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[Brian60]

Has anyone noticed the amount of Chinese sellers masquerading as English recently?

I had to order some more grp stuff from the UK, it arrived and was the wrong stuff, so I contacted 'Andy' at Q-Tek Supplies to let them know I had received the wrong  package. Q-Tek which is allegedly in a industrial unit in Sheffield has a private address for returns! But Andy sent me an email back, he is sending out the correct stuff, doesn't want the wrong product back (result!) but what gave the game away was the fact that the email was either written by the most dyslexic person ever or had been translated into English from Mandarin

On the 10th May I ordered some more mini bearings, from HongKong, latest delivery day was 29th June, they never turned up so I contacted them and they gave me a full refund again the emails could have been written by Andy in Sheffield But here is the amazing thing. When I ordered these from HongKong that was the only place that had them on Ebay. Now if you look there are 10 or more sellers of them in the UK.

Even more spooky is that each of those sellers have exactly the same page as the HongKong one, with a drop down menu to choose the bearing size you want and on each of the menus, the same bearings are available or not available ie sold out!

So it seems to me that there are many Far Eastern traders on Ebay UK masquerading as legitimate English Businesses. I'm OK with that but why not just be honest and say you are the 'Ting Li Trading Comp' in Sheffield or wherever? People are still going to buy from you.

[Martin (Admin)]

Maybe it's a VAT thing or the fact we don't like buying goods from the far East unless we have to....!

[derekwarner]

I agree Brian60......one of the interesting things is the traders from Hong Kong that independently market  HobbyKing branded components , however sell them at greatly reduced prices [including air parcel post to OZ] over the Hobby King  prices + APP
The bottom line tells it all

Also purchased 4 x miniature taper plug valves as tube to tube connection.....they turned up as tube to BA thread form......no problem......they didn't want the incorrect supply returned......the correct items arrived a few days later...Derek

[Brian60]

Yup, they practically give stuff away, which I don't have a problem with - as long as its up the job I need. But they just don't grasp the fundamentals of trade, or that they have stuff produced so cheaply they can give it away!

In my case the latest was for glass mat 300gsm by 10 metres. I received glass cloth. So they are replacing it free basically?? The mat came out to £14 about what I'd normally pay with a reputable supplier (ie not ebay trader) in the UK, its just I wanted to pay via Paypal rather than credit card, the postage from UK to Spain was £17 so a total of £31.

So they have £31 of my cash, they have supplied the wrong stuff that they don't want back and are now having to re-supply at their cost, SO they are out 10 metres of glass cloth and a £17 postage charge. Dunno how they really stay in business.

[RAAArtyGunner]

Brian,

My son has similar experiences.

However he is adamant that he will continue buying as they always replace stuff that is not suitable or give a refund.

All his purchases are post free, however, I see the parcels arriving and there is a postage cost indicated thereon.

One can only assume (which we shouldn't do) that the Chinese government, is subsiding delivery costs if not absorbing them.

It would seem they have learnt that the delivery/postage costs are becoming the downfall for business's selling world wide.
Example, Hobbyking now have warehouses in the UK and Australia, so delivery is local cost.

On many occasion I have cancelled an order from a supplier because the postage was equal to or dearer than the item being bought.

[derekwarner]

Evening Mr Gunner ...hope all your chooks are doing well 

My recent experience with a HobbyKing product...it was AUD$4.00 cheaper for me to pay a higher list price with free postage from Hong Kong....that it was to purchase the identical HK servo from the Australian HK warehouse in Australia + the Australian $15.00 postage

AUD $21.00 was the total price paid and $4.00 is not a great amount...however it represents approx. 20% of the final total purchase cost

Derek

[cos918]

Brian,

My son has similar experiences.

However he is adamant that he will continue buying as they always replace stuff that is not suitable or give a refund.

All his purchases are post free, however, I see the parcels arriving and there is a postage cost indicated thereon.

One can only assume (which we shouldn't do) that the Chinese government, is subsiding delivery costs if not absorbing them.

It would seem they have learnt that the delivery/postage costs are becoming the downfall for business's selling world wide.
Example, Hobbyking now have warehouses in the UK and Australia, so delivery is local cost.

On many occasion I have cancelled an order from a supplier because the postage was equal to or dearer than the item being bought.

The Chines government does subsidise the postage very heavily .


John   

[tigertiger]

Maybe it's a VAT thing or the fact we don't like buying goods from the far East unless we have to....!






VAT thing is, I think a part of it
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jun/21/amazon-uk-reviews-chinese-traders-ahead-vat-clampdown

Buying direct from the manufacturer, rather than an official importer, is another part.

Also a quality thing. A lot of products on the Chinese internet equivalents of ebay are fake. Chinese manufacturers are even ripping off each other. The websites look the same as do the products, but the quality is often lacking. I have a number of quick grip style clamps, basically identical, but some were cheaper. The cheaper ones do not perform as well, jamb more often, and won't take the pressure. I have broken the jaws on one and when you take them apart you can see that the internals are not as good.
In China there are no real bargains, you get what you pay for. Everything is down to price/cost. If one costs twice as much it will last 5 times as long. Especially true for some electrical goods. As for things with working parts, lets just say that materials science is lacking in the cheap copies. Sometimes you will even get materials conflict.
Remember that, 'looks the same' does not mean it is the same. Caveat emptor.

[NFMike]

There is an outfit, or several, claiming Gosport as location, but the results suggest the stuff comes from the Far East - if it comes at all. What annoys me is that sometimes I want something fairly quick, so I select UK only. Then you end up waiting a couple of weeks while they say "oh yes, it's been sent out".

[Brian60]

There is an outfit, or several, claiming Gosport as location, but the results suggest the stuff comes from the Far East - if it comes at all. What annoys me is that sometimes I want something fairly quick, so I select UK only. Then you end up waiting a couple of weeks while they say "oh yes, it's been sent out".

I guess this is a drawback really, I used to when I wanted something click on that ebay page, but before commiting to buy I always used to check their 'home' address. Now because of the amount of Chinese sellers claiming to be in the UK this doesn't always work. I think the way it works is they set up a page showing location be that Sheffield, Manchester Birmingham or wherever. You order from that page but it seems to come from a central warehouse.

Although in my case Sheffield meant Sheffield, just not the address as given on the ebay page.

[tsenecal]

here in the states, the same thing is going on.   they claim to be shipping from a warehouse in california, but it takes just as long as it does coming from china.  they do use USPS instead of china post, so tracking is USPS.  when i find one of these sellers, i generally slam them with a negative feedback, for exceptionally long shipping times.  it is the only way to get them to straighten up, and accurately represent themselves.  too much bad feedback and ebay starts docking them.

[Nemo]

A clue is in the quoted 'delivery-date' ! It should not take 2 weeks to come from Gosport! It is the first thing I check as I have become so cynical of supply addresses.

[NFMike]

A clue is in the quoted 'delivery-date' ! It should not take 2 weeks to come from Gosport! It is the first thing I check as I have become so cynical of supply addresses.

The delivery date is 'UK', they just miss it by a week or two. (I'm waiting for something at present which is now two days overdue. Most eBay sellers are well within the target dates and usually within 48 hours; and that's without me asking for any priority post.)

[nivapilot]

I wanted to buy something from the chinese Gosport seller, it was £2.50 and £40 delivery, I asked if I could collect......................they said no......I wonder why?

[jarvo]

HI to you all, i work for Royal Mail and can tell you that SOME ebay sellers have warehouses in the UK. We collect from them on a daily basis, do agree that some are claiming to be UK based when they clearly are not. Only way is to boycott them and support honest sellers, i don't mind if they are in China or Hongkong, just be honest


Mark

[Ianlind]

Hi from a very wet Downunder.


I buy quite a bit of mainly model stuff from China, both Ebay and direct from a major seller who has warehouses in a couple of other countries. I rarely buy from Hobbyking, as has been mentioned previously, the postage cost makes it less attractive.
Generally the stuff averages around 3 weeks to get here, but if you factor that in, it's not so bad. Some stuff from the other seller gets here in under 2 weeks and it then has a name and address of a Sydney freight distribution network on it. Maybe it's bulk freighted to Aus, then it goes in the post. It's in the usual grey plastic bag, sometimes with too little packing, but normally arrives in good condition. I don't care where it comes from as long as it gets here in good condition, and it nearly always does. Being in the bush and a long way from any hobby shop, Ebay is a great place to get the stuff you need. My nearest Hobby Shop is 65kms away, and they almost never have what I need, so the next option is 350kms+ which I don't do very often!


I just had to replace a Robbe ESC which developed a dead short and was melting fuse holders before blowing a fuse, but wasn't prepared to go Robbe again due to the cost. I chose to buy a selection of cheap Chinese Brushed ESC's at around AU$11.00 to AU$22.00 ( posted ) at the usual 320amp? rating. As I probably only pull well less than 20 amps in most models, there is ample safey margin! These vary slightly in performance in the F/Brake/R function, and I'm still looking for one with no real brake. The best so far has been a unit from Hong Kong rated at 110amp forward and I think 60amp reverse, and this cost AU$26.90 posted. It does everything the Robbe did and transtions quite smoothly from F to R. I know there is a quality difference between European and Chinese, but now on a limited income, price is more important. I had used one of these previously which I had bought from a local Ebay Seller for almost the exact same money plus postage, but he no longer lists them, so buying from overseas for the same sort of money posted, makes sense.
Long live Ebay and PayPal!


Ian.

[Ianlind]

Just as a follow on from my last post today, another cheap ESC turned up in the post today, from Hong Kong.
Changed the supplied Tamiya plug to an XT60, as I do with all my stuff, hooked it up to a 2S battery and motor, and got smoke! Lots of smoke, so I guess this one is a dud!!
This is the first of several that I have been trialling which has been faulty, but at AU$10.58 delivered, can't complain. Now just waiting to see the reaction of the vendor to my email advising him of the issue.
I was a bit hasty in giving him positive feedback and the much sought after and prized 5 stars, but then none of the previously tested units have given any problems either!


Ian.

[canabus]

Hi Ian
I get all my gear from Hobbyking and in two years only one parcel was a totally damaged!!!
I rang the courier and he said it arrived like that, so, I taped it up!!!!
The Lipo battery was twisted and one cell was end, the motor box was totalled and the motor was missing and the car 100Amp ESC look like it had been hit with a 2 pound hammer.
I email Hobbyking with added photos and they replaced the lot with free postage.
So I am happy little customer !!!!!!!!!
I wish they would stock more boating gear in Australia.
So I general go International and order gear for other club members at the same time(sharing the postage cost).
Canabus
 

[inertia]

Hi from a very wet Downunder.

I just had to replace a Robbe ESC which developed a dead short and was melting fuse holders before blowing a fuse, but wasn't prepared to go Robbe again due to the cost. I chose to buy a selection of cheap Chinese Brushed ESC's at around AU$11.00 to AU$22.00 ( posted ) at the usual 320amp? rating. As I probably only pull well less than 20 amps in most models, there is ample safey margin! These vary slightly in performance in the F/Brake/R function, and I'm still looking for one with no real brake. The best so far has been a unit from Hong Kong rated at 110amp forward and I think 60amp reverse, and this cost AU$26.90 posted. It does everything the Robbe did and transtions quite smoothly from F to R. I know there is a quality difference between European and Chinese, but now on a limited income, price is more important. I had used one of these previously which I had bought from a local Ebay Seller for almost the exact same money plus postage, but he no longer lists them, so buying from overseas for the same sort of money posted, makes sense.
Long live Ebay and PayPal!
Ian.

Ian
Do beware of the current rating of most Chinese speed controllers. It is physically impossible to conduct more than about 50A through the cables fitted to most of the units (14-16AWG) without that cable overheating and breaking down the insulation. We have long suspected that what they quote as the continuous current rating is actually the burst current, which can be delivered for no more than one second. UK and European-made speed controllers all seem to have credible current ratings.
Don't forget that 320A @ 7v is well over 2KW, or two fully-lit bars of a mains electric fire!
Dave M

[Ianlind]

G'day Dave,


I'm fully aware of the overrated amps on the cheap ESC's, but as I said in a previous post, I'm probably not pulling much at all, as I rarely blow a 10amp fuse.
I was using a HobbyKing 30amp brushless in Albert, but didn't like the fact that it overheated and cut out constantly. Reduced the prop size which eliminated that problem, but also lost the performance, so then I went to a big brushed and back to the big prop and a cheap ESC and all is well.
The other problem with the HobbyKing ESC was that it gave good performance forward, but about 10% astern. This is OK for a fast boat ( or car ) where you rarely use reverse, but on a tug or workboat you need good performance in both directions. Possibly the HobbyKing ESC could have been programmed, but not by me, so it's back in the drawer.


Good news on the smoking ESC, the vendor gave a full refund, but no communication to say sorry or whatever! And I get to keep it! It smells so bad that I'll sweat off my XT60 connector and bin it.




Ian.

[jaymac]

Ian if this is the  esc you are on about Now available in the UK ? albeit dearer .For the record I changed over to one of these as  My S-boot kept  cutting out  checks showed probably my (well known 40a esc ) as in fairness  the boat would peak at about 48A  runs at around 38a no trouble since touch wood  and it is actually smoother than the Ahem !  British well known one. only dislike is the lack of immediate reverse bit hairy if one forgets
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ESC-Brushed-Speed-Controller-for-RC-Car-Truck-Boat-320A-7-2V-16V-NEW-2016-UK-/112052641753?hash=item1a16db9fd9:g:pvIAAOSww9VXgj84

[Ianlind]

G'day Jaymac,


I have one of those in use in another boat and it works really well, but like you say, that brake mode does slow getting to reverse in a hurry.
Overall they are a good ESC, in my opinion, and the price just went up to AU$22.54 posted!  I think I have 2 or 3 of these in stock!
But I also like the 110Amp EL which has no fan. I can't manage a link, but the item No. is 401015300599. It's seems to be a smoother transition between F/R that the more lumpy 320amp? units. Works for me!
I did manage to copy the image though! This one comes out of RC Echo in Hong Kong and the service is excellent.


Ian.

[Ianlind]

Looks like my image didn't attach, sorry!

[canabus]

Hi All
Like Ian I am on a small income.
I have used Hobbyking parts for a few years.
The three local hobby shops ( two the same company) are not really into boats.
I have only used the Hobbyking car ESC's 45 to 100 Amp(part No. HK-45A,HK-60ASLand HK-100A).
I use the same setup on each ESC, but only change the low volts battery setup for 3S to 4S.
I have not cooked a ESC and as for their XT-60 connectors I only use them( no problems).
I have one boat with a 1600 watt brushless motor on 4S which I push to it is limits and never failed .
So price is not the cheapest way to go ,but, info from club members and asking questions on forums saves money.
Also the KISS idea, Kept It Simple Sir!!!!!!!!!!!