Bogus SIDs on eBay

[TheAncientOne]

HKSS is always going to be controversial. Some of the stuff they sell is your basic clone copy - cheap knobs, pots, so-called 'Monster' cables etc. Sometimes it gets worse. caveat emptor, ("let the buyer beware") as the UK motto goes. I always tell friends "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is".

If you go to http://search.retrosynth.com/synth-diy/search/search.cgi and search on 'counterfeit', you'll find one documented case at least. There are more. Whether the problem is HKSS themselves or their suppliers. I don't know. chipforbrains is a more serious synth rebuilt supplier, who has has specialist rare panels and pots made, and to quite good quality, (I know, because I have used them in repairs), as well as supplying NOS, (New Old Stock), parts. I think the enmity comes from HKSS muscling in on his market, and allegedly trying to sabotage his auctions.

There are current reports of phony SN76477's, and a while ago a bunch of CA3280's was doing the rounds. One trick is to label the blank chips used for setting up pick and place machines. Often theses an sanded to make the tops flat, before being screend as whatever the robbers wants you to believe they are selling. Another current fraud is in fake USB memory sticks that report as 2G or more, but have trick software in them to hide their actual small content until you start to load them up. These are old stock dodged up to make a quick buck.

We are not alone in this. The US military gets stiffed with bogus parts too - fake connectors that literally melt under load being one example. This is worse than your synth not working, these fakes can kill people.  As well as the flood of fake 'new' parts, the NOS market is full of dangers: specialist RAM re-badged to make it seem faster, old specialised 'jungle chips' rebadged to look like expensive TRW multipliers etc. The problem for the dealers is that they are often impossible to test without incurring very high costs, so they are taken in at face value, and the unfortunate customer gets to do the testing.

http://www.edn.com/article/CA497033.html?text=counterfeit%3E

Playbo$$'s caps were one of the rawest ripoff's I've seen for a while. Power transistors are another nightmare - I know this from bitter experience - a batch of 2N3773's I bought for repair stock, from a reputable dealer turned out to be rebadged 2N3055's, ( I opened one up in desperation). I got replacement parts ,but lost a major repair customer, I'd repaired H&H amps for him for years. 6 worked for a while on the bench and blew in the field. We lost the trail at the importer, who had also been ripped off: no-one was compensated for the consequential loss which must have run into the £100,000's region, (the importer had bought something like 25,000 transistors, which had been sent all over the UK).

Let's be careful out there folks.

[stryd_one]

HKSS is always going to be controversial.

LOL you bet  ::) But that's the problem... people spread rumour around, and before you know it, a half dozen alledged and totally unproven and partially documented posts on the internet create a culture where whenever a fake part is mentioned, crowds of people start flinging poo at hkss with no real justification. Even if he does have a few counterfeit parts, it's hardly unique and hardly worthy of the degree of reaction it gets. It's there in his feedback, as it should be.

Some of the stuff they sell is your basic clone copy - cheap knobs, pots, so-called 'Monster' cables etc. Sometimes it gets worse.

Ahem, proof please! Comon man, warning good, rumour bad, and all that... There's plenty of warnings about transistors in his feedback, and if you google, but does it really need to come here if it's in his feedback already? "Always check your ebay seller's feedback before you buy" is great advice, and it's all over ebay's website. Aside from that, he gives refunds on fakes, and broken stuff which I know from personal experience.

caveat emptor, ("let the buyer beware") as the UK motto goes. I always tell friends "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is".

Them's wise words!

If you go to http://search.retrosynth.com/synth-diy/search/search.cgi and search on 'counterfeit', you'll find one documented case at least.

Ahh, I wouldn't call a few words and a pair of pics "documented". I could whip up a post with a couple of messed up chips and say they're fakes and I bought them from him. Where's the link to the auction, the item number, the feedback? Where's the copies or screencaps of the email threads between buyer and seller? What about the refund? Did ebay buyer protection, paypal protection, and credit card online fraud protection all fail this guy? FWIW, I have some of the 4096 BBD's from him and they are not painted or sanded and the pins are new etc, I can't confirm they're not fake because I've nothing to drive them, but they don't look like those other pics at all.

There are more.

That may very will be true, but I'm yet to see them. I can find lots of posts referring to other posts referring to some story that some guy told them though ;)

You guys really need to stop and think - when you say this shit about him, whether it's true or not, you are disrespecting him and taking money from him. It's the equivalent of walking up to the guy hitting him in the face and stealing his wallet.

Now, if he's got it coming, then dish it up in droves, and I'll be right there swinging too.... but it's not something you should just throw out there in a flippant post like it's nothing, and I'm yet to see anyone take it as seriously as they would if they were saying this shit to the guy's face.

Whether the problem is HKSS themselves or their suppliers. I don't know.

It's clearly his suppliers, I mean why would he stock 99% genuine stock and then fake the cheap stuff? ... but he doesn't seem to do much about it either. Once he is shown that he's stocking fakes, he keeps listing them, and that sucks. His inaction is about as bad as committing the crime itself IMO.

chipforbrains is a more serious synth rebuilt supplier, who has has specialist rare panels and pots made, and to quite good quality, (I know, because I have used them in repairs), as well as supplying NOS, (New Old Stock), parts. I think the enmity comes from HKSS muscling in on his market, and allegedly trying to sabotage his auctions.

Yeh chipforbrains is way more serious for sure. And IMO HKSS's business ethics are nonexistent, it's pretty shocking. The worst thing is that he continues to list stock that has been proven fake (like the transistors) but then again, if you buy a transistor from him and his feedback says they're fake, you're pretty much asking for it.... And if you've got a problem with dodgy business ethics there are certainly better targets and places for discussing them.

There are current reports of phony SN76477's... CA3280's ... One trick is to label the blank chips ...fake USB memory sticks

Is this HKSS or what?

We are not alone in this.

Totally ,it's rampant. Sign up for parts supplier email lists and its just counterfeit this, counterfeit that, counterfeit the other. 

Playbo$$'s caps were one of the rawest ripoff's I've seen for a while.

Let's be careful out there folks.

Totally.......Man you got ripped, that sucks :(

[Ashiman]

lol If I would buy caps of that size, they would be called Panasonic Purism or Pureism, pure water caps :) and thats the way they are built no ripoff, pure water is kinda  expensive  ;D ;D ;D

now here is the new :

<%bobo1on1> lol

<%bobo1on1> someone bought a lot of metal film resistors from china

<%bobo1on1> and they turned out to be carbon resistors :P

<%bobo1on1> he thought it was strange that the resistance went down as he measured longer

[Peake]

lol If I would buy caps of that size, they would be called Panasonic Purism or Pureism, pure water caps :) and thats the way they are built no ripoff, pure water is kinda  expensive  ;D ;D ;D

now here is the new :

<%bobo1on1> lol

<%bobo1on1> someone bought a lot of metal film resistors from china

<%bobo1on1> and they turned out to be carbon resistors :P

<%bobo1on1> he thought it was strange that the resistance went down as he measured longer

Odd- numbers 2 and 3 happened to me. ;) I was given a quick partial refund (no shipping). They're still useful  ;D

[seekwhensir]

ARgh! Again!

Why?

What's wrong with that seller?

Lots of HK guys do that. It's not like they're secretive about it.

Probably because your first language is Serbian and his first language is Chinese, and you're both talking English, in emails only. It's not exactly an efficient method of communication ;)

I want to put a very sudden stop to this. If this seller has done something wrong, and it can be proven, then please by all means provide the proof, and protect our beloved midiboxers from being ripped off.... But so far, I've seen a lot of people badmouthing him, all because one guy accused him of selling counterfeit goods, and a bunch of people jumped on the bandwagon. It should be noted that the person who accused him of this practice, chipforbrains, is another seller from HK, and is likely his direct competition, or maybe even himself, directing buyers towards the chipforbrains store where prices are higher. Whatever the reason, there is as yet NO PROOF, not even a convincing argument, that hongkongsuperseller has done anything wrong.

I won't stand for unfounded accusations against anyone here.

Just to add my 2bits, I purchased a replacement blue light bend wheel for the Juno 106. It took 2 months to arrive after the ebay auction was over, and he's based somewhere in Oklahoma. When the part finally arrived ( from HK ), it was mint, clean in full ESD bags and was fully operational. I even inspected the pcb, was impressed by the clone, and it was evident that he was very much more of an asset then a culprit. The original knob cap no longer fit, but I'm not that vain for a 24 year retro fit that still works to this day.

Also, if this helps:  http://www.the-gas-station.com/messages.cfm?type=normal&thread_id=62105&lastdays=2000&