It's no secret that ethical standards differ from continent to continent. I read about this problem before I had the experiences, to one of which I referred in my previous post, but thought it might be worth taking a chance. I've since heard it again and again from others who've had similar experience.

In the case to which I made reference, I ordered a rather costly piece of used test equipment to replace one which could no longer be repaired by the manufacturer. It was obvious from the high-quality packaging and the lack of damage to it that the instrument had not been stressed during shipment, as the packaging was totally pristine. The instrument, however, did not even pass self-test, though the seller's agent repeatedly assured me prior to the sale that it had been thoroughly tested and verified fully functional prior to the sale. This instrument kept its own chronological log of failures of POST, thereby proving that it had been shipped with the defect in place.

My caution to the O/P, who has apparently been bitten by a lesser lapse in ethics, and anyone else doing business in the PRC, specifically, and in Asia in general, would be to ensure that ALL the right questions have been asked and answered before entering into a "deal" on eBay.

The general dBay custom seems to be that when a product is deemed defective, it falls to the buyer's lot to pay for transport back to the seller. This means that the seller only risks the cost of shipping to the buyer. Often that's a small risk for the seller, but a large risk for the buyer, who, in the end, loses not only the time required to check out the ultimately defective product, but also the cost of shipping it back, in this case, to China, where the cost from U.S. to the PRC is much higher than the cost from PRC to the U.S. I don't know how this works in Europe.

Since it's difficult to get anyone in China to agree prior to the sale to pay for return shipping in the unlikely event that the poduct arrives DOA, I'd recommend one simply not buy products from the PRC via eBay.

The cultural/ethical differences between "western" nations and the PRC regarding such matters as human rights, intellectual property, copyright, etc, have long been a "bone of contention" between the U.S, among others, and the PRC. The majority of counterfeit software, music, videos, etc, on the market in the U.S. and elsewhere have been said to be of Chinese origin. Other Asian nations seem to share the bias that anything that they can steal is rightfully theirs. That's something the folks in the "West" should consider when entering into any sort of dealing with businesses in that part of the world. If you're not prepared for that hazard, you'll surely be bitten in the *ss.

If you, Per, nave had significant experience to the contrary, please share it with us.

RE