What the hell is wrong with Amazon or with me ? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Warhawk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 06:53:38 pm
content: http://www.amazon.com/Hakko-CHP-170-Stand-off-Construction-21-Degree/dp/B00FZPDG1K/ref=pd_sim_hi_7?ie=UTF8&refRID=1W47629XACJGBDFVTMHWhttp://www.amazon.de/Stand-off-Hardened-Construction-21-Degree-Capacity/dp/B00TZWN7MW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1426877390&sr=8-2&keywords=chp-170I did not expect the same price, but this is ridiculous. Or I miss something ?

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 06:55:16 pm
content: Quote from: Warhawk on March 20, 2015, 06:53:38 pmOne is sold by Amazon. One isn't.

author: Warhawk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 07:06:36 pm
content: If USD was equal to €, it would be only 19 times more....Oh, I can't wait another US kid begging for a free scope in Buy/Sell/Wanted section...It would be a nice idea to have a community based shipping service...

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 07:25:32 pm
content: QuoteInsist on paying the first guy 83Euro each and no more worries.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 09:27:52 pm
content: This tool is not made by hakko at all if you want these particular cutters. This is just rebadge of Piergiacomi, sold under many other brands too.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Piergiacomi-Electronic-Wire-Cable-Side-Snips-Cutters-High-Quality-Italian-made-/281468984876?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4188dbde2cAbout that particular listing on amazon, likely price is wrong, item is not in stock and sold not by amazon at all. You blow a fuse about nothing.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 09:34:56 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on March 20, 2015, 09:27:52 pmI doubt anything is wrong with the price or the stock situation. For instance:http://www.frys.com/product/2938565I have bought the very same item from Fry's and it is a nice tool. Works perfectly.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 09:36:52 pm
content: Quote from: IanB on March 20, 2015, 09:34:56 pmI'm saying about EU price and stock

author: Balaur
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 09:39:16 pm
content: We've recently bought a dozen of them for the company lab.Quality is OK, I guess.One of them got dull when cutting some rather innocent stranded copper wire.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 09:45:13 pm
content: Quote from: Balaur on March 20, 2015, 09:39:16 pmProbably it was copper plated steel wire, I see this junk time to time. It's a good tool for the price but steel it is made of is rather soft. Better to not abuse it. If there is a need to cut something harder, better to buy similar 78 61 125 knipex with 64 HRC hardness or something similar. Price is much higher though.

author: Balaur
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 09:53:29 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on March 20, 2015, 09:45:13 pmIt was real stranded copper wire, directly from the spool. Maybe it wasn't too wise to cut the full 6 sq. mm of it at once?I agree that the price is good. Ideal for the tool box.I'm a huge fan of Facom micro tech cutters. Too bad that the edges melt when cutting both wires coming from the 12V 7Ah SLA battery (glares to *that* coworker)

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 10:05:29 pm
content: Quote from: Balaur on March 20, 2015, 09:53:29 pmDefinitely more than 1.3 mm max specified.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 20, 2015, 10:55:51 pm
content: Quote from: Warhawk on March 20, 2015, 07:06:36 pmHuh?What does that have to do with the price of tools on Amazon?

author: 22swg
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2015, 10:19:31 am
content: The quality of tools can be very misleading , I would buy from a reputable supplier or one someone recommended.https://www.esr.co.uk/electronics/products/frame_tools.htm

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2015, 01:17:01 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on March 20, 2015, 09:27:52 pmNothing wrong with the price. I bought a 5 pack off of eBay for $25 USD shipped. Gave a couple away and kept 3 for me. They do a good job. I don't cut anything large with them, I have larger wire cutters for that. I've used 1 pair about a year for lead trimming and cutting small diameter wire with no appreciable wear.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2015, 01:35:21 pm
content: Quote from: GreyWoolfe on March 21, 2015, 01:17:01 pmNothing wrongwhere? OP just saw someone selling them for 83 EUR / piece at amazon.de and made a big fuss about that. I told that this is just widely available rebadge because Hakko is not widely available in Europe.

author: funkyant
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2015, 07:02:05 pm
content: I swear by these:http://www.knipex.com/en/pliers-abc/the-world-of-diagonal-cutters/I have one pair that is almost 10 years old and I use every other day, and they are still sharp as the day I bought them. Actually amazing.

author: Warhawk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2015, 07:34:27 pm
content: Quote from: rdl on March 20, 2015, 10:55:51 pmNothing, I overreacted. I am sorry.

author: Warhawk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2015, 07:38:09 pm
content: Quote from: funkyant on March 21, 2015, 07:02:05 pmDo you have some tip for a precise work ?I use 7861125 and 7002160 . They are OK, but could be better. Especially 7861125 got loose and does not work 100%.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2015, 07:40:40 pm
content: Quote from: funkyant on March 21, 2015, 07:02:05 pmSlow change is hard to notice. You need to compare side by side with a new unit.

author: funkyant
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2015, 07:46:25 pm
content: I have more than one pair. My 'old faithfuls' are on the repair bench at home - new ones in the toolbox.I buy all my new staff Knipex for their kits. Still swear by them.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 21, 2015, 10:40:30 pm
content: As was said earlier, the US one is being sold by Amazon themselves. The German one is being sold by a 3rd party seller, not Amazon. It's just being sold through the Amazon site.3rd party sellers are free to list things for any price they like - including ridiculously high prices. I personally wish Amazon would put a lid on it, partly for situations like this, but also for situations where vendors adjust prices up or down using software to maximize the $$$ they are getting from customers, which affects the price of items already in your cart.But, Amazon doesn't do that at this time, so sellers can sell stuff for any price they like. As always, nobody is forced to buy

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 12:18:36 am
content: Amazon pricing can be really weird. Prices are normally reasonable but once in a while you'll run into a ridiculous rip off. I loled when I checked to see if they sell atmega chips thinking I'll just throw a couple in an existing order. They do, but they are more expensive than a whole Arduino.Digikey sells them for a couple bucks. ADCs are even more hilarious. Some are over 100 bucks. The same ones will be a few bucks at Digikey. I guess Amazon is definitely not the place to buy discrete components. On the other hand, bulk stuff tends to be cheaper, like buying a bag of LEDs or what not.

author: cosmicray
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 12:59:07 am
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on March 21, 2015, 10:40:30 pmThere have been known instances of 3rd party sellers listing products that they do not stock, with absurdly high prices, on the assumption that they can go buy the item (from a less expensive source) in order to fill any order that might arrive. That may work, until their source yanks the rug out from under them. I refer to these asphantom inventorylistings.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 01:36:23 am
content: Quote from: funkyant on March 21, 2015, 07:46:25 pmSame here, small cute, large cutter striper and small players. It took me some time to learn about Knipex, I think it was mentioned here somewhere.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 01:56:08 am
content: Quote from: cosmicray on March 22, 2015, 12:59:07 amIt's pretty common on places like eBay too. They tend to wholesale copy the Farnell/RS/Mouser catalogue and mark everything up. Usually cheap enough that it would be worth ordering from them if you only needed one part but not expensive enough to be more than Farnell when including £20 min card order (or Mouser's £12 shipping)I imagine the only way they can make this economical is if they have a trade account with Farnell where they get free shipping on all items, regardless of order value. Last company I worked for had one of those contracts.

author: donotdespisethesnake
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 09:06:53 am
content: People use the automatic pricing software, I'm not sure exactly how it is supposed to work. It's designed to create prices slightly lower or higher than some reference I think. Sometimes it runs away and creates absurdly high or absurdly low prices.There are often prices on ebay for stuff that is 100x it's usual selling price, these are for common things where there is no shortage of supply. I don't think anyone is expecting someone to accidentally pay £900 instead of £9, they just don't have time to monitor 1000's of prices if the pricing algorithm goes wrong.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 02:40:58 pm
content: Quote from: donotdespisethesnake on March 22, 2015, 09:06:53 amSomebody mentioned here once that this is a way to temporarily delist an item without having to pay to relist it.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 02:41:14 pm
content: Quote from: donotdespisethesnake on March 22, 2015, 09:06:53 amSomebody mentioned here once that this is a way to piratically

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 03:06:52 pm
content: Quote from: donotdespisethesnake on March 22, 2015, 09:06:53 amYes, called repricing software.If you keep stuff in your Amazon cart and when you log in after a time and see a bunch of stuff in your cart changed price, often by a very small amount, that is vendors using repricing software.They have different settings and options depending on the specific software, but you can use it to ensure you are the lowest priced seller down to a certain price, or to ensure that you always sell for MSRP + 1% or something.I wish Amazon would ban the use of repricers, because I think it leaves a bad impression upon the customer when they log in and see lots of items in their cart have changed price by a few pennies up to several dollars or more. It makes the customer feel they are being gouged on price, and/or encourages them to not purchase until they see the price go down.At christmas, my brother wanted some kind of baby walker for his son. I looked on Amazon and I thought I saw them for $39. When I went to buy it a few hours later, the price went up to $69... but everyone was out of stock so I figured I made a mistake. Then I saw another vendor selling it for $49, so I bought it from them and returned the first one (at no cost to me). Then I saw Amazon got them in stock and was selling them for $39 fulfilled by Amazon (and both sellers had dropped their price back to $39), so I bought one from Amazon and returned the other one to the $49 seller. I made sure to ship them back on the last day of my return window so that the sellers would be out of that stock for the longest time possible. Yeah, a dick move... but so is jacking the price up opportunistically.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 03:32:54 pm
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on March 22, 2015, 03:06:52 pmYeah, it is.

author: cosmicray
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 04:06:31 pm
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on March 22, 2015, 03:06:52 pmMy impression is that Amazon is using pricing on Amazon, and scanning sites outside Amazon to feed that software. Might be useful if those sites outside Amazon blocked the scanning software's IP range.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 05:59:45 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on March 22, 2015, 03:32:54 pmSellers are free to adjust their prices as they see fit.Buyers are free to return product according to the terms of sale.Benevolence goes both ways.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 06:04:35 pm
content: Quote from: cosmicray on March 22, 2015, 04:06:31 pmWell, to be clear, the repricing software is nothing to do with Amazon. Private sellers register to sell on the Amazon marketplace, and their products show up in search listings. When you buy the item, it is fulfilled by the seller, who is an independent company.When you log onto your Amazon web store 'dashboard', you can easily adjust the price of any item instantly. Repricing software automates this function based on user configurable settings.I find that prices on items that Amazon themselves sell to you rarely changes. However, items sold by 3rd party sellers change all the time, because almost all the large sellers are using repricers. Amazon themselves will give a refund if a price changes (you just have to ask for it) within a specified time. Most 3rd party sellers will not, however those 3rd party sellers will (must) take product back for any reason - including "I changed my mind". And if I have selected the reason for return of "found a lower price elsewhere", the return shipping tag was pre-paid and not deducted from my refund amount.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 06:28:57 pm
content: Quote from: mojo-chan on March 22, 2015, 06:09:45 pmIt's an American Hakko branded product:http://www.hakkousa.com/products.asp?CID=55

author: cosmicray
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 06:53:55 pm
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on March 22, 2015, 06:04:35 pmWho eats the shipping in that situation ?

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 06:57:34 pm
content: The seller, Amazon simply deducts it from their account at the end of the month when they are reconciling the accounts. Actually they only pay at the very last day so they earn interest on the account balance. Pretty much a standard for any large retailer these days.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 07:20:38 pm
content: Quote from: cosmicray on March 22, 2015, 06:53:55 pmI had something I bought and wanted to return (it was my mistake, I thought it would be compatible with something I owned but turned out not to be) - contacted Amazon for a return and my choices were either a pre-determined shipping charge would be deducted from my refund and they would provide a tag, or I would pay the shipping back.In the case of the baby walker, I contacted Amazon to ask if they would do a price match - they said they can't because it was fulfilled by them but sold by a 3rd party. I said "Ok, I'll just do a return then" and they provided a free return shipping label. When I returned the second one, it was an automated return, and when I selected the reason for return of "found a lower price elsewhere", it printed out a pre-paid return tag and I got a 100% refund.So in my cases, Amazon paid for return shipping when I was returning due to a lower price elsewhere (as SeanB says, they just deduct it from the sellers balance that is paid out 2x a month), but I paid shipping when the item was functional but I simply changed my mind and wanted to return it (not for a price reason).

author: cosmicray
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 09:17:55 pm
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on March 22, 2015, 07:20:38 pmAll of this leaves me trying to understand just what it is that Amazon expects a seller to do w/r/t pricing. Back up thread the complaint seemed to be that Amazon doesn't care if sellers price really high. But now it seems that someone pricing high can get nicked by thefound elsewhere at lower pricereturn.I am aware that Amazon has a seller policy (buried deeply in the ToS) that a given seller cannot list on Amazon at a higher price than they list the same item elsewhere. That they force a seller to take returns suggests a higher operating cost on Amazon. On top of all this, people generally think that many Amazon 3rd party sellers list at excessively high prices.Full disclosure: until today, I have never sold anything on Amazon. Earlier today I listed a few items there (that I have listed elsewhere previously). Now I'm beginning to wonder if this was a smart move or not.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 22, 2015, 10:36:30 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on March 21, 2015, 01:35:21 pmBrain cramp whilst trying to multitasking. I suck at multitasking. I meant that the Amazon price was correct as I had bought them as noted. It is amazing to see what people/businesses try to get away with.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2015, 01:55:53 am
content: Quote from: Corporate666 on March 22, 2015, 05:59:45 pmI was agreeing with your concision.

author: Corporate666
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 23, 2015, 09:20:19 am
content: Quote from: zapta on March 23, 2015, 01:55:53 amI never claimed you weren't. I expanded on the point - helpful for those who hope to one day be check writers instead of check takers.

author: ciccio
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2015, 11:28:15 am
content: As some other member posted, it seems an Italian made Piergiacomi tool:http://www.piergiacomi.com/piergiacomi/en.htmlThe fact that the listed price is lower than what I usually pay for a similar Piergiacomi cutter makes me think about a clone of the Piergiacomi...Piergiacomi makes tools that do not cost a fortune, but that will definitely not last forever...I'll like to have one of these Hakko to see if there is any difference.Best regards

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 23, 2015, 07:49:57 pm
content: Quote from: ciccio on March 23, 2015, 11:28:15 amI doubt it's a clone. First of all those prices are in different countries and often rebadges are sold cheaper than original brand. Secondly I checked high res pictures an those tools are exactly the same. Marking are made with laser in exactly the same way too. Piergiacomi tools can be found under many various brands both in US and Europe.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Piergiacomi-TRE-03-NB-Electronic-Side-Cutter-Orange/dp/B00841YA44£4.84 vs $4.37 - pretty much follows the rule that UK prieces in punds are the same as US prices in dollars.