Unresolved ebay dispute

[Bob Hart]

Until otherwise advise there remains an unresolved eBay dispute which involves failure to supply or failure to refund between myself and a vendor.

In meantime, if bidding on any item offered by dastudio44 or dave alvarez, do your due diligence.

This is not to say the vendor is a shark. The freight component of the transaction was complicated, however the the dispute resolution process timed out and the profit goes to the vendor it seems. - My fault due to international time differences and misunderstanding of the process.

Appeal to re-open appears to have been unsuccessful.

[Brian Luce]

These ebay vendors love to play the four corners offense. Work the clock. I got reamed by a ebay vendor called "Supersmartelectronics", they supply CISS systems that often don't work. All the emails you send come back with short, borderline irrelevant questions about the transaction, they never answer YOUR questions, they just ask you questions so the conversations go nowhere. Meanwhile the clock runs.

As you say, due diligence.

Or better yet, stay local with Craigslist of DVinfo sponsors.

[Bob Hart]

Brian.


On the surface, this player seems legit but the website is "under construction". I have not tried the quoted phone number yet.

The items were twice listed and eBay notice of second chance offer came to me via email.

It was a batch of Strand lights at a price probably slightly too good to be true. I ended up buying new in with stands from Steven Studio in China for a good intro price.Should have gone new from go as the loss would have bought another new one in.

I should not complain too much as this is the first dud in about three years of transacting.

On the black/red line of the ledger, going via online vendors is more attractive in this end of the world in terms of otherwise unaccessable product being available but in the region of being cost neutral by the time our customs, GST and this bad deal is factored in.

[Vito DeFilippo]

Hi Bob,

Have you seen the Steven Studio products personally? They look pretty good, but I'm kind of leery of the knockoff lights from China. Do you have an opinion on them?

Thanks.

[Tim Polster]

I always go to Pay-pal right away if something seems off. Register the situation. I think you have 60 or 90 days. If it is a false alarm, then you can rectify it later. Most often though where there is smoke there is fire.

[Bob Hart]

Vito.


I have bought in the 1.2K HMI and three 650w frenels on stands.

I have written some handling notes for both types in the "Photon Management" threads here on dvinfo. They have probably sunk very deep into the list by now. The lamps do not come with a manual or handling notes.

Briefly. The 1.2K works well and colour temps at full power and lower power settings were within the limits an experienced DP expected them to be.

It has an estimated fourteen hours up now with no issues. It took a heavy beating in the shipping. There were some loose fasteners in the case so I took the lamphouse apart to refit them.

The spot-flood transport support and adjustment consists of a formed sheetmetal carriage sliding on two rods, one with a square-cut spiral and the other a plain rod.

The square-cut spiral is engaged by two tiny hardened rollers on pin shafts which appear to be machined into the ends of setscrews which with their locknuts adjust how far into the spiral the rollers penetrate.

If there is a weakness it could be here if the penetration of the rollers into the groove is not adjusted deep enough. The rollers might ride up onto the ends of their shafts and wear the ends off.

Unlike the Desisti lights, there are no ceramic bushes in the formed sheetmetal carriage where it slides on the rods, only bare holes. This may not be a good look but is an adequate arrangement and will not seize up or become baulky like bushes might.

The lamp mains supply cable came with what looks to be a CEEform 3pin plug. I fitted an AU standard 3pin.

The lamp is supplied with a transport case of good apparent construction quality and strength.


The 650w fresnels are fine. The top opening cover is a bit hard to find. The lens and front cover are fixed and do not open. There are no latches or knobs for the top cover. The cover itself is springy and you pinch it in just a little to release it.

The supply cord has an inline rocker switch. It does not appear to be as weather resistant as a lever switch but we have more sense than to operate our lights in the rain don't we.

Both active and neutral are switched. The earthwire passes right through uncut.

The supplied plugs were Australian pin pattern which happens to be the same as the Chinese system except that the cord comes in at the top instead of the end or lower right side.


The lamps and stands are supplied separately and are shipped in cardboard boxes. It is up to you to make or buy in a box or boxes for them.

The stands are of good apparent construction quality.

The leg stay attachments could be a little more robust with internal anticrush pillars or inner caps inside the tubes at attach points but are adequate for purpose. The design would not be stronger with pillars or inner caps maybe just a bit prettier.

One small damage which may occur in shipping is if the thinner extension becomes pushed too far into the next. The end piece is retained by a rivet. This rivet head may become sheared off or become jammed inside the next stage.

In normal use, it would be prudent to lock the inner extension when transporting or shipping and to take care when lowering the stage with or without the lamp attached so that it does not drop inside hard. There are cushion springs inside the stands.


I cant speak for how long the reflectors and optics in these lamps will endure as I have not operated them for long enough.



Tim.

It is one of those situations and a lesson learned where it probably is better to triggerhappy than good mannered.

[Vito DeFilippo]

Good Lord, Bob. I was expecting an opinion, not a detailed critique on the engineering! Thanks so much for your time in providing this information. It's very generous of you.

All the best...

[Bob Hart]

Vito.


I have a bit of a reputation for being longwinded and pedantic as readers of the AGUS35, Silicon Imaging and Letus threads will attest.

I tend towards caution and balance when endorsing or critiquing a product, which is why I went a bit long on this one.

The lamps are fit for purpose and represent value for price. Only time will tell in terms of their endurance and longevity. That for better or worse is a user-only experience.

I always put the little caveats in my descriptions because the last thing I want is for some unfortunates to howl like a dingo because they took my word as gospel and got a dud or something they were not able to adequately manage any better than they could a genuine ARRI, Desisti or other established brand.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Tim Polster

I always go to Pay-pal right away if something seems off. Register the situation. I think you have 60 or 90 days. If it is a false alarm, then you can rectify it later. Most often though where there is smoke there is fire.

I think that it is just 42 days that you have but as Tim says it is always easy to cancel a dispute if it turns out to be OK but always raise the dispute & escalate to a claim well within the PayPal timetable.

[Bob Hart]

Appeal to eBay remained unanswered.

I have now tried Paypal and received advice that it does not fit within their required category and referred me to the resolution centre. Seems like there's big words about buyer protection but it seems small print prevails. Roll ever onwards the great capitalist dream, another form of extraction mining.

I shall now do it the Australian way, piss off quietly and tell everybody else far and wide about it, leaving eBay and Paypal to their own devices. In the final wash, buyer protection is a bit of a joke if both outfits have to impose time limits on it. Both have AU arms. They might be in breach of our Trade Practices Act by concealing the time limits in the fine print of the "help" pages instead of being upfront about it.

[Tim Polster]

Bob, how much time has passed since the auction ended?

[Bob Hart]

Too much it seems.


The successful bid was Jan 12. The dispute was lodged Feb 22, so that's about 48 days, give or take the international dateline.

It comes down to basic risk management and taking care to budget in a limit of affordable losses. The online trade systems are there, very convenient and offer goods which might be impossible to easily source otherwise. Since trade and barter began, people have found ways to fraudulently misuse each other.


Stop fuming. Suck it up and move on Bob, is my advice to myself.