I bought a useless infra red lamp from China.

bruce2008 said:

! There is no terroist here! I just want to know who make such kind bad lamps!Do not worry!

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I see you are from China. We are not talking terrorists. You might be the manager of a gulag.

It does seem a little suspicius, resurecting a 6 month old thread and all...

wmmullaney said:

It does seem a little suspicius, resurecting a 6 month old thread and all...

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You know it's sad but when you take something back to Walmart, they got tracking numbers on the merchandise where they can track it back to who assembled it. If they got a record of a few screw ups, they might find their organs on the open market. We're talking kids.

The trick in the US is a statement: "Assembled in the USA from foreign and domestic parts." I assume "assembled" can mean anything from putting in retail package to adding a few screws. "Foreign and domestic parts" pretty much covers the world.

John

Oops, didn't notice the date. Sorry.

jpanhalt said:

The trick in the US is a statement: "Assembled in the USA from foreign and domestic parts." I assume "assembled" can mean anything from putting in retail package to adding a few screws. "Foreign and domestic parts" pretty much covers the world.

John

Oops, didn't notice the date. Sorry.

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Assembly could also be simply putting a printer, branded cardboard sleeve over the generic box, shrink-wrapping...

I've bought several components (mostly bulk passive components) on E-bay from China and so far have been pleased with the results. The shipping charges and travel time are more then more local purchases but the item prices can be quite attractive even factoring that into the purchase.

I think it comes down to buyer beware, there are plenty of junk items listed locally and some E-bay sellers are less then honorable regardless of their country of origin. One has to do their own research, check feedback ratings and balance risks Vs advantages. I've probably made over 200 E-bay purchases and would say I've been disappointed maybe twice, so 1% in my case. I have more problems with buyers remorse where I buy things I don't really need but just couldn't pass up such a great deal

I recently found a buy-it-now offer on E-bay for a mint condition genuine PICKIT2 programmer from a USA seller for $25 including shipping. It appeared from the software included to be only a few months old and seems to work great, had all original packaging, etc. I had looked at many PICKIT2 clones made in China over the last 6 months or so but I was uncomfortable with trying to determine their quality and their designs seem to change weekly.

However my latest China purchase is a programmer module to work with my PICKIT2. It performs a much simpler task of just holding the target chip while programming and had some unique features like SM pads. We shall see when finally arrives if I made a good decision or not on this piece


**broken link removed**

So I guess you could call me an E-bay fan. I love the 'window shopping' and finding unique or very underpriced items. I do however have a upper price limit on E-bay purchases unless I can check out the item beforehand locally or have personal knowledge of the seller.

So I guess I would summarize by saying that avoiding China and E-bay purchases at all times is just too simplistic a stand in my opinion. There are purchases well worth making from both places. Risk free? of course not, but there are bargains to be found if well balanced and thought out decisions are made.

Lefty

China is a huge country, and the do produce a lot quality products, which also makes cheap knock offs very profitable. Not to mention there are a lot of factory seconds, and just plain crap thrown in the dumpster (rework costs time and money). I don't mind buying Chinese products, when they are labeled as such, but usually when it's not on the label, the product might not be quality.

I've always considered Ebay a gamble, worse then a garage sale. You don't get to meet the people, or actually see the product. Sure there are ways to set thing right, but likely to cost you more time and money. I never like the the high shipping on a lot of items, almost as much as just buying the item at a retail store. Sure you can still save a few bucks here and there, but there is always some risk of getting scammed. Perhaps some people like the thrills...

Walmart is a sure shot Chinese made product. I don't care if it says STANLEY right on the label. If it is from Walmart it is made in China. The reason it is so cheap is that most of it is made by kids who live in Gulags and sleep like 4 or 5 levels of bunk beds high with several squeezed into one room. They work for a dollar or two a day if that, and they do not want to make a mistake.

This is what our gov't has chosen to be the model for economic development. Why else would they be "Most Favored Nation Trading Status"?

How I wish I'd read this thread ohh about 2 months ago, I brought two MP4 players off some chinese guy on ebay totally destroyed my laptop currupted the hard rive and somehow ruined y nice 3Ghz Cpu (GRRR)
So you can at least rest peacefully knowing some poor bloke is worse off than you.

MP4 player?

I have an MP11 player.... Media Player v.11

HarveyH42 I'd like to know what quality items come from China? Other than what I would consider "expected standard quality" like PC circuit boards, some of the better brand name tools, China produces a plethora of sub-standard quality products. Last year I got to meet and listen to a top economist who's made it his profession to study and watch China's industrialization and what areas they lack in. Plastics injection tech., metal casting, and precision machining are top issues for the Chinese to improve upon. India produces far better metal castings and stampings than China. China is clueless when it comes to heavy industry products like good diesel engines, excavation equipment, shipbuilding, and aviation. In these areas they either steal or bargain for outside assistance.

mneary said:

MP4 player?

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It means capable of playing both Audio and Video files.
It's a shortened term for MPEG-4.
I'm afraid I can't explain much more about it so google may be your guide to enlightenment.

Mercur said:

It means capable of playing both Audio and Video files.
It's a shortened term for MPEG-4.
I'm afraid I can't explain much more about it so google may be your guide to enlightenment.

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Good one!

HiTech said:

I have an MP11 player.... Media Player v.11

HarveyH42 I'd like to know what quality items come from China? Other than what I would consider "expected standard quality" like PC circuit boards, some of the better brand name tools, China produces a plethora of sub-standard quality products. Last year I got to meet and listen to a top economist who's made it his profession to study and watch China's industrialization and what areas they lack in. Plastics injection tech., metal casting, and precision machining are top issues for the Chinese to improve upon. India produces far better metal castings and stampings than China. China is clueless when it comes to heavy industry products like good diesel engines, excavation equipment, shipbuilding, and aviation. In these areas they either steal or bargain for outside assistance.

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I have a red pencil box.

Space Varmint said:

I have a red pencil box.

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**broken link removed**

Sell the defective one on E-Bay. That is what most people do. Maybe that is why yours didn't last long.

China makes very cheap junk. Then the seller makes a fortune.

HiTech said:

**broken link removed**

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LMAO! I like that! **broken link removed**

Err its an old thread but if one chain of one resistor and 5 LED's burns out the extra current does not go through the rest of the chains . Less current is drawn . Surprised others didn't spot that error

I'd set it up with new resistors and it should work every bit as well as it did and for much longer. Thats what I am looking to find now!

Those leds were probably all in series/parallel configurations without resistors for each series string, which meant there was no current-matching, which lead to some of the leds burning out from overcurrent, and they must have gone short-circuit. Then, the resistors burnt.