On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 20:44:55 -0000, Rod Speed wrote:



"Commander Kinsey" wrote in message
newsp.0brzwbfawdg98l@glass...
On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 20:00:09 -0000, Rod Speed
wrote:



"Commander Kinsey" wrote in message
newsp.0brtvbxjwdg98l@glass...
On Sun, 24 Nov 2019 17:55:37 -0000, NY wrote:

"Commander Kinsey" wrote in message
newsp.0brsg6pcwdg98l@glass...
I once bought an adapter to convert two molex power plugs to a 6 pin
graphics card power plug. When it arrived, it was wired up
incorrectly.
Both the 5V and 12V lines from the molex (PSU end) were connected
together
to feed the graphics card end's 12V pins. When I sent the seller a
message about it, informing them it would have shorted the 5V and 12V
lines, I was told "if it's a good power supply it can handle it". I
told
Ebay they were selling a product which could damage people's expensive
equipment or possibly cause a fire. Ebay returned my money, I kept the
adapter, rewired it properly, and it worked fine.

We needed some light bulb adaptors so bulbs with a SES (small Edison
screw)
could be used in LBC and SBC (large/small bayonet connector) socket.

We bought some and everyone one of them tripped the circuit breaker in
the
consumer unit as soon as a bulb was screwed in. On closer examination,
I
saw
that the metal contact that touched the tip of the screw fitting was
mounted
too high so as the bulb was screwed in, the contact distorted so part
of
it
touched the screw of the bulb as well as the tip - instant short
circuit.

Ouch. I imagine if you hadn't screwed it in as tightly, or some of them
weren't quite as badly made as yours, you could have caused an arc which
could overheat and melt the fitting.

I don't like things that could catch fire when I'm not around, burning
down my house, but I never bother objecting to other things like
electric
shocks. For example I have a 15W "corn on the cob" style LED bulb still
in use that I bought a few years ago on Ebay. The LEDs are bare - you
can
touch them (and their live ends). They're in series - fed from a 150V
DC
rather simply made capacitive dropper. If you touch the right bits of
it,
you get that across your fingers - i.e. the mains, a capacitor, a
resistor, then you. Not sure how much current would flow, but it was
enough to make me jump, enough that if I was on a ladder I would have
jumped off it. I guess 15W at 150V would be about 100mA (which the
health
and softy folk claim is lethal - yeah maybe if you're 90 years old with
a
dicky ticker).

I sent very clear feedback to Amazon that this product was dangerous
and
not
fit for purpose. I never heard anything back, but I saw that the item
was
no
longer for sale after that.

So Amazon didn't even bother refunding you? Ebay are a lot better, you
get your money back the instant they believe something isn't what it's
advertised as.

Plenty have got a full refund from Amazon but its not clear how often
that happens with third party sellers on amazon as opposed to stuff
that amazon themselves are selling. That's the big difference with
ebay, ebay doesn't actually sell stuff itself.

One of the main reasons I don't use Amazon,

More fool you.

More expensive, less range, harder to use website, worse customer service, er.... the advantage is?

I never worked out how to tell who I was buying from.

They say that very explicitly indeed.

Where? It's the most unintuitive piece of **** I've ever used. Mind you, I don't understand Apple devices either. I guess it's a different way of thinking?

Plus I just can't get the hang of their website, it looks too plain, I
feel like I'm back using the net in the 90s.

Mad reason not to use them..

It's a very good reason. Ease of use is very important. I can find what I want on Ebay in a fraction of the time. If I'm searching for several specific things, it could take an hour on Amazon or 10 minutes on Ebay.

And the feedback for each seller is nowhere near as comprehensive.

But you do get the feedback on the specific item,
not everything that seller has sold with feedback
that you get with ebay.

I don't care about the item. I care about the seller. Will it arrive on time, in one piece, and will he honour a warranty? Anyway, if the item is ****, then no doubt everything he sells is **** too.

That and things always cost more,

No they do not. There have never been the
same discounts on Philips Hue gear on ebay
and there has never been as good a price with
the last 8TB external hard drive either.

Every time I've gone to compare prices, Ebay is about 10% less.

as their seller fees are higher than Ebay.

Not with the stuff amazon itself sells.

If I can find them.

Main thing I don't like with amazon is that the
search terms arent strictly observed so you cant
be so selective about what shows up with a search.

that is a major drawback I forgot to mention. Very often on Ebay I will search for a widget, then narrow it own by size/capacity/etc until there's a reasonable number to look through.

And the description of the item being sold is much
briefer on amazon.

And the buggers will no longer ship here from the
other amazons world wide.

What's that to do with Amazon? Don't the sellers send you it themselves?