Re: gEDA-user: Poor man's O-scope?

[Dave McGuire <mcguire@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Aug 24, 2008, at 6:26 PM, Peter Clifton wrote:
>>> Does anyone have a good source, other than ebay, for cheap
>>> (possibly used or refurbished) oscilloscopes?
>>
>>    eBay. ;)
>>
>>    Seriously.  You can avoid it on some sort of moral grounds or
>> something like that, if you're willing to screw yourself.
>
> I would avoid eBay / Paypal like the plague. Too many sharks, and  
> if you
> get bitten, both of the above companies are _completely_ useless at
> doing anything constructive about it.

   No doubt.  However, since 1999, I've purchased exactly 1,811 items  
on eBay, ranging from capacitors to supercomputers to cars.  I've  
sold nearly 400 items, spanning the same range of stuff.  In that  
time, I've gotten screwed precisely three times.  I've saved untold  
tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of dollars, and have obtained  
things that would have otherwise been simply unobtainable at any  
price.  (parts for 40-year-old minicomputers, for example)

   eBay's management are a bunch of slimeballs, to be sure.  Their  
rules, fees, and web app code all get worse with each passing year.   
However, it's still a HUGE net win with easily manageable risk.  If  
you know what you are doing, and are VERY careful, you can do very well.

   And, in the USA at least (I notice that you're in the UK and Mouse  
is in Canuckistan) dealing with "hyperprofiteering" retail stores can  
be even more treacherous than the worst sharks on eBay.  Wal*Mart, a  
gigantic lower-class retail chain that is forcing nearly every other  
retail store out of business all over this country, is peddling huge  
volumes of Chinese-made garbage to every drooling moron in the USA.   
Most people don't seem to care about the fact that the "same  
merchandise" are often seconds, slightly different (cheaper) but  
seemingly identical models of things like vacuum cleaners that one  
magically cannot buy parts for if it is within a serial number range  
that went to Wal*Mart, rotten beef injected with color enhancers, etc  
etc etc...they just care that it's a few pennies cheaper in the short  
term, and they don't think about why they have to replace it the  
following year.  And yet people still flock to these stores, because  
here, in the land of obedient consumer sheep, cheaper is  
better...even when it isn't.

   A few sharks on eBay are nothing compared to that.

   So, in my not-so-humble opinion, speaking from the standpoint of  
some experience with these matters: Use eBay to your advantage.   
Watch your back, read the fine print, know what you are buying, pay  
very close attention to sellers' feedback ratings and comments,  
and...get that new oscilloscope for a fraction of what a dealer would  
charge.

             -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL




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