tad oversensitive, so there's scope for revisions to the driver stage and feedback.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.