Ebay - Buying from China Risky? Electrical Wire 'Jack Phono Wire' from China Risky ?

katesheet

People sometimes say, avoid buying electrical items on ebay from China, as although they might be cheaper, then they might have defects (compared to buying it in the (UK)


For example, buying a electrical item on ebay from China which is cheaper from there, might have problems when it arrives.



For purchasing a double Jack phono wire cable (see photo below)

It will be plugged between the Smartphone and Hifi.


Would it be fine to buy this Phono wire from China, (Make Jack phone to Jack Phono) from China,







or can buying this item have defects too, and damage any equipment? damage the phone?


Have you had experience with Cheap electrical items from ebay, purchasing from Asian countries ??

Flyonthewall

It's still an electrical item so it's no different in that sense. It'll be very cheaply made and probably won't last long, assuming it works in the first place. You'll also have to wait much longer to get it.

It shouldn't really be able to damage any equipment in terms of blowing it up or setting it on fire if there's no electric current running through it. Ports have connections inside and are obviously all set sizes so there's a very slight chance of connections being damaged or the end getting stuck in a port, but it's more likely to happen due to being too forceful or trying to put something in a wrong port than through a rubbish item.

China doesn't have the same safety standards we have here in the UK which is why people always say never buy electricals from China. Some may say never unless you 100% know what you're buying and have done your research, but you're likely taking a risk that you know it's not be up to our safety standards and could go wrong.

For any cables you can usually find them from a UK seller for less than a couple of quid anyway. As they're being sold in the UK by a UK seller they should be up to our safety standards. They'll likely still be cheaply made but you'll get it quicker, if anything goes wrong communications/returns are straight forward and it's still really cheap to buy.

Ting-Tang

I'm sure you can get one of these from this country for a quid or two. I think I got mine in a pound shop and it works fine...

mrcol1000

Agree with the above. Whenever I have brought anything with wires direct from China it has broken after a few days. With wires such as the above you still need to be careful buying from UK. Many UK sellers are just front for China sellers and selling the same wire but just dispatched from UK.

There are many things I have brought direct from China for a fraction of over here with no problems but I do not even bother trying with anything that involves wire. I think they use so thin metal to keep it cheap that it breaks after a few days of use.

Have you tried cpc.co.uk ? They sell every wire you can think of and have found normally cheaper than everyone else but for decent stuff. Only problem is now they have got rid of free delivery on everything and now you have to spend £5.

Flyonthewall

Btw do double check where sellers are actually based. Some say item location UK, their username may even say UK in it, but when you look at their profile page it says based in China so that means it's still a Chinese item.

Checking the pound shops is a good idea, they usually have wires like that. It's just a 3.5mm audio jack to jack so shouldn't be too hard to find. Little harder if it has to be the Four-conductor like in that image, but you shouldn't have any problems getting a Three-conductor cheap.

paddyrg

For one of those cables, spend a couple of quid, get it from a high street retailer.

On the plus side, you are extremely unlikely to cause any damage with one bought from China, these cables don't carry a lot of current. It's mains stuff where you can go badly wrong - I have seen first hand some of the lethal **** produced and sold.

RFW

paddyrg wrote: »

For one of those cables, spend a couple of quid, get it from a high street retailer.

On the plus side, you are extremely unlikely to cause any damage with one bought from China, these cables don't carry a lot of current. It's mains stuff where you can go badly wrong - I have seen first hand some of the lethal **** produced and sold.

I was thinking the same. If it plugs into the mains it's safer and better to source in the uk where am item has been tested to British standard.
A headphone lead such as this is barely electrical. You can usually find them here cheap enough though. Lots of market stalls sell them and pound shops plus loads online from the UK.

gollum007

RFW wrote: »

I was thinking the same. If it plugs into the mains it's safer and better to source in the uk where am item has been tested to British standard.
A headphone lead such as this is barely electrical. You can usually find them here cheap enough though. Lots of market stalls sell them and pound shops plus loads online from the UK.

Where do you think the market stalls and pound shops get them from?
10 second Google example:
http://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/poundworld-in-uk-selling-fake-usb-power-supplies-%28dangerous%29/

Market stalls and pound shops quality is just as bad as that from the Chinese sellers, and in a lot of cases worse. They often just import the same stuff that the Chinese sellers are doing, and stuff a markup on it.

Electricals from China aren't inherently bad quality either, but you have to do your research and know exactly what you're buying.
As a general rule for the 'public' at large, I'd avoid anything that plugs into the mains directly.
I wouldn't touch compatible batteries either.

Computer peripherals and basic wires are usually fine, and I'd have no qualms whatsoever about buying the pictured headphones lead.

Headphones, MP3 players and similar portable stuff are more of a mixed bag. Generally speaking, I've found that whilst they will always start off working, quality and lifespan is more of a mixed bag. The bigger the seller, the more likely they are to last though.

-Gollum

paulpud

I wouldn't hesitate to buy this kind of thing from China. It may benefit from slightly more careful handling and storage than better quality and more expensive equivalents, but will almost certainly do the job equally as good.

I've bought dozens of small electrical items like this from China without issue but once upon a time I too had reservations. In the early days of LED strip lighting it was around £20 per metre to buy from a UK seller so, after much deliberation, I decided to get it from China @ £3 per metre along with dimming units costing a mere £5 instead of £45. 6 years on and with several hours use daily they're all still working perfectly, the only thing having been replaced was the expensive power supply unit bought in the UK!

pappa_golf

there's a bloke on the tech forum asking similar questions , why not ask him ? , link https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5376626

forgotmyname

Its a simple headphone adapter, as long as your device can withstand a short which it should as all the pins touch when inserting it then there wont be a problem.

The problems start with anything mains powered, and devices with charging built in.

I bought 5 li-po battery chargers for £2.34, they are brilliant, but i did test each one before trusting them.
They work better than some genuine UK sourced mobile powerbanks, the powerbanks have kept a voltage on the battery which is bad for lipo's.