warrenty void on old shit - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2021, 10:47:11 pm
content: I just got an amplifier on the seller on ebay decided to put a warranty sticker on it.Well I removed it and it left a nasty residue and inside I find about 2mm of dirt, crusted over capacitors, buzzing electronics, etc. What are these people thinking?It will turn 2 ultrasonic tanks totally black and require 8 components replacements and jewelry work. this is like asking a tenant not to make modifications to a previous crack den.its like putting a sticker on a dumpsterthey shoulda thrown in 8oz simple green, rust remover and a can of deoxit. if they wanna warantee this kinda stuff they need to put a pressure washer port on it.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2021, 11:08:08 pm
content: Quote from: coppercone2 on June 02, 2021, 10:47:11 pmProtecting themselves against buyers that make facetious claims against sellers.

author: nigelwright7557
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2021, 03:36:15 am
content: Its amazing the crap some people try to sell on ebay then complain to the ebay forums when it is sent back as no good.If its rubbish then send it to recycling.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2021, 04:04:15 am
content: Did you pay a price appropriate for a pristine unit, or were you chortling about the great deal you got until you opened it up?And not just by your personal opinion of what it should be worth, but by the established market price. Actual dollars paid for actual pristine units.If it was the first answer I totally sympathize with your complaint, but I find that a lot of people complaining about condition are in the latter camp.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2021, 04:18:46 am
content: i got one for half the price I paid for this and it was in similar condition, but that guy did also not put a sticker on it either. ima kinda thinking the sticker salesmen are rubbishthis one has more severe capacitor leakage, the fuse is turned black on the contacts, etc. this dude just slapped a sticker on it without even cleaning the knobs. doubt he took it apart to look because who would warentee leaked crusty bread crumb covered capacitors?also it buzzes like a electric tooth brush, I am scared to try it under load until I replace all the suspects and varnish the transformer after cleaning it with probobly 1/2 liter of alcohol to get it non tobbaco? covered.basically I describe it as a bad weekend shipped in a UPS box. i need to derust and treat every screw also, waiting for the blob to attack me when I try to service the potentiometer

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2021, 04:34:09 am
content: Buyers run just as many scams as sellers, if not more.Typically stickers on things like that are to try to prevent buyers from opening the units up and robbing or swapping parts--or even whole units. Did it work when you got it?

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2021, 05:08:03 am
content: Ebay is heavily stacked against sellers, you can't even leave negative feedback against buyers anymore and it's trivially easy to scam free stuff by filing a bogus item not as described claim. Selling on ebay is very risky, scams happen all the time, I don't blame the seller one bit for putting a warranty sticker on something. I know guys who have taken returns and got back something that was obviously not the same unit they shipped out, they couldn't prove it and were SOL.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 03, 2021, 05:31:55 am
content: i suppose its a way to do parts harvesting for obsolete stuffsurprised someone would wanna do that but I guess there are some real cheap asses out there

author: H713
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2021, 06:07:34 am
content: Quote from: coppercone2 on June 03, 2021, 05:31:55 amIt happensconstantly, and there usually isn't a thing the seller can do about it. Buyers will file a claim stating that it was "not working", when in fact they stole the most valuable part. In extreme cases, that expensive part will be sold on eBay days later.How about selling a power amplifier, then having the buyer claim you shipped a "faulty amplifier", possibly even leaving negative feedback. Then they ship you back your same amplifier, minus both output modules. You just got scammed, and eBay sides with the buyer almost every single time. It's hard to describe how miserable it is to experience, particularly when it's something really expensive that you now get to send to e-waste. Unfortunately, people pull this kind of crap because they can often make (technically it's stealing) quite a bit of money doing so.To be clear, this behavior is FRAUD and is ILLEGAL, and people have gone to prison for it, but it still happens.The seller probably didn't even open whatever he/she/other sold you, they just stuck a warranty sticker on it in hopes of deterring scammers.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2021, 06:42:30 am
content: it seems very easy to detect, you can't touch these instruments without leaving the trail that is the equivilant of blasting through warehouse full of mold with a concentrated bleach fire hose. A few high resolution pictures will be enough to detect anything like new solder joints, missing parts, cleaned parts, and so forth. It would be legitimate art forgery to replace a transistor in this unit with out detection (half eaten writing, corrosion, etc). Literary walking around in a house with rotten wood.The only troublesome part is RF cans but honestly that stuff is usually so old, and decalibrated, you won't notice if someone reconnected a coaxial connector on anything but high GHz equipment.i feel like the old solder does not even melt the same after 60 years

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2021, 07:12:14 am
content: Quote from: coppercone2 on June 04, 2021, 06:42:30 amIt's not what you know, it's what you canprove.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2021, 09:24:45 am
content: Quote from: coppercone2 on June 04, 2021, 06:42:30 amDo you think eBay’s arbiters care about such things, or would know enough about the subject to understand it? Not a snowball’s chance in hell.Not to mention that it’s he-said, she-said if the buyer says “it was that way when I got it”.A sticker provides a simple, fairly reliable way for eBay to know that the unit hasn’t been modified after shipment. No more, no less.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2021, 09:35:30 am
content: not buying anymore warranty sticker crap unless I get internal pics firstwaiting to get played when I buy something with 4 missing cards protected by a sticker force fieldgreat scam too, strip it, put a sticker on it, see if someone decides to gamble on a probable fuse issueI wonder if that isralie guy that used to sell stuff run over by tanks is applying stickersi think he did it to hide those breaded capacitors. tested working deepfried and capable of waking the deadthe potentiometer looks like it has pesto mixed with dirt inside toowhat a crock of shit

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2021, 12:02:29 pm
content: coppercone2, the fact that you can't wrap your head around the function of the stickers doesn't mean it's a "crock of shit".The warranty sticker is to protect the seller against dishonest buyers, that's it, nothing less, nothing more.As a buyer, eBay protects you pretty well — the key is that you cannot, and must not, make ANY assumptions about anything not expressly stated or depicted.If you are not certain about the condition of the item, and the price is too high for if it's in the lower range of condition,don't buy it.For example, if it only says "powers up", (i.e. makes no further claims as to condition) and comes with a warranty sticker, and it doesn't power up when it arrives, then request a refund. But don't open it.If it does power up, then it is as described, and any further claims on your part are essentially fraudulent.The only situation where I see issues is if the listing includes internal pictures, but when it arrives, has a warranty sticker that precludes you inspecting the insides to make sure they match the listing.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2021, 10:24:54 pm
content: i get tons ofwaymore expensive and important equipment then this without any stickers, usually in good qualityit must have something to do with the audio frequency range, one of the worst looking boards I worked on and the most heavily defended

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2021, 10:55:13 pm
content: Quote from: coppercone2 on June 05, 2021, 10:24:54 pmIt has nothing to do with what it is, and all to do with how many times the seller has been defrauded in the past and decided to start protecting himself.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 06, 2021, 02:40:59 am
content: Might imply something about people who buy equipment in the audio frequency range. Perhaps they are more likely to defraud sellers and thus this is where you find stickers.It is also an opportunity for someone to discover "the amazing richness of tone" and "precise suppression of unwanted sound" that occurs with these deep layers of dirt and scum. Sounds to me like those boards should sell in audio specialty sites for thousands of dollars.

author: nigelwright7557
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2021, 09:55:20 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on June 03, 2021, 05:08:03 amI sold £50 worth of audio gear on ebay.Buyer said he wasnt happy with it so I told him to return it.He sent me back a lump of wood with nails in it !Ebay refunded him, he kept items and left a neg.Ebay is crap at times.I got police involved as wood with nails was designed to injure.Police went to see him and his wife said she sent it so he got away with it and she got a caution.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2021, 12:20:28 am
content: wow, thats almost like the unibomber. I am surprised you can run into such thugs on ebay.

author: J-R
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2021, 02:28:58 am
content: FYI, the warranty void if removed stickers and other similar tamper-evident seals are illegal in the US:https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2018/04/ftc-staff-warns-companies-it-illegal-condition-warranty-coverage

author: Grandchuck
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2021, 03:06:09 pm
content: Quote from: nigelwright7557 on December 30, 2021, 09:55:20 pmIs it possible to share the police report with ebay?

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2022, 12:11:21 am
content: I don't contact the seller about acoustic issues because they might be older and not hear the same frequency range as me (I imagine it could turn into a big hassle)I recommend maybe you get a microphone and an amplifier if you want to sell this kind of equipment to make sure it does not offend the ears, and maybe get someone to smell it too... but honestly with the old equipment it seems down-right stupid to not open it for inspection, if you read my other threads you will find the one with the old English brand system I ran into that had a big fat wire almost shorting out to chassis ground by 0.5mm. For your own safety I recommend you ignore these stickers, look inside the equipment and absorb the cost if anything.For a short recap:Someone (in the service center most likely), took the remains of the old high gauge wires soldered onto the old oval style 3 pin connector (which is screened) and 'comformed' them around the connector to hide them and then soldered the nice thin gauge wires in place.So, it was basically a frayed 12 gauge wire that was 'hidden', with approx 0.5 mm of clearance between the frayed wire (hot) and the chassis ground, totally bypassing the fuse. I think it would just take some vibration to get that sucker to fuse to the chassis and blow the breaker. The equipment fuse was on the end of the twisted pair, not in circuit. I drew the twisted pair that leads to the fuse and the fat hitman wire as the thick red line with the frayed copper in the end.I freaking hate when people don't bother to desolder the old wires and leave em dangling in the chassis, but ok.. if its a clean cut and you don't press it into the chassis it MIGHT be ok (but still unacceptable). But if you have a fray fuzz ball on the end of a wire carefully pressed around the connector, that is not ok. The thing was fused with a 100mA fuse on some wire that is less then 20 gauge... so why there is a old piece of 12 gauge wire there, who knows. I don't know if the chassis ground was even functional either, since it was nasty corroded riveted galvanized steel (replaced it with a 1/4 inch stainless nut with a crown washer connected by a crimp after carefully sanding/polishing the contact area to be free of oxidation), and I nibbled the chassis to fit a modern IEC connector.I imagine the service center was in a rush so someone grabbed another oval connector from something else and tried to 'yolo' it, at my expense. It would be safer if someone was not neat then neat in this case.Also, a great reason to use English-style fused extension cords, rather then relying on the equipment to have a fuse. You can always get some stupid bullshit like this.

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2022, 03:34:49 am
content: If someone rips you off take them to small claims, even if you don't get justice it prevents them from easily doing it en mass.As for ebay, it's the worlds discard pile. I always lower my expectations.