Too good to be true? Pricing on tools...

Mike1974 · Jan 30, 2020

So when you do write something off as too good to be true and not worth the time? I ask because I stumbled on a website that sells some industrial type tools (mics, calipers, etc). Veryvery cheap. Yes it is a chinese place (address at bottom of page), BUT I am wondering about maybe getting an ok item for 1/10th the price to buy a known name brand that is a good quality tool.

Fashion Online Boutique

Nothin really to see on that ^ page, but click the home button in the top right corner -

Home : fefall.com

Some starret (which i am sure are knock offs...) items pop up, along with china brand calipers and stuff

Login Time Out : fefall.com

Login Time Out : fefall.com

Heck 0-12" mics for less than a $100 is hard to resist. Even if they aren't great quality, as long as they reasonbly repeat...?

guest · Jan 30, 2020

I can't help but be skeptical of a 3 axis DRO kit that sells for $85.

ToAuto 3 Axis Digital Readout 12 +25 +32 DRO Display 5um Precision Linear Glass Scales for Drill EDM 650mm+800mm+300mm , US Stock,2-4 Business Days [E55SR6M8] - $85.00 : fefall.com

TGTool · Jan 30, 2020

The last two links are for "Your session has expired." That ought to be free. I sure wouldn't pay $100 for one of those.

On a more serious note, I'm not sure what to make of the whole thing. Is it possible they find small quantities of stuff they can sell cheap and still make money? They surely can't all be knock-offs because some of those things couldn't be money makers even as knock-offs. (As in, it costs more than $5 apiece to counterfeit $5 bills).

And lastly, there might be other opinions on whether there's nothin to see on that first page.

Rex TX · Jan 30, 2020

Not familiar with this one, but there are several out there. I looked through several pages and saw price levels similar to other Chinese sites. Good prices, but not a small fraction of the name-brands. Pick a small item or two and buy it, then share the results?
I have used Banggood.com several times. Always happy with price/quality. It's not pro-level quality, but better than hobby grade IMO - if there is a middle ground.

Mike1974 · Jan 30, 2020

guest said:
I can't help but be skeptical of a 3 axis DRO kit that sells for $85.

ToAuto 3 Axis Digital Readout 12 +25 +32 DRO Display 5um Precision Linear Glass Scales for Drill EDM 650mm+800mm+300mm , US Stock,2-4 Business Days [E55SR6M8] - $85.00 : fefall.com

That's the other thing, the prices are all over the place. I've seen for the example the 0-12" calipers for less than $100, including shipping (which is $4.95? for everything apparently), but then you will see a 3 pcs china brand ratchet set for $59-69...?? :confused:

edit: I think I will buy something form there in the next week or two and see how it turns out. Maybe paranoid for me, but I will be buying a prepaid visa or MC to use, not giving up my debit card details to them!

Rex TX · Jan 30, 2020

guest said:
I can't help but be skeptical of a 3 axis DRO kit that sells for $85.

ToAuto 3 Axis Digital Readout 12 +25 +32 DRO Display 5um Precision Linear Glass Scales for Drill EDM 650mm+800mm+300mm , US Stock,2-4 Business Days [E55SR6M8] - $85.00 : fefall.com

This seems to be the pricing model other Chinese sites use. They advertise a cheap price on the readout head unit, and you buy the scales separately. It comes out to about $250 or so for a 3-axis setup.

Similarly, they will show a 5-pc QCTP for $12.00. Turns out that's the price of a standard toolholder in AXA size. The TP is about $50, the set over $100 - just like on ebay.

dalmatiangirl61 · Jan 30, 2020

I do not know about the sites you are looking at, but a few years ago researching my inventory to see what competitors were asking for same item I found a website that had all the pics/descriptions from my ads, with prices about 1/3 to 1/2 what I was asking :toetap:

. Best I could figure out was they were trying to get CC#'s to wipe out peoples bank accounts.

Hardplates · Jan 30, 2020

I'd be interested to hear how the 12 piece C-Clamp set, I mean mics

work

I bought a cheap set once and all the threads were slightly off. About .0008" over 1". Other than that they worked well so I threw them away so I wouldn't be tempted to use them and scrap a part.

Maybe they have gotten better since.

L Vanice · Jan 30, 2020

They take PayPal, so you do not need to provide your credit card info.

But that does not mean you are safe or have nothing to lose by ordering something.

Fefall is a scam - PayPal Community

Larry

mattthemuppet · Jan 30, 2020

my wife got bitten by one of those types of websites. 50c for X plus $3 shipping. She bought what she thought was a set of alcohol based pens for one of our daughters, got two. Bought a diamond engraver pen thing, got something that would have melted an AA battery if I left it in there more than a few seconds. Got our money back from the CC.

There are enough Chinese sellers of all those things to get a fairly decent base price. If one of them could get stock cheaper than the others they'd drop the price and steal their market share. So if you see a really cheap price it's almost certain to be dodgy in some way or another.

john.k · Jan 30, 2020

Some of the too good to be true stuff sites are a scam,where the vendors dont ship ,and money is returned after about 6-8 weeks.....which IMHO would be far more viable for the scammers if interest rates were higher......I also suspect some of the industrial stuff is bought by old timers who dont know how to get a refund,and just wear the loss.

jwearing · Jan 30, 2020

Mike1974 said:
I am wondering about maybe getting an ok item for 1/10th the price to buy a known name brand that is a good quality tool.

The good quality tool is a great deal at only 10x the price of that Chinese garbage!

steve45 · Jan 30, 2020

I've purchased a number of things from Banggood. Some things were actually pretty good (inspection camera works very well, but mirror attachment won't fit through a 14mm spark plug hole). Got a tire pressure monitor system for under $30 that works well, but you have to remove the sensors from the valve stems to air up the tire. I bought some electronic devices that chase varmints from the garden, but they were junk--and forget getting a refund. Memory cards, USB cables, etc. worked very well. They have a lot of hobby style machine tooling, which I have not tried.

Conrad Hoffman · Jan 30, 2020

They seem to have an infatuation with ear wax removal tools. The rotary hand-piece looks like a knockoff of a very high end Japanese one. No idea about the Starrett stuff, but I'd be wary of the whole site.

MattiJ · Jan 30, 2020

There is cheap and then there is too cheap
Milwaukee M18 Fuel 18-Volt Lithium-Ion Brushless Cordless Combo Kit 7-Tool with Two Free M18 5.0 Ah Batteries [V11YC6T7] - $85.00 : fefall.com

Milwaukee combo cordless tool set for less than 10% real value

Terry Keeley · Jan 30, 2020

"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten. “

Benjamin Franklin

EmGo · Jan 31, 2020

Terry Keeley said:
"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.

Yeah but .... I've bought stuff direct from the stores down on beijing lu, dial calipers and so on. They work fine, and cheap. Definitely not Etalons but as nice as Central stuff. For beaters they are good.

The trick is, separating the wheat from the chaff. There's a ton of shysters out there, too. I got fleeced a while back, my own fault, but when we called the Guangzhou police department with the guy's name, address, id number, bank account number and branch location, the cops said, "We have so many of these cases, not much chance of getting your money back ..." It's the wild west out there

SteveF · Jan 31, 2020

Once I needed to make some shop drawers and wanted a simple brushed AL handle, solid rod with a pair of rod pieces on the back to stand off from the drawer face. Got a box of them for a great price off eBay. Luckily I didn't just make a jig and drill the pair of bolt holes on each face because I discovered the center to center spacing of the standoffs was slightly different on each one. They still worked but I had to drill the holes for THAT handle.

So some of the really great prices may be someone selling someone else's rejects.

Steve

MattiJ · Jan 31, 2020

Terry Keeley said:
"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten. “

Benjamin Franklin

This particular shop is not even selling low quality or counterfeit products, it's 100% scam.
Not the first and not the last of its kind..

MattiJ · Jan 31, 2020

Not long time ago there was also chinese shop selling Lista tool cabinets for about 20usd per cabinet making it about 99% discount...
Lista... from china...Freee shipping on hugomongous 400lbs tool cabinet... connect the dots

Too good to be true? Pricing on tools...

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