Counterfeit AC-to-USB adapters

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,280
Getting people to pay for the name not the quality has been primary strategy of marketing and business since someone figured out that fools with money tend to spend their money foolishly if given a reason to feel good about themselves
That's certainly true of the fashion industry, and anything to do with 'designer' labels.
 

blocco a spirale

Joined Jun 18, 2008
1,546
The notion that you can suck up 94% of an industry's profits by offering something that is somehow inferior is absurdly illogical and naive. The market decides winners and losers and if you can't accept that, you're just delusional. If you think the market is wrong, that it's possible to dupe millions and millions of people, you're welcome to try.
Are Beats the best headphones?

Of course, their popularity proves that they must be. :)
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
That's certainly true of the fashion industry, and anything to do with 'designer' labels.
It's not just the fashion industry. It's every industry. Look at how many high end automobiles there are out there that are for the most part nothing but extremely overpriced junk that are totally undrivable for normal day to day use.

Same with tools brands, industrial products, sports affiliations, educational institutes, belief systems and so on. :(
 

Thread Starter

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
94% of the profits from less than 20% of sales. exactly who do you think is getting ripped off?
That's just it - I don't think anyone is getting ripped off. Well maybe a few people get stuck with junk, but for the most part people are spending their money rationally and getting what they want and expect. Samsung and Apple both enjoy very high satisfaction ratings.

You can argue all you want that people "shouldn't" want to spend money on things you deem unimportant, that somehow you "know better", but that says more about you than about them.
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
Are you new to this planet? o_O

Dupe as many as possible for as much money as you can get away with and not get put in jail for has been the primary operating process of humankind since we figured out how to trade a banana for a coconut.

Getting people to pay for the name not the quality has been primary strategy of marketing and business since someone figured out that fools with money tend to spend their money foolishly if given a reason to feel good about themselves though association justified or otherwise. :rolleyes:

Just look at how many people are loyal to brands of products that at one time stood as industry standards that now are total overpriced junk just because people still associate their name with their former quality.. (fluke meters anyone?) :(
Many generic names like Hoover and Biro etc (the list is endless) were the brand names that got there first and made a *good enough* first impression. They weren't necessarily the best, but they're the brands everyone remembers.

Most have been pushed into the shade by better products that arrived since - or replaced by items that are so cheap, the customer just doesn't care.
 

Thread Starter

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
[responding to MrAl in 26]
Fair enough. Personally I don't get much hobby value from turning a $2 device into a Frankenstein version of a $7 device.
 

Thread Starter

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
Dupe as many as possible for as much money as you can get away with and not get put in jail for has been the primary operating process of humankind since we figured out how to trade a banana for a coconut.
I don't share your cynicism. In my business experience, I saw almost zero gain from any attempts at duping customers. Admittedly, my business was B2B and not retail. But as a consumer I know I won't do business ever again with someone that didn't deliver.

All the business I observed was a constant race to deliver as much value to customers as possible, less your margin of course, before the competitor could get ahead. You'd win some and lose some. Attempting to sell something you failed to deliver would cause you to lose business for years, until the customer died or moved on.
 

Sinus23

Joined Sep 7, 2013
248
I don't really care if you're an Apple or Android fanboy. A guy I know and respect is an Apple fanboy and has everything from iPad to Apple TV even though he uses a PC at home and while working.

Speaking for myself I got my first "Real" smartphone last month and it is a Samsung galaxy J5. The reason for that choice was that it was within my price range and had the best specs within that range (or at least here there is).

So far so good just need to add more storage space.

I have personally next to none experience with Apple products beside the iPod and iTunes. And iTunes was/is junk forged in hell...
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
I don't really care if you're an Apple or Android fanboy. A guy I know and respect is an Apple fanboy and has everything from iPad to Apple TV even though he uses a PC at home and while working.

Speaking for myself I got my first "Real" smartphone last month and it is a Samsung galaxy J5. The reason for that choice was that it was within my price range and had the best specs within that range (or at least here there is).

So far so good just need to add more storage space.

I have personally next to none experience with Apple products beside the iPod and iTunes. And iTunes was/is junk forged in hell...
What I've seen of their computer products is; they were massively over engineered. In 99% of cases that's no particular advantage to the end user, it just costs a lot more. Sometimes they seem to be struggling to keep up on the technology front.
 

Sinus23

Joined Sep 7, 2013
248
What I've seen of their computer products is; they were massively over engineered. In 99% of cases that's no particular advantage to the end user, it just costs a lot more. Sometimes they seem to be struggling to keep up on the technology front.
Could be because of the golden rule of form and function. They chose form over function.

Or that is what I've gathered from those who use their brand to be the biggest complaint about their products.
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
Could be because of the golden rule of form and function. They chose form over function.

Or that is what I've gathered from those who use their brand to be the biggest complaint about their products.
The first thing I looked at in a computer was the open architecture - Apple nearly did that with the Apple II, but then it was all proprietary peripherals and you couldn't shop around for better value.

I'd probably put up with an Apple phone if I won it - but I wouldn't buy one.
 

Sinus23

Joined Sep 7, 2013
248
I've been shopping for a replacement 5W charger (AC to USB adapter) for my phone and I'm getting really pissed off. It looks like every "genuine Apple OEM" charger cube you can find - outside the Apple store - is actually counterfeit. Even the ones shipped by Amazon, listed by Apple as an authorized supplier, appear to often be fake. Some fakes are obvious in the ads but many are not, since the sellers use Apple stock photos in their ads. Models are A1265 and A1385 (same specs, just a new number).

Why not buy from Apple? They want $19. The obvious counterfeit ones are <$2. In the $5-10 price range, there might be some genuine adapters out there but it's very hard to tell.
The text in bold makes me think that you have tried a couple of those.

Did they not work? and if then, in what way didn't they?
 

Thread Starter

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
I have not tried them, only read reviews and researched how to tell they are not genuine, and whether it matters. It does. The knock-offs are noisy and can't get anywhere near the amp rating without severe voltage sag. Worse, they risk line-to-phone, which is what killed that Chinese girl.

Even if they worked, as a matter of principle I'm not going to buy something with fraudulent safety labeling.
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
I have not tried them, only read reviews and researched how to tell they are not genuine, and whether it matters. It does. The knock-offs are noisy and can't get anywhere near the amp rating without severe voltage sag. Worse, they risk line-to-phone, which is what killed that Chinese girl.

Even if they worked, as a matter of principle I'm not going to buy something with fraudulent safety labeling.
When I made my living servicing CRT VGA monitors - the chances of them catching fire were roughly proportional to the quantity of safety certification stickers on the back.
 

Thread Starter

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
In my opinion, it looks primitive and fake inside. But I have not researched that adapter and that is only my guess.
 

debe

Joined Sep 21, 2010
1,389
This is a fake one I pulled apart to see what was inside. In my country the mains is 240V AC, so theres not mutch clearance for a flash over to occur.USB.1.JPG USB.2.JPG USB.3.JPG USB.4.JPG USB.6.JPG
 
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