cheap chinese stuff showing up at your wholsesaler

[paul_h]

Anyone offended by this for the prices they charge?
I've been buying anything electrical/electronic cheap from china direct for a long time for generic stuff, or from USA direct for name brand stuff. Anything mechanical I've had to bu from ebay off traders willing to import a large volume though.

But these days I can walk into any local wholesaler and see they same gear I could buy online at 100% markup. Half the stuff I buy online is junk and I admit it, so where do I go for quality gear? I relied on local wholesaler for that, but if they're selling me chinese stuff for 100%+ markup I'm stuffed.
I mean I have a lot of gear, being self employed, and a lot of the gear I have I bought from china or ebay. A lot has stood up well, some hasn't. But when trying to replace the gear that hasn't, well hello mirror world, seems like the wholesalers stock a heavily marked up copy of the same cheap chinese stuff, but for mega mega dollars they'll order in some same crap with a brand named attached.

Where do others stand with cheap shoddy gear?
I can walk into an actrol and laugh at say their cheap dual k type thermometer if it costs more than $30, because that's what I can buy them for anyway. Same for both them and ACW selling cheap flaring or core drills, all are rubbish but at least cost less not buying from local wholesalers as it's direct from china.

Point of my post? Well I'd like some median priced, decent gear, I don't like the "tax" you have to pay on name brands, and I can find the cheap crappy chinese stuff myself thanks, don't need to pay their markup for it. Just get some mid priced reliable stuff you're happy to stand behind, that's why I go there

[Brian_UK]

Ah but if all you'll buy is the good stuff with a low mark-up the wholesaler won't stay in business long.

Now, if you'd like to buy a cheap, highly priced item which lines his bank account then he'll be around for a bit longer. ;)

[chemi-cool]

Well, its not always easy to find the good gear, but good gear will always have a brand name.

I never cared about prices, quality is is most important, Chinese condenser fan will cost 1\4 of a German one but will last 1\100.
Cheap stuff is untrustable and I will give you some example, came to a dairy the other day to fix a leak on a condensing unit, found the leak inside a pressure control labeled EXELL [????] There was 6 of them on that condensing unit and 4 was leaking, so I have replaced all 6 of them with DANFOSS ones, much more expensive for the customer but will give me more time for other things and will increase my good reputation cause I will come to that place less frequent and my pleased customer will turn into a marketing person for me......

There are some good parts on ebay and you can always contact the seller when in doubt.

I never ever use Chinese stuff. only the best manufacturers and there are plenty of them on our globe.

[monkey spanners]

I like my branded tools, I'll have forgotten the price long before they wear out.

Our wholesalers though seem to be buying a lot of their stock from low quality sources, things like those diversitech pipe clips that don't stay put on the chanel and go rusty. Bring back B Line!!! And shaded pole motors that don't even last a year, the markup on which doesn't even cover the diesel of going to change them again for free....
Useless plastic pipe plugs in hard drawn pipe that don't fit back in once its cut, where we used to have caps, evap coils that don't last five years when there are 30+ year old coils still running fine...

Makes you wonder where it will all end up :mad:

Jon

[MikeHolm]

Don't get me started..........arrrrggggg

[Tesla]

Paul I used to be a one man band and paid through the nose and think it's good to be able (in these days) to buy cheep stuff from China. The quality is not as good a the local wholesalers but one day we may not need them - we might just get everything on line. The cheapest tools I've found are at some of the markets. Lucky you don't have to buy from NZ where it is more expensive due to freight and tax. On the other hand where is the economy in eg exporting Ausie prawns to Thailand to get shelled then importing the same back in frozen boxes. Also in the past 10 years China has increased the quality of many goods we import.
I guess it's a double edged sword but we don't always get what we pay for. On top of that is the unfair discount structure of the wholesaler for the big boys as opposed to the one man band. At the end of the day the purpose of a business is to make profit.

[paul_h]

Paul I used to be a one man band and paid through the nose and think it's good to be able (in these days) to buy cheep stuff from China. The quality is not as good a the local wholesalers but one day we may not need them - we might just get everything on line. The cheapest tools I've found are at some of the markets. Lucky you don't have to buy from NZ where it is more expensive due to freight and tax. On the other hand where is the economy in eg exporting Ausie prawns to Thailand to get shelled then importing the same back in frozen boxes. Also in the past 10 years China has increased the quality of many goods we import.
I guess it's a double edged sword but we don't always get what we pay for. On top of that is the unfair discount structure of the wholesaler for the big boys as opposed to the one man band. At the end of the day the purpose of a business is to make profit.
I was saying that there is a lot of half decent stuff I have bought from china, (and many name brand stuff from china too), but sometimes the chinese no name brand stuff is not good. In that case I try to buy local, only for the wholesaler to be selling the same no name brand/rebranded gear that I know is no good.

I wasn't trying the say all chinese stuff is bad, a lot of what I have is good. Sometimes stuff I buy from china is bad though and I want something else, yet I find the local shops selling the same product is my point.

I never buy top quality name brand gear because I lose everything :)
I just spend enough for the product to work and not lose me productivity, so I have a mix of cheap chinese stuff that works, and name brand stuff when I can't find a cheaper option. I don't buy just on name brand because many of it is made in china now and not as good as it used to be. My thread was about there not being much option anymore for mid priced gear from local sellers, just cheap stuff or over priced stuff

[MikeHolm]

For me the real issue is that if the chinese valued their currency the way all the other countries do, it would be more expensive and we could compete more fairly. Also there is an endless supply of labour there that the big boys can exploit and if we keep following the Walmart model, nothing will be produced here as it will take 1000years for them to catch up with us and they will always have the cheaper price. If you don't produce base products or well manufactured goods you will have no economy. Service work can be good work but if most of the money goes out of country, where do we find ourselves.

There, I'll stop blabbering now

[Tesla]

I was saying that there is a lot of half decent stuff I have bought from china, (and many name brand stuff from china too), but sometimes the chinese no name brand stuff is not good. In that case I try to buy local, only for the wholesaler to be selling the same no name brand/rebranded gear that I know is no good.

I wasn't trying the say all chinese stuff is bad, a lot of what I have is good. Sometimes stuff I buy from china is bad though and I want something else, yet I find the local shops selling the same product is my point.

I never buy top quality name brand gear because I lose everything :)
I just spend enough for the product to work and not lose me productivity, so I have a mix of cheap chinese stuff that works, and name brand stuff when I can't find a cheaper option. I don't buy just on name brand because many of it is made in china now and not as good as it used to be. My thread was about there not being much option anymore for mid priced gear from local sellers, just cheap stuff or over priced stuff
I see your point more clearly now Paul and agree with you.
Do you have local access to Refrigeration Engineering Supplies - I found they usually have better quality products overall.

[mikeref]

Lets face it, there is nothing made today that is designed to last. If it was, companies would fail, but we all know that. Everything has a 'built in' life span, it's just a matter of how long it will last. What surprised me was a top brand name 240v sealed compressor that had repeated failure rate from poor workmanship. I know what you mean about variety Paul, and sometimes chinese made parts at low prices will outlast more expensive gear. Checkout the amount of online sales and one has to wonder, is it rubbish or not? I bought a 630mm fan/motor out of NSW, similar to EBM at 1/3 cost only to have it sh1t itself 3 months later. Should have gone with my gut feeling on that one!! Alot of other parts from same supplier have served me well at a fraction of local supplier cost. Comes down to homework i guess.. Mike.

[Yuri B.]

http://www.google.lv/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffierychill.com%2F&rct=j&q=Fiery%20Chill&ei=dWiATarTFsuSswax-qHiBg&usg=AFQjCNHQYO4BAC0nBRO0yDNSgmye9blw8g&cad=rja
Hello!
Have anyone bought here some Refco instruments ? (I mean are their Refco tools original?)

[Yuri B.]

Somebody bought here anything (vac. pump, scale, tube bender, flaring kit, manifolds)?

http://www.google.lv/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CDIQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpoly-run.en.made-in-china.com%2F&rct=j&q=Poly%20Run&ei=EjSGTbSGDcfbsgb3hOWsAw&usg=AFQjCNFU5MlIGnlf_Wc06EjbKTzfeuzShw&cad=rja

[MikeHolm]

http://www.google.lv/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffierychill.com%2F&rct=j&q=Fiery%20Chill&ei=dWiATarTFsuSswax-qHiBg&usg=AFQjCNHQYO4BAC0nBRO0yDNSgmye9blw8g&cad=rja
Hello!
Have anyone bought here some Refco instruments ? (I mean are their Refco tools original?)

I bought a Refco Powermax recovery unit here in Toronto for about $100 more then Fiery Chill. I called the manufacturer and they told me that they sell to them. Stuff in Canada is a bit more money than in the US but we have health care so it is a trade off.

[paul_h]

What, distributors and wholesalers pay the governments healthcare bill? ;)
No reason to pay more for something available elsewhere unless it's locally made, then the taxpayers working in your country making the local product are paying for the healthcare :)

[Yuri B.]

FC's Refco pumps (if "original", "made in Switzerland" ), seemed too me a bit inexpensive, comparably, but I am afraid now, customs duty to Latvia will kill this attractive feature (as I need only 1).
Just 100$ more - for a recovery unit is a trifle when you know they indeed go to your country's social securities.

[San2011]

Nowdays in India, reputed multinational brands use Chinese counterfeit components in refrigeration. I have now no faith in branded goods sold by multi-national companies, after discovering the fake China components. The price charged for counterfeit components is that of genuine product.

[ulster_man]

Im working in asia, everything is repaired with China parts and its a pain in the ass! But talking about tools etc, there are some good products on the market, Ill try and get a Pdf copy and post it on here for you to look at