62 Silicon chip Australia’s electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au
SERVICEMAN'S LOG
Dave ThompsonFixing a “Cheap as” set of cans
I don’t know about the rest of you,
but I’ve made good use of cheap Chi-
nese imported goods. I discovered
AliExpress many years ago but I was
initially hesitant to send any money
off in that direction.
After all, early incarnations of Ali-
baba and similar B2B (business-to-
business) sites were ill-policed and
well-known as a scammers’ paradise.
But after I dipped my toe into the warm
waters of low-cost electronics, I be-
came comfortable with the idea and
by now, I’ve ended up throwing a lot
of cash eastwards.
I have now completed many hun-
dreds of trades, often finding and pur-
chasing components I haven’t been
able to find locally for ages. For the
most part, it has been a painless ex-
perience. These days especially, with
escrow-type payments and a credible
seller feedback system, buying some-
thing from any of China’s online mer-
chant sites is simple and (mostly) with-
out fear of being burned.
This is not to say everything always
goes smoothly; once, after much to-
ing and fro-ing with a vendor via the
messaging system, I ordered a rela-
tively expensive circuit board for a
client’s dead flat-screen TV. Instead,
what turned up in the post was a very
cheap Fitbit-style device worth a frac-
tion of the cost of the PCB.
When I went back to the vendor to
get an explanation, I got no answer,
despite repeated and increasingly-
pointed messages. Eventually, I de-
cided that he must be purposely try-
ing to exceed the then-30-day buyer-
protection period, after which he’d
be paid regardless, unless I lodged a
complaint first.
The guy eventually did reply, claim-
ing the error had been made at China
Post and was thus out of his hands
and I should get hold of them to sort
it out. He also requested I mark the
goods received and accepted so pay-
ment could be made.
Since I didn’t come down in the last
shower, I declined his generous offer
and told him that unless he sent me
the board I’d ordered, I would lodge
a complaint, apply for a full refund
and give negative feedback, something
most vendors try to avoid at (almost)
any cost.
After hearing nothing more for a
week, I went ahead and filed a dispute
and got my money back. Unfortunate-
ly, he was the only vendor I could find
selling that particular PCB, so that was
the end of that. However, this sort of
event is quite rare, and I’ve only had
to deal with a handful of disputes over
the years.Caveat emptor
For the most part, the products de-
picted on the site are as-described, and
aside from the odd purchase taking
over six weeks to arrive, most trans-
actions are hassle-free, and everyone
comes away happy. That said, B2B
sites can still be a trap for the unwary.
A certain amount of awareness and a
healthy dollop of common sense goes
a long way to avoiding potential em-
barrassment.
In the early days, I learned the hard
way. For example, there were many
listings for ‘iPhones’ priced consider-
ably below what you’d expect to payhere. The ’phones certainly looked like
iPhones, complete with the Apple logo
and product information stencilled on
the case, and no wonder; the images
were those of actual iPhones.
But in reality, the item for sale was
a locally-produced clone, and not a
very good one at that. The phone I re-
ceived was nothing like the one in the
photo. Not only was it nowhere near
as well-made as a real iPhone, but it
also was low-spec, didn’t run iOS (it
used some version of Android) and
couldn’t be used with an Apple ac-
count, run iTunes or use any other
apps from the Apple Store.
I ended up giving it away to a visitor
to the workshop who expressed inter-
est in it; I think he threw it in the bin
not long after that. Thankfully, this
type of deception is now rare, and
dodgy vendors are quickly reported
and removed. It still pays to be cau-
tious though, especially when some-
thing seems “too good to be true”.
Those new to these sites might think
some of the advertised products are
fantastic bargains, but more experi-
enced visitors know that most of the
time genuine big-name products are
not that much cheaper (if at all) than
those sold by local retailers or West-
ern online vendors. At least here we
are protected by consumer laws and
warranties, which is not always the
case with foreign purchases.Even servicemen sometimes
fall into traps
A while back I was in the market for-^ Headphones in one ear, regret
in another
-^ Digital photo frame repair
-^ A self-discharging Suzuki Vitara
*Dave Thompson runs PC Anytime
in Christchurch, NZ.
Website: http://www.pcanytime.co.nz
Email: [email protected]
While there’s a huge range of cheap electronics Items Covered This Month
available online, some of it really is ‘cheap’. It’s
unfortunately not uncommon to receive goods
different to what you paid for. Sometimes I
wonder whether the time lost dealing with all
this is worth the money saved.
For those not in the trade, “cans” is a
common nickname for headphones.