Counterfeit semiconductors?

I'm an American, but work nights for a company here in the US that has products made in China.

What's funny to me. We've on two occasions had the CB maker (our past CB maker) sub parts with clone parts to our China factory that builds and tests the units. Once was Toshiba MOSFETs and a solenoid (same part number, open it and it is not the same part).

The parts were good enough to get through testing and in the field. But it was a mess recalling them.

So yes, there are clone ICs and even relays/solenoid, etc.

I hate the idea of companies sub contracting, now that I work as a quality inspector I see the chaos and lack of reliability it can bring. I have had stuff in the past that has not met specs and sent it back to the supplier only to hear "oh we had that part of the unit made by another company"...... technically every stage needs quality checking, when you break it down into so many sub operations for different companies it becomes inpractical and at some point one person making a mistake generally due to cost or time cutting causes a problem with the whole unit

Spotting scams on ebay is pretty easy, scammers everywhere are easy to spot if you simply pay attention to basic common sense rules. If it seems to good to be true, it is.

Sceadwian said:

Spotting scams on ebay is pretty easy, scammers everywhere are easy to spot if you simply pay attention to basic common sense rules. If it seems to good to be true, it is.

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true and if I'm getting the parts for not much less than bulk RS prices then unless the buyer is stupid I'd guess they are legit

I buy electronics parts on eBay all the time and generally have not had any problems with quality. However I stick to the big name sellers with good reputation status.
Also when buying I tend to look for surplus stock that comes from manufacturing clearance and surplus sales if possible.

A lot of that stuff is high end components that where ordered in excess or for a production run that the client backed out on or in many cases, as I have seen first hand, some idiot in the stock room or management accidentally adds an extra zero to the stock order quantity space and an order for 1,000 units becomes a order for 10,000 non returnable units.

Anyone can say what they want regarding where they will or will not purchase their parts. I like where I get my parts and I will continue to buy my parts from these places.

tcm... I hate to say this, but you're above average intelligence, I would NOT take your recommendations into account for the average Joe.. You have only your own perspective to take into account, taking into account those that simply do not know any better... Muuuuch more difficult. The average Joe does not come here... We get both ends of the bell curve, not 'Joe'

I would NOT take your recommendations into account for the average Joe.. You have only your own perspective to take into account, taking into account those that simply do not know any better... Much more difficult. The average Joe does not come here... We get both ends of the bell curve, not 'Joe'

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Yes I realize that but I dont think smarts have as much to do with it as just using some basic thought and practical common sense research into what you are buying. Basically I am just defending my parts sources a little.
Just because some clueless half wit goober has bad experiences because he doesn't know what he is doing or is too lazy to read up on his suppliers reputation doesn't mean that all online sources or eBay components are cheap Chinese junk or that all big name suppliers are good quality either.

I have ordered cheapo parts from the Asian suppliers on eBay for under 10 cents on the dollar of what they cost for the same parts from Digikey, Newark, Allied, or Mouser and had the exact same part show up. I mean exact right down to the crooked labels stamped onto the IC's just like the ones I had originally purchased from one of the reputable supply places for a much higher cost.

So either many of the more reputable Asian suppliers are pimping surplus high end parts or the reputable supply companies are selling cheap knockoffs as the good stuff for much higher resale prices. Personally I think its a solid mix of both happening far more than we all may realize.

tcmtech said:

So either many of the more reputable Asian suppliers are pimping surplus high end parts or the reputable supply companies are selling cheap knockoffs as the good stuff for much higher resale prices. Personally I think its a solid mix of both happening far more than we all may realize.

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I'd tend to agree to that