[time-nuts] ebay warning

[Steve]

Be cautious when straying off the tourist track over there. The Silk Market in Beijing for example. Showing interest in knock-off Rolex's in one stall got us an invite to see night vision goggles in another, and the "watchers" are everywhere. 

Steve


On Feb 21, 2012, at 1:44 PM, Chris Albertson <albertson.chris at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Feb 21, 2012 at 10:50 AM, Attila Kinali <attila at kinali.ch> wrote:
>> On Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:37:00 -0800
>> Chris Albertson <albertson.chris at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> This may be true of the re-worked FE5680s too.   A reworked unit might
>>> have been tested for 30 minutes or so while the others only got
>>> powered up briefly.
>> 
>> This requires in depth understanding of the device and how it works.
>> I doubt that many people have this knowledge. Much less some ebay seller.
>> (i wouldn't sell electronics on ebay if i had that kind of knowledge,
>> i'd sell my knowledge to some big company and make much more money)
> 
> It is different in China.  These sellers might have formal technical
> training or more likely access to people who do.   How else are they
> able to re-work the failed units?   In a country where the average pay
> is close to $2,400 per year a person with trade school level education
> will work hard fix a $40 unit so it can be sold.
> 
> You can guess that a person in China who can read and write poor
> English has better education than most.
> 
> In China there are still un-educated farmers who maybe did not
> complete elementary school and there are some with graduate degrees
> from US universities.  They have the whole range.   I'd bet these
> electronics sellers on ebay are in the mid ground, with maybe some
> tech-school type training and day job and do the eBay work from home.
> They are in the new, up and coming middle class.   It's clear to me
> that every one of them is a one-man shop but also there is a network
> of suppliers in China who sell locally to the guys who then turn this
> over on eBay.
> 
> Some day It will be fun to go and see  first hand how this works and
> buy some stuff in person.   My wife speaks "passable" Chinese as her
> second language so we can stray off the tourist track over there.
> 
> 
> Chris Albertson
> Redondo Beach, California
> 
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