3 ms·

good luck with warranty on stuff bought directly from China, their warranty period is also only one year instead of two in EU

sokoloff 9y ago
The way I look at it is that I self-insure. Much of what I buy direct from China (small electronics modules, connectors, electronics supplies, PCBs, etc) is less than half the price of what local sellers are charging, often way less. My experience is that way over 95% of items are as described, arrive safely, and perfectly functional. The odd item that is broken in transit (or never arrives) I simply choose not to care about. I don't need a warranty on a connector, an Arduino clone, or a tube of solder...
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  You're ordering one of the few things you can safely order from China, though. There's no way for them to screw up electronic components, because they're basically the single stop between you and the same factories which supply everyone else on the market. I wouldn't try that with consumer electronics though. Anything that's actually assembled to be sold cheap will likely be close to unusable. I can name plenty of examples of crap electronics I ordered from China or saw personally on Chinese markets when I was in Shenzhen. I stick to big western brands in this market simply to avoid completely useless crap.
  - sokoloff 9y ago
    I've also had good luck with small bluetooth speakers, with LED/PIR closet lights, with landscape lighting, with RGB LED light bulbs, LED lighting kits, charging cables, and a bunch of other things, even including a network tracing/mapping tool (that one I was sweating a little bit as it was expensive). It's literally better than 95% (probably more like 99%) good stuff and I'm willing to eat the small amount of slippage/breakage/fraud/poor design.
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      I saw how they make LED bulbs on-site, on the Shenzhen markets, and thus I'm not particularly confident in them. Related, the company my SO works in sells LED bulbs imported from China (among other things). I bought a bunch of them, and had them burn out on me one by one, with an average life time of a bulb around 1 week (one or two were broken already, a few burned out within first 2 days, rest worked for few months). In a parallel comment I described my negative experience with USB cables, which I tested on-site to find some that actually work for charging a cell phone. I also sourced USB chargers from China and have two burn out on me. Random Bluetooth headset from Aliexpress managed to completely mess up Android on my phone (how that was possible is beyond me, but I guess crappy Bluetooth 2.x firmware). So, anecdata to anecdata, I don't share your confidence in any kind of electronic products. I stick to sourcing components now.
  - JoeAltmaier 9y ago
    Be careful about ratings though. Power supply from China can claim a higher rating that it supports. Go near the rating and it starts to overheat or cut in and out. Weather-resistance of devices (outdoor cameras etc) can claim the highest rating, have a rubber seal to 'deserve' that rating, but then have screw holes in the case that freely admit water. Strings of LED lights may claim 'water resistant' but have no sealant where the wire enters the bulb base - which corrodes in a few months. And so on.
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      Yeah. But all those devices are what I qualify as "assembled" / "consumer" electronics, and I avoid sourcing those from random Chinese suppliers, for exactly the reasons you mentioned. I will trust a pack of SMD LEDs, but I won't trust their assembled form. (One exception from my "components only" rule are USB cables. I bought a bunch when I was in Shenzhen, and I actually tested them physically before buying; I discovered that if you pick a random USB cable there, there's like 70% chance it won't be able to give you more than ~750mA from a 2A charger...)
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

sokoloff 9y ago

The way I look at it is that I self-insure. Much of what I buy direct from China (small electronics modules, connectors, electronics supplies, PCBs, etc) is less than half the price of what local sellers are charging, often way less. My experience is that way over 95% of items are as described, arrive safely, and perfectly functional. The odd item that is broken in transit (or never arrives) I simply choose not to care about. I don't need a warranty on a connector, an Arduino clone, or a tube of solder...

TeMPOraL 9y ago
You're ordering one of the few things you can safely order from China, though. There's no way for them to screw up electronic components, because they're basically the single stop between you and the same factories which supply everyone else on the market. I wouldn't try that with consumer electronics though. Anything that's actually assembled to be sold cheap will likely be close to unusable. I can name plenty of examples of crap electronics I ordered from China or saw personally on Chinese markets when I was in Shenzhen. I stick to big western brands in this market simply to avoid completely useless crap.
- sokoloff 9y ago
  I've also had good luck with small bluetooth speakers, with LED/PIR closet lights, with landscape lighting, with RGB LED light bulbs, LED lighting kits, charging cables, and a bunch of other things, even including a network tracing/mapping tool (that one I was sweating a little bit as it was expensive). It's literally better than 95% (probably more like 99%) good stuff and I'm willing to eat the small amount of slippage/breakage/fraud/poor design.
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    I saw how they make LED bulbs on-site, on the Shenzhen markets, and thus I'm not particularly confident in them. Related, the company my SO works in sells LED bulbs imported from China (among other things). I bought a bunch of them, and had them burn out on me one by one, with an average life time of a bulb around 1 week (one or two were broken already, a few burned out within first 2 days, rest worked for few months). In a parallel comment I described my negative experience with USB cables, which I tested on-site to find some that actually work for charging a cell phone. I also sourced USB chargers from China and have two burn out on me. Random Bluetooth headset from Aliexpress managed to completely mess up Android on my phone (how that was possible is beyond me, but I guess crappy Bluetooth 2.x firmware). So, anecdata to anecdata, I don't share your confidence in any kind of electronic products. I stick to sourcing components now.
- JoeAltmaier 9y ago
  Be careful about ratings though. Power supply from China can claim a higher rating that it supports. Go near the rating and it starts to overheat or cut in and out. Weather-resistance of devices (outdoor cameras etc) can claim the highest rating, have a rubber seal to 'deserve' that rating, but then have screw holes in the case that freely admit water. Strings of LED lights may claim 'water resistant' but have no sealant where the wire enters the bulb base - which corrodes in a few months. And so on.
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Yeah. But all those devices are what I qualify as "assembled" / "consumer" electronics, and I avoid sourcing those from random Chinese suppliers, for exactly the reasons you mentioned. I will trust a pack of SMD LEDs, but I won't trust their assembled form. (One exception from my "components only" rule are USB cables. I bought a bunch when I was in Shenzhen, and I actually tested them physically before buying; I discovered that if you pick a random USB cable there, there's like 70% chance it won't be able to give you more than ~750mA from a 2A charger...)
deleted 9y ago
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