#neverliberal #nevermarxist
This was a decade ago.I needed a product: It was a small stuffed Doll for the Retail Gift Trade.So I visited a company in Boston famous for selling inexpensive, very similar items to Carnivals. All made in Asia. I trusted their expertise, and figured paying more for their experience was well worth it.The samples were wonderful; the final product delivered: NOT.The dolls were very ill-made; many broken in the package; and visibly DIRTY as well !I rejected the entire order of 1000 pieces.The GOOD NEWS: as a reputable US Based Company, they refunded me every dime.The BAD NEWS: with nothing to sell, my company folded.
Thanks to the language barrier, that 100 piece order was misunderstood, and fell through. They came back with a quote 3x higher, a deal killer. Back to Alibaba... just learning how this works has been quite an education - I see why people don't bother with international trade, it is a real time waster if you can't speak the language.
Not I, but I looked into buying in lots of ten thousand or more for resale.The horror stories went on for days. Not so much theft, but lack of translation, where ordering mistakes take place, wrong parts, amounts, colors. quality.But the biggest complaint was a solid lack of quality and no recourse once the order is fulfilled.I was considering ordering allot of solar panels, but a couple of respondents said that more than 30% of the panels either simply didn't work, or had worthless output.That would completely negate any reason for ordering abroad killing off the gained profit that would have occurred.I guess, research, research, and then do some more research to see if the company has any recurring complaints in any given area, like return issues, time to resolve complaints, and quality.Caveatemptor.
Sorry to hear that.
OOPS!,, Sorry, I forgot to pass this little nugget along. I was warned about products that require manual labor, they told me to avoid the little stuff that only takes a second to assemble at home.He used to buy wire harnesses, opted for them to tin the ends at only a nickel per unit, something he hated doing, so he paid.What he got was not what anyone in the industry considered up to par, wound up snipping everyone and skinning and tinning all over again, cost more time and money in the long run.Like you, he too thought "What a bargain", but at least he always got his order, not always what he wanted, but something always showed up.
Yeah, they don't "tin" leads like we'd expect, they're dipped in lead. I noticed all the soldier joints weren't firming up like normal soldier... I'd have to blow on them to cool them down, seemed like a long time..? Until I used a little bit of 60/40 soldier over them, and watching the two mix under the magnifying glass was interesting. Their soldier seemed to stay "soft" and had a course, dull look, my soldier was shiney and firmed up quickly... to a nice reflective sheen. What they did would work, I suppose... wonder if a good "yank" on the wires could pull them right out of the "china-soldier-joint"?Now it makes more sense why I've heard, "if you need a specialty item, provide specifications, including the materials & process".As I've said, buying anything from China is a total crap shoot, a real hit-or-miss. Sort of reminds me of the American cars of the 1970's, cost engineering to last only 100k miles... then the engine fails, wheel bearings, brakes & collapses in a heap of rust. I still remember Bill Cosby's "Aluminized Wax" undercoating commercials for Ford. (how many car washes would it take to wash off that undercoating?)
I just got in a pile of LED light bulbs. In light output, they would be 30w, 60w, 120w. We have rather dirty power, for a real scare, plug in a VOM and watch the voltage bouncing up and down. ...yeah, those sensitive electronics are absorbing all that crap.The last batch lasted less than one year, they say the power limiter(s) were poorly made, and frequently failed.This batch is suppose to be better. Cold temperatures have killed several we had on the porch & outdoor ceiling fan.My cost per bulb is 20% of the cost from a local big box store. One of my concerns was RF interference - nope, there is none, unlike the florescent twisters I got from a local store. ... we'll see how they do...