No name ebay focusing block

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ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Well, I pulled the trigger and ordered one of these to try. Unfortunately, I just got an email saying:

"Hello, I'm really sorry this item is out of stock. Our factory need 2 to 3 weeks to make it. Can we ship it after 2 to 3 weeks? Thank you very much"

Interestingly, they still show 5 available on the eBay listing. There is also another seller now that has the stand for cheaper, but I am not going to order another until I get a refund from the first. Will update when I get more info.

Ludvig Friberg
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Post by Ludvig Friberg »

I will try with AliExpress then. Will have a look in the sellers store first if he has something else worth to buy.

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Well, I ended up ordering from a different seller on eBay, but who knows if I will get either one of these. The whole thing feels like a scam. Hope not, and I will let you know if I ever receive one of these.

I personally would not buy from AliE since I don't think the buyer protections are as robust as on eBay. With eBay, I am almost certain to get my money back, though the seller can play some games to keep money for quite a long time. I had one seller from same country hold out for 2 months before I got my refund.

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Post by rjlittlefield »

ray_parkhurst wrote:The whole thing feels like a scam.
I am curious: what about this feels like a scam?

To me it feels like somebody finally figured out they can make some money by doing a small mix-and-match of designs that they already have in their library from making other equipment. Just combine the long rack and rail used for a stereo scope, with the geared knobs and pinion from a normal bio scope, and you get this thing. What have I missed?

--Rik

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

rjlittlefield wrote: I am curious: what about this feels like a scam?.... What have I missed?

--Rik
If you found out you didn't actually have an item you had for sale on ebay, what would you do first? I would take down the auction listing. The seller only took down the listing about 12 hours after they sent me the message, and a couple hours after I sent them a message asking them why they still had the auction up.

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

Ah, the availability scam...thanks for the clarification. Yeah, I've gotten involved in a couple of those in the last month. Mine involved substituted parts in one case and a shortage in the other. Both of those eventually worked out in my favor if I ignore the cost of time and annoyance, but it's hard to see how that can happen in your case.

--Rik

elf
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Post by elf »

ray_parkhurst wrote:Well, I ended up ordering from a different seller on eBay, but who knows if I will get either one of these. The whole thing feels like a scam. Hope not, and I will let you know if I ever receive one of these.

I personally would not buy from AliE since I don't think the buyer protections are as robust as on eBay. With eBay, I am almost certain to get my money back, though the seller can play some games to keep money for quite a long time. I had one seller from same country hold out for 2 months before I got my refund.
I've found the opposite is true. I've only had one Aliexpress vendor not ship an item. My money was refunded promptly and the vendor removed. On the other hand, the number of ebay scammers, especially with photography related items is quite high (going by Internet postings about them).

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Well, I was proven wrong with a pleasant note I got from the seller this morning:

"I've cancel the order just now and refund the money to you. Please check it. Thank you very much. Apologize to you again."

Edited to add:

I ended up trying to buy from the other seller, and just got this note:

"Oh I'm sorry. we can ship it in one month."

Not sure what's going on with these but I'm hoping someone else has better luck than I have. Maybe AliE will be more fruitful.

enricosavazzi
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Post by enricosavazzi »

ray_parkhurst wrote:Not sure what's going on with these but I'm hoping someone else has better luck than I have. Maybe AliE will be more fruitful.
Many eBay sellers from China do not actually have stocks of the items they advertise, especially if they are moderately large and/or expensive. Once they receive an order for such an item, they make a call to their wholesale supplier or factory, and it is at that point that they may discover that the factory has no stocks left and must make another production run.

It is also possible that the factory assembles a small number of focus racks from a stock of component parts once an order for one rack comes in, to avoid keeping large stocks of each and every finished product. Many of these focus racks share several of their parts (e.g. similar models with or without fine focus share most of their parts).

Since these focus racks are most likely made by a single factory serving all sellers who advertise the same item, if the factory is out of stock of finished racks it is unlikely (although not impossible) to find a seller with an own stock ready to ship.
--ES

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Yes, all that is possible, but is an annoying business practice and against eBay policy. I suppose this may mean that these racks are not available anywhere. Maybe they were more popular than expected.

RobertOToole
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Post by RobertOToole »

ray_parkhurst wrote:Yes, all that is possible, but is an annoying business practice and against eBay policy. I suppose this may mean that these racks are not available anywhere. Maybe they were more popular than expected.
Sorry to hear that Ray I waiting for your review of one of the units already :D

This is the case on Ebay with sellers in China. 5 sellers have the same lens for sale, with the same photos, watermarked by a third party but I know t the actual shop that they buy from and none of the these sellers own the product! (BTW they also double the price compared the actual seller)

Robert

Ludvig Friberg
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Post by Ludvig Friberg »

Well I ordered from Ali and got this message.

"We are sorry the microscope mount has been sold out, and the new goods will come about a month later."

mjkzz
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Post by mjkzz »

One is coming my way, too :-) It is cheaper in China, about 50USD free shipping :-)

mjkzz
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Post by mjkzz »

It is unheard of in China that it took 3 days for my order to arrive and it was about 10 miles away.

Anyways, I did not expect it to be this small, but it says it is about 300mm long, so it is me. Overall finish is not "high precision, high tech", but more or less a "utility" type of finish and it is what it is. There is a lever type of thing you can use to set travel limit. There is also a turning ring that you can adjust how tight it is when you turn the coarse knobs, but the fine tune knob seems always very smooth and light.

A lot of backlash or play when you turn it, I can hear some rattling sound. And as you can see in the second pic below, the fine knob is not installed evenly, maybe it is just this particular copy.

I do not think you can put a lot of weight on it, I do not have to push too hard to make the focusing block move and it seems it is losing track, a lot of clicking sound as gears slip. It is kind of dangerous if too much equipment are put on it -- it will slip and cause damages.

I have not used microscope and know nothing about them, so I do not know if all of these are normal (do not think they are).

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rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

It is normal to have a lot of backlash when direction is reversed. Focus blocks are intended to be preloaded, typically by gravity in a vertical setup. In horizontal some spring is needed.

But rattling sound when turned in one direction is not normal for a microscope focus block. The movement should be completely quiet and smooth.

"lot of clicking sound as gears slip" suggests impending disaster. I have never heard that sound and if I did, I would probably interpret it as "too late, already damaged".

--Rik

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