Model Boat Mayhem

Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: Brian60 on February 16, 2018, 08:51:53 am

Title: Never trust your eyes, read the ad!
Post by: Brian60 on February 16, 2018, 08:51:53 am
I was on Facebook yesterday and an advert for Aliexpress pops up. Mini Lathe etc etc $70. Wow I could really do with one of those. However instead of just clicking and buying after seeing the ad and photo, I actually logged into ( I have an account) to Aliexpress.

I then searched for the seller and lathe, lo and behold the price and photo did not tally! $70 dollars would get me a vice mounted rotary attachment that you turn by hand.

The lathe in the photo which can be had in the UK under various brand names was much more, £388 more plus another £310 shipping >>:-( £698 in total, for no warranty etc etc, when for a few quid more you can get the full coverage and protection offered in the UK by buying there. But one has to ask just how the Chinese can get away with adverts like this and what happens to the gullible people taken in by them? Caveat Emptor, as the saying goes.
Title: Re: Never trust your eyes, read the ad!
Post by: TailUK on February 16, 2018, 09:07:01 am
I recently got caught out on E-bay (I've sent a complaint to E-bay but don't hold out much hope) I was after a large capacity Flash drive (Memory stick, etc ) and found some 64 Gb on fleabay at a very good price, so good that I bought 2. When I received them I formatted the flash drive just to make sure there was nothing nasty hiding on the stick and the format confirmed that the drive had 61 Gb unused capacity but I could only get about 4 Gb of data on the drive.  The scam is that they take a small capacity drive and jigger the firmware so that it reads as a 64Gb drive.  It still works but will only accept the smaller amount of data. 
Lesson learned. "If something looks to good to be true, it usually isn't!"
Title: Re: Never trust your eyes, read the ad!
Post by: Plastic - RIP on February 16, 2018, 09:21:25 am
I recently got caught out on E-bay (I've sent a complaint to E-bay but don't hold out much hope) I was after a large capacity Flash drive (Memory stick, etc ) and found some 64 Gb on fleabay at a very good price, so good that I bought 2. When I received them I formatted the flash drive just to make sure there was nothing nasty hiding on the stick and the format confirmed that the drive had 61 Gb unused capacity but I could only get about 4 Gb of data on the drive.  The scam is that they take a small capacity drive and jigger the firmware so that it reads as a 64Gb drive.  It still works but will only accept the smaller amount of data. 
Lesson learned. "If something looks to good to be true, it usually isn't!"

The memory stick scam has been around for years - only buy them from reputable sellers.
Title: Re: Never trust your eyes, read the ad!
Post by: tigertiger on February 16, 2018, 09:59:58 am
I like these three



Title: Re: Never trust your eyes, read the ad!
Post by: Martin (Admin) on February 16, 2018, 10:03:28 am
The memory stick scam has been around for years - only buy them from reputable sellers.

True. I got caught once but ebay were very good about it and shut down the seller.   >:-o