The seller refunded me in full and removed the ebay postings. I received a few messages from one of their representatives along with an apology stating that they were unable to verify the statements made by their supplier regarding authenticity of their Hakko products. And, I have noticed that they received some negative feedback from a few buyers. I will probably never deal with them again, but at least they offer decent service.

Did you make the way through Paypal or "outside the system" (like vistula said)? Who paid for shipping back to china ?

I received also a fake Hakko station from this dealer, this is the reason I ask for. If I use buyer protection by Paypal, I have to ship the item back by registered mail. This will cost approximately 40$. I paid 65$ for the station (excl. S+H: 18$).
A simple package is only 19$, but I will get neither a tracking-ID nor a advice of receipt.

So I consider what to do ?!

 

Man am I glad to have found this forum. I have been caught by the same scam!

I received my unit last night. Opened it up, and it's exactly like everyone already described - knockoff! I've already contacted the seller about a return and refund and am awaiting a response, but I'm curious to know if the seller will cover return shipping.

ix912 - you mentioned a refund in full, was that including return shipping charges?

If I manage to hear back from the seller for my return, I'll be sure to post my experiences.

 

Man am I glad to have found this forum. I have been caught by the same scam!

I received my unit last night. Opened it up, and it's exactly like everyone already described - knockoff! I've already contacted the seller about a return and refund and am awaiting a response, but I'm curious to know if the seller will cover return shipping.

ix912 - you mentioned a refund in full, was that including return shipping charges?

If I manage to hear back from the seller for my return, I'll be sure to post my experiences.

No thats why all the scammers charge $0.99 and then $47.99 shipping. Paypal doesn't refund shipping. Thats why you never buy from the high shipping guys overseas.

 

No thats why all the scammers charge $0.99 and then $47.99 shipping. Paypal doesn't refund shipping. Thats why you never buy from the high shipping guys overseas.

Fortunately in my case, I was only charged ~$9 for shipping and the rest was the unit price. And what you mention would apply if I go the PayPal dispute route.

eBay has been trumpeting its relatively new buyer protection policy and they explicitly state that it covers shipping costs as well (not sure on *return* shipping though). So if dealing with the seller directly doesn't work, then I'm going to dispute via eBay. Too bad that the eBay policy states that there is a 7-day wait time after trying to contact the seller for resolution.

 

Hello everybody!

Any news so far or desperate with Paypal ?

Well, I won Paypal dispute however the costs of sending the item back (return shipping from Europe) exceeds the costs of buying it in first place. So I decided to use it and repair it as it breaks down - which it should do quickly because of the "quality".

I discovered that the soldering station has faulty temperature indicator and that the potentiometer is way off of what it should be. I am going to fix that when I have some more time on my hands.

 

You won the Paypal dispute and got still this unit? I thought this can't go together and you have to return the item with Proof of Shipment/Delivery ?

 

You won the Paypal dispute and got still this unit? I thought this can't go together and you have to return the item with Proof of Shipment/Delivery ?

You get your money back after you provide Proof of Shipment/Delivery. If you don't do that the claim gets automatically canceled.
I am pretty sure that the seller gambled on buyers seeing the return shipping costs exceeding the purchase costs (or coming close) and then giving up.

I opted for complaint anyway because Paypal (supposedly) pays attention to fraud/fakes claims and if the sellers receives many such complains over short time, paypal demands explanation or in some cases even freezes the sellers account.
Nevertheless, the seller have stopped selling fake hakko stations (for time being) and changed his username to arctictactical.

 

Damn I wish I had found this thread earlier... I've been scammed too it seems.

The station I received looks exactly like the pictures posted before, except that there is a "SuperFire" sticker on top of Hakko. The case was broken too. To add insult to injury it came with a Chinese plug (I'm from Europe).

I smelled the nasty chemical odor too. It seems to come from the transformer, probably mounted as soon as it came out of the epoxy dip, without waiting for the fumes to dissipate.

The iron however looks pretty much like the real thing. I checked it in detail and I found a few differences with what I think it should be :
- The heating element is like the genuine, translucent ceramic type, except it does not have "Hakko" printed on it
- The iron is marked ESD SAFE, so it should be made entirely of conductive plastic. However I checked it with an ohmmeter in the 200MΩ range, and it seems like a perfect insulator. Could anyone with a genuine ESD safe iron check if the plastic resistance can be measured with a simple ohmmeter?
- I checked the connector according to the manual. When looking at the plug, pins go from 1 to 5 counter-clockwise :
pins 4-5 : heater, should be 2.5-3.5Ω, I got 4Ω (close enough).
pins 1-2 : sensor, resistance should be 43-58Ω, I found 58Ω.
pin 3 : connection to tip, should be <2Ω, I found >200MΩ. Again, probably non-ESD iron.

I've contacted PayPal, I hope I can get this resolved.

 

I hope that you are not one of those guys that leaves positive feedback right after purchase?

I am surprised to see so few negative feedbacks regarding the fake soldering stations.

 

No, I always wait until I confirm the item is 100% good. Besides, it was apparent there was a problem the second I opened the box.

I think when you complain and get a refund the purchase is completely canceled, that's why there won't be a negative review on eBay. eBay review system is complete BS anyway, actually it's not the first time I've been burnt after trusting a good rating. eBay has been convicted several times for their complacency with counterfeiting, and they do nothing about it, despite their claims.

 

Well, looks like I was incorrect about the waiting period for the eBay buyer protection policy, so I went ahead disputed through eBay after a few days of no response from the seller.

The seller just responded via the dispute process that they will do a full refund, and provided a return address in Covina, CA. Great for U.S. folks as we won't have to pay a lot ship back to China, but iffy as to the benefit to international folks looking for a return.

So looks like I will be out around $7 to ship it. Would rather be compensated in full, but I can deal with $7.

 

Shipping is about 20$ from here. But this is without Proof of Delivery, which is one requirement by Paypal. With POD I'll have to pay more than 40$, the station was 68$.
The other requirement is some kind of survey by a third person to prove the forgery, which is very difficult to obtain.

So I have to go the same way like vistula and keep the station. I will look at it more closely...measure temperature, etc. I haven't even used it once yet...

 

Latest update - WOW. I was just refunded my full purchase price + shipping through the eBay dispute process (seller never refunded, so I escalated it and eBay Customer Support came through with the refund). AND they were trying to get a refund of the return shipping charge but weren't able to get it from the seller, so they gave me a coupon instead. They basically made me whole, so I'm very happy.

I highly recommend disputing through the eBay buyer protection claims process if you have gotten burned by this seller. Just be patient (I gave the seller more than the required time to issue a refund) and it should work out in your favor.

 

Latest update - WOW. I was just refunded my full purchase price + shipping through the eBay dispute process (seller never refunded, so I escalated it and eBay Customer Support came through with the refund). AND they were trying to get a refund of the return shipping charge but weren't able to get it from the seller, so they gave me a coupon instead. They basically made me whole, so I'm very happy.

I highly recommend disputing through the eBay buyer protection claims process if you have gotten burned by this seller. Just be patient (I gave the seller more than the required time to issue a refund) and it should work out in your favor.

I just bought this unit about a week ago and received it on Saturday. I, too, felt something wasn't right the minute I opened the package.

This will be my first Hakko soldering station and the build quality is definitely that of a fake. I own an FR-802 rework station so I have a pretty good gauge of the build quality. I've also used the same Hakko soldering station in college. I remember very distinctly that it had a hex screw which allowed you to lock the temperature control knob in place.

There was no such screw on the unit I received--it was just a hole. I also noticed that the metal sheet on the underside of the soldering iron holder was not the right size--it was forcefully screwed in. The language on the hologram logo also was awkward, "Let's get out of the box." Who the hell comes up with this?

The seller I bought from on ebay is "cantonmade_com."

I see that he/she has sold 15 of these. I've filed a complain through the eBay buyer protection claims process just now. Let's see if they do anything about it.

Thank you for sharing your experience with the community. I'll keep you all updated on what happens.

UPDATE:

I threatened to escalate the claim to ebay as counterfeit goods and they gave me a full refund. The unit I received is a piece of crap! It takes about 2 minutes to heat up and the heat transfer sucks. I have to set it to over 400C in order to melt lead-free solder. Even my $50 weller wc100 did a better job than this.

 

I just bought this unit about a week ago and received it on Saturday. I, too, felt something wasn't right the minute I opened the package.

This will be my first Hakko soldering station and the build quality is definitely that of a fake. I own an FR-802 rework station so I have a pretty good gauge of the build quality. I've also used the same Hakko soldering station in college. I remember very distinctly that it had a hex screw which allowed you to lock the temperature control knob in place.

There was no such screw on the unit I received--it was just a hole. I also noticed that the metal sheet on the underside of the soldering iron holder was not the right size--it was forcefully screwed in. The language on the hologram logo also was awkward, "Let's get out of the box." Who the hell comes up with this?

The seller I bought from on ebay is "cantonmade_com."

I see that he/she has sold 15 of these. I've filed a complain through the eBay buyer protection claims process just now. Let's see if they do anything about it.

Thank you for sharing your experience with the community. I'll keep you all updated on what happens.

UPDATE:

I threatened to escalate the claim to ebay as counterfeit goods and they gave me a full refund. The unit I received is a piece of crap! It takes about 2 minutes to heat up and the heat transfer sucks. I have to set it to over 400C in order to melt lead-free solder. Even my $50 weller wc100 did a better job than this.

I wish I'd seen this sooner, I got one from Canton made this week so they're still selling them. I feel like a moron. The only reason I bought on is because I couldn't find a Hakko locally in Australia and I couldn't bring mine from the US with me due to the power input. Please tell me how you got your money back. Here is the unit that I bought, unlike the OP the lettering on the iron doesn't come off easily. The serial numbers on the box and unit match, but I just can't be certain. And what's up with that stupid decal on top? http://picasaweb.google.com/rearviewmirror/SuspectedCounterfeitHakko936SolderingStation#

Edit.. I just sent this to them on Ebay messaging..

I believe the Hakko 936 soldering station you sold me is not an authentic Hakko product. I have contacted Hakko USA and they have confirmed that it is not legitimate. It is up to you how we handle this situation, I will give you 24 hours to respond, after which I will be notifying Ebay and Paypal to take the necessary action. I don't appreciate being taken advantage of, so I hope you will do everything in your power to remedy this situation. I am not holding you completely responsible if you are unaware that you're selling counterfeit Hakko stations, but the proof will come down to how you handle the situation.

 

Hallo guys.I make a mistake as well and buy one Hakko 936 solder from -cantonmade.com-ebay last night.If I found this before ,never go for it.Hakko is realy goood made. hier the post. http://cgi.ebay.com/Soldering-Stati...m&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4150349fdb.I will check in when arrive. check this guys. good luck

 

Hallo guys.I make a mistake as well and buy one Hakko 936 solder from -cantonmade.com-ebay last night.If I found this before ,never go for it.Hakko is realy goood made. hier the post. http://cgi.ebay.com/Soldering-Stati...m&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4150349fdb.I will check in when arrive. check this guys. good luck

They're definitely fake, I confirmed this with HAKKO USA. Cancel your order and get your money back while you can. It's better to spend a little more money and get a proper one, the quality of their copy isn't very good and the temperature control is very inaccurate. It will work for the odd job here and there, but for $80 it should do a much better job. Good luck!

 

Hi guys.so I have this unit a home second day and You was right. piece of rubbish. I contacted the seller and explain problem to Him. That ignorant person text me back like, It is good copy-working well.Now when I report Him an ebay and paypal Hi text me like,dont do this,I am a serious seller.that is now,I am trying get my money back. regards-romanko

 

I ended up getting a full refund, and he said not to bother sending it back. So all in all, it works just fine for what it cost in the end. At least the 10 extra tips it came with were authentic Hakko.

 

My real Hakko 936 was made in Singapore.

I have wondered why a model that has been discontinued for some time was so readily available on the internet. Now I know. I'd think the easiest giveaway of a fake would be the smaller size and lighter weight of the transformer since that's the most obvious place to trim cost.

The strange odors emanating from a fake 936 are probably the melamine fillers in the fake phenolic PCB material, the fake epoxy used to glue the thin fake copper traces to the fake board, the fake lacquer used to glue the fake steel laminations of the fake transformer together, the fake enamel on the fake wire in it, the fake adhesive on the fake tape wrapped around it, the fake vinyl sheathing covering the fake power cord or a synergistic combination of all fakeness rising in one malodorous counterfeit product stench.