I got scammed on eBay (what a surprise)
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- Опубликовано: 13 сен 2024
- Normally when I buy scam products I know what I'm buying and get them to explore and reverse engineer, but this time I bought what I thought was a non-scam product and it was a completely different product in the case.
For those who will inevitable say that I can't hear the ultrasonic sound because it's ultrasonic, you can still often hear clicks from the piezo disk as it changes frequency or resets the sweep.
The piezo disk is just a token gesture here, since it would need a resonant cavity to put out any significant ultrasound, but in this case it's just glued in on one edge.
It's very clear that the case was originally intended for use as an actual trace ozone generator, but ended up being repurposed badly. Possibly due to a flaw with the original product design.
The most interesting bit of the design is the odd half-wave capacitive dropper. I wonder if it was intentional or a fix for a design error.
eBay case is open as "not as described" and awaiting seller response.
Two pictures were sent. One of the box and label, and a close up of the label.
Seller - "It is what it says it is, i have sold many without issues...i do not accept returns and this is stated on ebay. I can give you a partial refund as a good will jester. Alternatively take it up with ebay..Good day"
Me - "If you look at your stock then the label clearly states Ultrasonic pest repell , and that is exactly what it is. I've tested it, and it generates no ozone whatsoever. I would like a full refund, and would suggest you change the listing to indicate what the unit actually is."
No reply from seller after 5 days, so escalated to a case.
Minutes later eBay provided a full refund.
Supporting the channel with a dollar or two on Patreon helps keep it independent of RUclips's quirks, avoids intrusive mid-video adverts, gives early access, bonus footage and regular quiet Patreon live streams.
/ bigclive
#ElectronicsCreators
Clive: "Not as described."
Seller: "Please be proving or else cannot refund to make."
Clive: "So you have chosen death."
It's him! From bcf
I guess that spider was attracted to the pest repeller?
It was excited because it always wanted to see a pest repeller up close but couldn't do so when it was plugged in. "Oh man, I finally get my chance!" "Nooooooo!!"
It must work, because the spider only appeared when the unit was unplugged. :D
@@wimwiddershins Exactly. Can I interest you in my tiger repellent spray, or my elephant deflecting goggles? Franchise opportunities are available.
Spiders love those things.
I'm afraid Clive killed the spider by sweeping it away 😔
I made an ultrasonic insect repelling device on breadboard for my A level electronics. There actually is some truth in them as I found by slowly tuning mine near some live gnats there was a frequency I set it at where they were visibly very irritated and moved away quickly. Only problem is it was audible (though very high pitched) and was much more effective at irritating the rest of my class and the teacher. :D
I bought a supposedly "pet safe" pest repeller. My cats freaked right the fuck out as soon as it was plugged in, and started belly-crawling about the house like they were terrified the roof was about to cave in. Even _I_ could hear the so called "ultrasonic" sound. I know I still have a strange amount of high frequency hearing for my age, but I _know_ I can't hear ultrasound.
@@NoobixCube You can hear it because of stray frequencies, those cheap ultrasonic generators are not stable enough to produce clean ultrasonic sound.
@@NoobixCube 🤣Sorry, cats are great but that description had me let out a snicker indeed! You're exactly right; ultrasound isn't what really gets the pests and pets going crazy, I think it's just painful resonance and high amplitude that does the real work. In the case of bats I know the ultrasonic does work as have seen the ultrasonic deterrents in action where they use them in trees in certain parks where I live. But bats I understand will have it interfering with their navigation - I doubt if it would be as effective for everything else unless audible high frequencies are used. I too hear quite a range for my age, but working in electronics I always use it to listen for coil and capacitor whine. Old CRT TV's used to drive me mad, the sound of the whine would make long TV sessions painful which encouraged me to go outside more. Probably did me some good! :)
@@kaikart123 Maybe his cat was a rescue cat and that why it could hear the "Stray Frequencies" /rimshot
I had an ultrasonic repeller back when they were newer and not sold in cheap junk shops...
Pretty sure it really worked because the millions of daddy long legs spiders I had around my shed all disappeared within a few days. I say disappeared.... Because they were still in the shed, just now they were behind cupboards and under workbenches and stuff... Places the ultrasonic sound wasn't reaching directly.
The other function on the unit (sending electromagnetic pulses down the power cables) didn't seem to have any real effect. So I left that one off because I felt like it was more likely to cause trouble with other equipment than keep the mice and spiders out.
6:45 You missed the obvious selling feature, Clive: it's a Tiny Spider Generator™! It's a miracle!
If it's a miracle then it's a "box of Clive .245Kv sized miracle".
i just realised the irony in him testing a device that supposedly keeps spiders away while a spider ambles onto the bench
"Good will jester"
That got a chuckle out of me. Whoever sold you that was definitely playing the part.
What happens if a (court) jester shows bad will? A poisoned cake for the king?
I think that most sellers that state they offer no refunds know they're selling crap.
I bought a 6" duct fan on eBay the seller said new in the box but no-refund. It was obviously used: mounting screw holes, the wire ends and they hadn't even cleaned the dirt off the fan blade. Filed a complaint with pictures and got a 100% refund.
That being said I've seen posts by eBay sellers getting scammed by buyers and eBay siding with the buyer so this cuts both ways.
Not all I buy from few that resales items they have to put no returns as most items have not been tested by them personally so there not sure but have got some great deals after they sell under parts not working and works perfectly
@@tomschmidt381 I bought a desk from Amazon got a table buying from eBay and Amazon for years ebay had only 2 problems over 10 years Amazon I have 10 problems a year started not to buy online anymore or buying on eBay usa sellers only
As I understand no refunds is only helpful if you don't misrepresent what you are selling... Like not allowing returns because you changed your mind or didn't like it but it was exactly as advertised.
@@matthewmiller6068 Not really, under most distance selling regulations you have to offer refunds or run the risk of a report to the relevant consumer protection organisation because you cannot just sell items that do not fulfill what is stated as the products description.
Spider was so scared he came to investigate what was going on lol
"hey? what the hell was all that racket?! you're driving away all my food noooOOOOOOOO--"
I would have accepted the "Good will Jester". Something to cheer you up 🤣
eBay gave me the goodwill jester.
What are the odds that the "Good will Jester" would have been legitimate?
Besides, it's quite messy taking apart a "Good will Jester" to verify 😉
I would have liked to see a Jester turn up at the door carrying a partial refund and wearing a hat with 'Good Will' written across it in permanent marker !
There's something quite intriguing about that image !
I don't know about jester, but they're definitely a clown.😅
So, jokes aside (:-) ) Ebay have provided a full refund to Clive but are perhaps still allowing the item to be sold? I'd love to know the name of the seller so that we can check.
The white label on the side of the box is one that is put on by Amazon. It shows what the Amazon title is for the item and the Amazon stock number. It is usually placed to cover the UPC and is removable fairly easily. Your eBay seller just drop-shipped the item from Amazon.
😠
Effectively paying someone on ebay to buy something for you off amazon xD
@@rich1051414 Scammed X2
Or was selling removed stock.
Amazon has been giving eBay bad name as so many resellers selling Amazon returns on eBay as Amazon items are Junk
So pleased to hear your revelations about such dubious items. Years ago my brother built a white noise unit which we used to enjoy when it was turned on as it interfered with next doors very loud tv. Probably illegal, but this was about 1969.
I hate thieves with a passion and these places selling things like this is high on the list.
They are worse than thieves. Thieves just take your money. These people take your money AND pollute the planet with useless plastic crap that goes straight into the landfill, air, or ocean.
I would start with the more expensive items and work down for the thieves. Gas and electricity providers. Then to the tat on ebay. At least we can get a BC video form the ebay crap. 👍👍
@@dcallan812 You forgot Internet/phone/TV providers, or tier-0: rent/mortgage.
What are your feelings about dispassionate thieves? *giggles*
No joke, several weeks ago in the checkout of Home Depot, stopped a shoplifter, blasted his face with my fist. Fucker was trying to cart out $1k in Milwaukee tools. Saw the store employees trying to, in vain, to stop him. So I did. And of course cops never arrived.
*Be the change you want to see in the world.*
A scam on ebay? I have never heard of such a thing :)
Here we go again (c)
Amazon has triple the scams
@@RjReactionZone actually yes, but no. Its too complicated
@@RjReactionZone I work in the glorious world of safety testing, and I have to agree Amazon holds the crown to most terrible products
@@RjReactionZone order something from Wish. The advertised product itself is a scam and what you get sometimes is a scam of a scam.
Calling *Assistvictims* a scammer is like a shoplifter calling the security guard a thief. Projection is confusing & infuriating. I hate hearing how aggressive & abusive some of those parasites are to our seniors. This guy is using his skìlls to bring down scammers are doing fantastïc work! Thank you
"I have sold many units" - Ah yes, the statistic that shows how accurate, decent or good your product is.
Ebay are usually pretty quick sorting these "problems" out and refunding in my experience, although the Chinese sellers have often just immediately refunded when I have challenged in the past to preserve their precious positive feedback.
They're very helpful with items that cost a few dollars. Try it with a $400 piece of broken test equipment and you'll get the full Philippine call center treatment.
I have too but the actual reason is that they have to register their Chinese address for the account, even ones shipping from UK stock. Ebay requires returns to go back go to the sellers registered address and if the seller is at fault, at their expense. I know from experience its expensive to ship to China with tracking, often more than the item is worth so the seller is better off refunding. I suspect this is what happened with Clive here, as soon as it was flagged with Ebay the seller conceded a refund.
I feel like I am doing something wrong, but....I was more interested in the fancy screwdriver than the scam product!
Just stopped by to say how brilliant you are for warning our eyes the lights were coming back on. Never seen this before and never knew how effective it would be. Subscribing for the little things 🔥🔥
I still find it amusing that sellers on eBay think adding “no refunds” to their listing when they are selling something not as described think it will stop eBay giving a refund.
It does I never had to refund or return a item selling as is
problem is that can work against someone selling an item as spares repairs, like i did a while back, clearly stated not working for repair/spares no refunds but still buyer complained!!
@@TheOneTheOnlyToast The issue I've noticed is that people list stuff "as is" but still want full price for it. Typewriters that are filthy dirty and clearly need a huge amount of attention and care to get working -- they might take what other sellers are listing pristine ones for and drop $10 off of the price. Sellers don't actually care about their customers, they care about making money -- which is the heart of the capitalist system. So it's important that there be some sort of buyer protection.
@@AureliusR UK businesses selling new stuff online are legally obliged to give a cooling off period of 2 weeks in which time a full refund must be given.
Used/faulty stuff is not covered but on ebay must still be as described.
Taking it apart would void these guarantees though.
Giving negative feedback is also a big stick to beat these rogue sellers with. This one deserves it for trying to avoid giving a refund as this was deliberate. Supplying the wrong product could have been a mistake.
@@AureliusR obviously i'd like as much as possible for my items, even if as 'spares', but always list as buyitnow at what i think is reasonable plus have it 'open to offers',and have accepted lower offer many times, problem is even if you clearly state 'not working' /spares repairs, buyer can still complain and ebay almost always sides with the buyer, i've had it a couple of times and had to refund buyer , their system need changing so listing as a not working/faulty/spares item absolves the seller of having to do any refunds
"i have sold many without issues" means 'People don't know what they're buying an don't know the difference'
also lost in translation, the seller doesnt know what electronic things are, and doesnt know the difference. i would avoid a seller who also does junk plastic toys and junk plastic fashion items.
The amount of times a RUclips video asks "can you hear that terrible noise", and I get 20 seconds of complete silence via my average speakers and 57 year old ears 😀
I get the opposite. I'm the 57 year old RUclipsr who hears nothing and then gets a shower of complaints about the "high pitched noise" in the comments.
Try turning on the subtitles on your TV and you will learn about all sorts of odd noises that you had no idea where occurring. "door squeaks", "keys rattle", "phone rings" "distant scream".
@@bigclivedotcom That made me laugh out loud.
"Good will? Surely you jest, sir" "Well...yes...I am a goodwill jester"
Apparently Clive was not amused by the "good will jester".
I'm sure these chinese characters and clone companies are well known around e-bay's refund department.
I'm glad you got a refund and your PSA out too.
Sometimes the principal means more than a few pounds.
And yet, eBay does _nothing_ about them. They don't even stop them from abusing the style feature to cheat search results. 😒
The principle, you mean. Though, in some respects, the principal *WAS* a few pounds, heheh.
@@AureliusR You are correct. 👍
SKINNEEEEER !!!!
They have offices in the UK and indicate UK seller. Bought a hand held radio which lasted exactly 1year. Ebay don't care as they refer you to the community board. I opemed the item myself, disassembled, reassembled. Worked for a day, then did the same, worked another day. Leading me to believe it's just scrap
Clive. After reading the description I have to agree that we can hear things produced by ultrasonic devices. Also there's a funny thing when we listen through microphones, we can hear frequencies half that of the main frequency, then a quarter etc. It's why if someone were to blow a dog whistle we can't hear it but we can on video.
Glad you got a full refund, thanks eBay. 😃👍
An yes. Heterodyning ... Put two different wavelengths in the same medium and you get four ... The two, the sun of the the two and their difference. Perhaps Big Clive could do a fun video with this topic?
@@tedvanryn1655
That sounds about right.
@BreatheScotland
With dogs I prefer the basic commands, then the dogs can be a dog.
Being able to hear an ultrasonic frequency above the Nyquist sampling rate could be caused by aliasing.
Clive, I want to compliment you on your RUclips work below this video. I always look forward to a new episode and you make a lot too! Usually about three a week, not counting your live feet. I find that remarkable and admirable. Thanks for this!
If the disc is glued in on its edge, Its not going to make much Ultrasonic noise either - the glue is going to attenuate it.
plus feeding it through 1k will kill most of the signal as piezo disks can be very capacitive, so will load down high frequencies, short the 1k out and you may well hear something
Clive's softly spoken "it's a piece of crap" at the end made me laugh out loud. I don't know how most Chinese manufacturer's sleep at night :)
I bought a similar type, different form factor and USB. Upon asking for a refund, they offered me a 15% refund and I could keep the “product” which they explained does ALL sorts of things.
In short, I got my 100% refund once eBay stepped in.
Why not 100% refund and keep the product
That is a sexy screwdriver!
2:29 was the "whaaaaaaaat?" moment for me. Really... all it has is a bunch of LEDs and a piezo generator? Who knows if it can in fact deter any animals...
Looks like a repurposed box, that's all. Not sure if that would-be ozone generator could make any meaningful amount of ozone.
6:49 not a good way to treat your web developers :)
It deters those pesky dollary doo's right out of your wallet though
It would probably deter cats, if you threw it at them.
@@tonywalton1464 It does deter animals with high pitched annoying alarm sounds, theres free ones here on youtube search "mouse repellent" Ive had mixed results ,when i first played it the mouse in my apartment obviously freaked out and tried to get out of the room quickly. Another time when i left it over night,with a speaker in the hallway, i saw a mouse run right by the speaker like it didnt care. Id imagine it doesnt actually hurt them but annoy them, and depends on the quality of your speakers. It will prevent them from nesting if theres annoying alarm going off constantly obviously but wont stop them comming around for food. In the end i found annoynig other wild life who live the high frequencey audio spectring with alarms is not worth it, seems like too much colateral damage and opted to simply catch and release the mouse instead.
I would have let the spider be...
@@mikejones-vd3fg Perhaps the mouse that ran past was a deaf one. I've heard of blind mice after all.
Would be interesting to use an audio analyser to see if it is putting or any inaudible frequency
Well done Clive I hate those cocky eBay sellers you can’t touch me lol, I hate the power sellers that have a score of like 150,000 and when you look at the feedback they have like 300 negative feedback in a month, and still trading ! They state in the uk, but from china and still take weeks to come..I got removed from eBay selling because I received too many 3&4 stars for P+P, rant over thanks again Clive 😊
They set the delivery window so wide, by the time you can give up and demand a refund, it's too late to leave negative feedback, so they get away with it and eBay abets them by not adjusting the deadlines accordingly. 😒
I tried selling on ebay before and it was almost worse, people claimed everything they could was wrong with the stuff I sold and ebay gave full refunds for everything. I had one guy who was suppose to return the item and instead sent me an envelope with a piece of plywood in it and ebay wouldn't do a thing about it.
@@MrTarfu eBay is just for buyers now,
I bought some LED WS2813? outdoor pixel strings off ebay when I built a Christmas light show a few years back. They sent some clone ones, which when powered up all light up white, whereas the original WS2813 remained off at power up. I complained to eBay about them being clones, and they said the seller was misrepresenting their location anyway as they were in China, as they said it was coming from the UK. So eBay gave me a refund, and I got to keep the item too :)
We get the same bullshit in Australia, they advertise as an Australian seller and say your product will be shipped from Sydney or Melbourne etc but after you have finished your order they tell you that they are out of stock and your order is now being shipped from China
"I didn't hear any ultrasonic noise." Errr, well, you wouldn't would you?
Fun fact: "Ultrasonic" Sounds do nothing to rats, spiders and other insects. Sometimes it just make it WORSE, because rats just for interest go to that strange sound, just for checking.
The only quantifiable reduction was in your bank account.
For a split second, I was convinced I heard the sound, but my laptop fan turned on as you lifted the unit to the microphone. That was my trippy experience for a Friday :-)
You had a perfect test subject on your desk and just brushed him away. I would have liked to see you plug in the repeller just to see what the spider did.
In hindsight - yes.
It has some potential for deterring pests, depending on how accurately you can throw it.
As someone extremely prone to high pitched torture, even in my late 20s, I can confidently say that there's no noise there.
Those mosquito repellers drive me up a wall, though others say they don't hear anything.
That spider deserves a *schematic* of its own!
"I can give you a partial refund as a good will jester" standard response for the scammers
Thank you for the update in the description I love that you finally contested something on eBay
'Good Will Jester' - the new Tom Hanks film
I have that same one. I think it only repels saber tooth tigers because I've never seen one when this has been plugged in.
It certainly doesn't seem to work on spiders.
The label on the box is an Amazon label, the tiny writing on it also states it as being an ultrasonic pest repeller, maybe they bought it, realised what junk it was and just resold it on eBay.
They had several available, making me wonder if it was a reseller of amazon returns or removed items.
@@bigclivedotcom very likely 😉
@@bigclivedotcom are you doing a new Manx Xmas tree lights display this year? (Fully video'd for our pleasure?)
@@bigclivedotcom Hopefully not, our department instructs Amazon to remove a lot of products from sale. In theory they are all destroyed by Amazon so I'll be keen to find out if there is a history with this product. More likely the product is available on both platforms. I'll report the X number to Amazon and ask them to investigate
A lot of the ultrasonic pest repellents aren't actually constant. Every so often they'll emit a burst of ultrasound that you can sometimes hear as a click. We have a couple of them at my place that my father bought. I question how well they work because we still get rodents and things but seeing as they use hardly any power I figure I'll just let them keep going in case they provide any benefit. I suspect that the occasional dimming is when it's giving off a pulse. So it probably is trying to do something but it's definitely not an ozone generator as you noted
Nice job. So many scammy sellers making a bad name for eBay. eBay used to be a nice place, now it's just a crapdump :( So sad.
HOLY MOLY 😳
I just noticed either something RUclips updated.. Or my phone updated. (gotta be RUclips)
But the ZOOM, to fill screen,.. now Zooms 8X. That's pretty cool. Can really zoom into that circuit board for instance. You can tell what's machine soldered, and hand soldered 😏
... might have to go back and look at some old videos
Discourages rats, spiders, and teenagers
I could not hear the sarcasm in your voice over the ultrasonic sound emitted by that sterilizer.
As far as I know, there are no electronic pest repellers that work. My father bought an ultrasonic unit in 1984, it gives off ultrahigh sound frequencies that go up and down. We still got mice and bugs.
If there is one that actually works, I'd like to see it. (but causes no ill effects on humans)
The problems is that mouse and rats gone be use on it by generation .
Means it will not work the animal adjust after generation.
Best sting is still a cat to have in your house.
I had millions of daddy long legs spiders in my shed and stuck one in there in about 1999. It sort of worked. They all migrated to behind cupboards and under my workbench where the unit was out of direct view. Stayed that way for several years until the unit started making audible wobbly tones and scratchy sounds. Around that time, the spiders started reappearing. Presumably the power supply went wonky and it was unable to produce the correct frequencies.
I didn't replace it though. I chucked it out and just started spraying every 6 months.
@@tin2001 Kamikaze DL team went in and buggered your unit by using their tiny little bodies to short out the circuitry. They will be revered for generations to come.
it's everything :D slices dices and cleans your dishes, irons your coat and slims your wallet!
Not only it's not an ozone generator or a pest repeller, it's an insect caller! 🤣🤣🤣
Would be interesting to see a frequency sweep of the output pin to the piezo disc. Do you own a spectrum analyzer, or even a TinySA to give us a look there? I'm guessing you might even just see the same PWM signal that puts on the green light show.
Instead of wasting the other pin on LEDs, they should have connect the piezo between two pins.
Congrats on getting your money back, BigClive!
I have found the best way to sterilize my ozone was to do it the old fashion way with chlorine or possibly a saline bromide solution, these new fangled dodads never work. Where do you pour in the ozone? Didn’t they ship it with a funnel?
The image of a "Good Will Jester" is now planted firmly in my mind. lol!
The capacitor in the dropper circuit won't do anything, once it's charged up. The circuit will work the same without it. In order for the capacitive dropper to work properly, the cathode of the zener should go to the anode of the rectifier diode, there should be a 1k resistor to limit the inrush current and the 39k resistor should be 1M.
more efficient to put lots of scams on the same box
From the description: "Minutes later eBay provided a full refund." Ouch. That seller might be flagged now. 😄
I dont know a single thing about technology but youre voice is like honey and you sound like you know what youre talking about so i cant stop watching
Totally off topic, I saw the industrial version of your forkocutor online, a demonstration of breaking a high voltage overhead line, using a large metal hand shaped like a bit like a claw with a hot dog link, showing the dangers of touching people also being fried
The little spider was living comfortably inside the fake bugs repeller.
“I didn’t hear an ultrasonic noise.” Yes, we are all getting older, I can identify with that! 🙂
I hear some right now -- there's a power supply somewhere in this room that's screaming to the sensitive.
i can still just about hear 15khz tv line output whistle (recently turned 50😲)
@@tactileslut 🙂 Thanks for the reply. I worked in a lab with a late 1970s Data General minicomputer which had a switcher supply of around 1 KW which operated at a out 10 KHz. It was genuinely LOUD!, and everyone heard it.
I hated old CRT televisions as my hearing allowed me to hear the 15KHz high voltage transformer scream as it powered the TV tube. Now? 71 years after launch, all I can hear is the screaming in my ears from too many firearms in the military. Love Clive's voice.
Electronic pest devices that work usually have some sort of lanyard to swing it for the killing blow. If no lanyard it's a 1 time use, just throw it at the subject and hope for the squish.
You have an oscilloscope? I’d love to see a video on it, and see what you recommend for those doing it on the cheap. I’m fortunate enough to have a partner who bought me an awesome siglent, but I wanted a scope for the longest time. I think it’d help a lot of people to have you talk a bit them!
Get a portable one. They are pretty cheap now and have all the features you could want.
Lil' spider! Soo cute. Save the spiders, they are silent, they don't turd around, they eat pests. My only pet is a tegenaria domestica (barn funnel weaver in North America and the domestic house spider in Europe). I named it Thekla.
I was just thinking its past time for an ozone generator video.
I'd put this down to confusion before I suspect them of malice.
Hanlon's Razor doesn't apply anymore, it's archaic. 😒
confused malice, they knew they were scamming people BUT they thought it was a different scam entirely, they thought it had regular 405nm leds inside it instead of uvc
or stupidity !
I recently purchased a 4k webcam on Aliexpress that was barely 720p.
I've installed bigger ones at garbage rooms, not a huge fan of the intense metal smell they create. It's like sucking on coins. But I guess it's better than trash! Ramps up 230V to high voltage and makes ozone. Try to get one of those. Size? Like half a microwave oven.
Odd to see the disc just hanging by its wires.
When you held the device up to the microphone, I got a weird sensation in my ears. It was less like I heard something and almost more like a high-pass filter where higher frequencies seemed muffled. Very odd. That said, I know there was something audible because at the same time, my cat was on my lap and he reacted to the sound. His head was down, but when you held the device up, he jerked his head up suddenly and looked straight at the TV as if he was startled by it. So, it might be on the edge or just out of my audible range, but my cat definitely heard it and didn’t like it.
Anyone else see the irony in Phil (maybe Phillip) making a cross-head (sometimes known as a Phillips head) screwdriver?
Well, It stands to reason Phil makes Phillips head screwdrivers.
Problem is the youtube audio compression algorithm likely crops out frequencies outside the audible range and crushes those near the extreme ends in order to reduce bandwidth usage.
These scammers need removing and banning from eBay and Amazon. A lot of people tend to just accept it that they have been scammed. I certainly don't, either eBay or Amazon.
I barely buy anything from ebay now as the amount of things I had to send back because they were either faulty, extremely low quality (not fit for purpose) or inaccurately described got to the point every purchase was a gamble. In the early days I rarely had an issue with anything I bought.
I always dig the teardowns, im amazed at the way you can go from 240 mains down to 5v so easily without a transformer. I don't understand it that well but I have seen a few on your channel.
There are a few simple ways to do it, but most are not isolated from the mains.
Depending on your "type" of phone, you can probably install a "audio spectrum analyzer" app that lets you "hear" things our aging ears fail to let us know about now. I have been using an app called "FreqenSee" for years ( free, with ads) on my android which lets you view a 20 to 20KHz analyzer screen that uses your phone's mic, and updates many time a a second for a nice and fast response. Granted, its by no means a laboratory calibrated setup, but it is a handy tool to use at times. Having an "ozone generator" plugged in and working 24/7 can cause some serious health issues, I wonder what the thought of using a device like that ( if it worked) is.
Ozone is present in normal outdoor air in trace levels (even in remote locations) and is an important part of nature. A unit that puts out very low levels is comparable to open windows letting outdoor air flow through your home.
@@bigclivedotcomNormal "trace" levels are fine, but having a constant generation device running in an enclosed room can be hazardous if the level of ozone generated is more than that can dissipate over its normal "half life of 20 minutes". as it breaks back down into regular O2. According to our US EPA website information on ozone "Relatively low amounts can cause chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath and throat irritation. Ozone may also worsen chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and compromise the ability of the body to fight respiratory infections", so,it's something to carefully observe the use of in an enclosed area. I do know, from having a larger ozone generating device, that it is an immediate respiratory irritant to me, at the concentration it outputs. I usually use it in a room with 2 exhaust fans that I can close off, and I do not re-enter that room until after a few hours of ventilation have helped clear out most of the ozone level, and it has also broken down a lot with half-life cycles.
It's a night club for tiny spiders, with a piezo dance floor and pulsing light...
For the past 10 years of the nearly 20 years that we have been on Ebay, between 15 and 20% of our purchases are either a scam, not as pictured, not new in box, or otherwise not as described.
That's not exaggerating either.
Me and my husband often spend a ton more time going through the rigors and even ridiculous hassles of dealing with the lame or even crooked sellers than its sometimes even worth to use ebay.
This consists of sellers ignoring to communicate or arguing over the return, us having to take pictures to upload them, filing the dispute, seller making us wait 5 days for when ebay will then step in to make a decision, waiting to get the prepaid return label, repackaging the fraudulent item, shipping it back to the seller, waiting for the seller or ebay to then issue the refund, and then up to 5-7 business days for our money to actually post back into our bank account. Oh then we get to start all over to search again for the same item we needed.
And all that ebay's barely-speaking-English service reps have EVER said is the same adopted formatted reply that the lame-azz businesses use which is "sowwy faw da incoveeyence. Is anythin else can hep you with. Ok have nice day. Bye now"
Another great video from our Big Guy!
This seems like a product that was created specifically to use up parts that they needed to recover some value from, but which were no longer wanted by the original customer. They probably had enough money sunk into the cost of making that plastic enclosure that they figured it was worth scamming people in order to recover some of that sunk cost.
"I didn't hear any ultrasonic noise..." That's why it's called ultrasonic.
You can "hear" ultrasonic transducers because of physical properties of the transducer and acoustic cavity that generate lower order frequencies. So technically you aren't hearing the primary frequency but you can usually hear something that indicates the output is on.
@@sjm4306 I know, I just thought it was funny.
I think the body panels of ultrasonic devices make a noise at their own resonant frequency when excited by ultrasonic energy, I have used several medical grade cleaning baths which are noisy at audible frequencies.
Memories of when I were a lad, and one of my schoolchums brought in a pair of those highly illegal 3-transistor walkie-talkies. They were banned from sale in the UK (Wireless Telegraphy Act 1967, I believe), but his Dad had brought him a pair back from the USA. They operated on 27.125 MHz and had a range of about 100 yards when the wind was in the right direction.
"YOUR RADIOS ARE DRIVING MY GERBILS MAD!!!!" exclaimed the biology lab assistant. "What nonsense", thought us know-it-all schoolboys, "how could radio waves interfere with gerbils?".
Many, many years later (by this time I was an RF engineer and licensed radio amateur), I realised that she was not wrong - though it wasn't the transmitter, but the super-regenerative receivers that were upsetting the poor rodents - these sets screech, but at frequencies that humans can't hear, but probably is the sound of a distressed gerbil. :-(
No doubt Someone out there ordered the cheap ultrasonic pest repeller and has been sucking down your ozone
"Hey, it's really keeping the bugs away"
Hi Clive. I have to disagree with your point about 254nm not generating ozone. In my job we use 254nm for DNA decontamination in super glue cabinets, and there is definitely ozone created. We purge the cabinet through the filter system to reduce the ozone level before unlocking the door. To be fair they are 50w tubes, and not what would probably be ~0.1w (optical) of LED in a product like this. Big fan of your videos btw.
Depending on the type of glass used, Mercury vapor UVC tubes may also emit the 184nm wavelength which does generate significant ozone.
@@bigclivedotcom good point, I now vaguely recall looking at the spectrum and there were multiple spikes. I believe it is quartz glass.
Clive never fails to educate... again 👍
Cheerz.
;)
To be fair, the definition of ultra sonic is outside of the range of human hearing. If you could hear it, it wouldn't be ultra-sonic, but you usually do hear induced vibrations on other materials near it. It seems like it COULD work, but the fact you can't hear it makes me suspicious.
the 1k feed to the piezo is likely killing the drive, short it and something may well be heard....
I thought Clive would have eaten that little spider with mouth noises and all... So disappointed !
IMHO, it's a generic casing for various products, just depends which assembly line it comes off of.
It's one of those placebo devices. Gives the purchaser the warm and fuzzy feeling that they are cleaning the air and repelling posts at the same time. Oh, also making the wallet a bit lighter.
yeah, like those 'power saver' plugs that do at best nothing, at worse actually increase your bill
You could label a device like as an insect repellent, ozone generator, humidifier, de-humidifier & 1001 other supposed uses without a majority of buyers knowing any better.
@@tonysansom no kidding, put an OBD II plug on it for the car while they are at it.
Little tiny spider was screaming as Clive rolled him into a ball then off the table to the floor.
The case is a prime candidate for a "power outage nightlight".
It's a shame that eBay don't operate a proper "three strikes and your out" policy for scammers like this.
Ebay gets its money after the sales, so sadly they only do what the sellers themselves: hoping that not everything will be refunded. It is an interesting balancing act, they have to keep the buyers buying, but they can not deter (ban) the sellers either...
They would have no sellers left 🤣
I have the idea sellers on AliExpress are more afraid about open a refund. Last i got money back because AliExpress has banned the seller because they scam...
These sellers who say "I do not accept returns" always make me laugh. Just stating that doesn't give them immunity from distance selling regulations. They have to take it back and pay the return postage if it's faulty or not as described. I've lost count of the number of businesses I've had to explain this to at small business owner meetings.
"I can give you a partial refund as a good will jester"
LOL. Unintentional pun of the year.
Re your reply from seller in description.
I wanted to see them give you a partial refund as a good will jester! Lol
Would that be similar to a clown?
So the primary function of this thing is to warm up 2 resistors. Genuine waste of materials. Genius.
Many chinese Ebayers are leaving the selling platform.
When buyers use the case/return description "not as described", the seller typically has to pay the return shipping costs. Or at least that is how it works in the UK.
So the buyer has "protection".
On Aliexpress however, the seller can do no wrong and as a western buyer, you've usually just lost your money.
The spider showed up at the end to prove quite decisively that this "pest repelling" device is absolute quackery.