Paying for buying a Chinese Laser engrave

[Roy Haney]

I purchased a 60 watt laser from eBay.

Purchased a 60 watt laser and received a 1000 mm 40 watt tube which has now gone out.
Had the Blower go out in which they paid $150.00 for.
Now they are telling me that since they told me to purchase a tube locally and they would pay for it.
Purchased a replacement tube for $400.00 and they told me that they would only reimburse $350.00 and since they had already reimbursed $150/00 they would only send $200.00. Understand the $150 is for the blower.

If you purchase from China understand you will not have support, but it is great that there are american companies that are filling in like Rabbit Laser. So understand that bargain can be a bargain if you can stand alone without support from them. I am waiting for replacement mirrors and will be up with a certified 1200 mm tube that is a 60 watt.
they company has drug out the emails one a day for many days to the point that I can not give bad feedback. If you are a company that has to rely on your machine being up I would pay the price and get and American based company.

[Gary Hair]

What? An ebay laser that isn't working? Shocked, shocked, shocked I am. If only someone would post about the dangers of buying on ebay...

[Bill George]

And they always come here After they have purchased!! Surprise.

[Matt McCoy]

Hey Roy: The problem is not so much the venue of eBay, as it is the seller. I've purchased laser tubes and a chiller there, but from names that are often passed along here as reputable suppliers. They just also happen to have stores there too. With eBay and your credit card, you do have buyer protections, but time is of the essence if a transaction goes south. There are diminishing returns after you cross a certain threshold on a Chinese laser. In order to make these as cheap as possible, a compromise must be made and corners cut. Contact eBay, if you can't sort out things out, and be sure to include all correspondence with the seller (which should always be through eBay's system, not private e-mail). Also, I would recommend Rabbit Laser or LightObject for parts and assistance.

Hope that helps.

[Roy Haney]

Understand I am not complaining about my Laser. Yes they lied, Had they not I would not have met Ray Scott. Yes they are cheating me, if all had been right I would not have the knowledge I have now. I got a cheap Laser with some good and some bad parts. I am now more knowledgeable and plan to buy more engravers and now I can make better informed decisions.

[Brian Leavitt]

I bought one of these suckers probably a bit over a year ago - maybe 15 months ago. I went in to this purchase knowing that A: the seller is merely a re-seller and probably knows as much about lasers as I know about quantum mechanics, B: It was going to be a poorly built machine, C: At least some of the stats listed in the Ebay listing were probably lies, and D: I was going to have to pretty much start fixing and adjusting things as soon at the unit arrived at my house if I wanted it to be even remotely useful. If it were going to be my only source of income, I would never have gone ahead with this purchase. I already have three good machines at my disposal so buying this one wasn't a huge risk.

Well I gotta tell ya, judging by what is said about these lasers here at the Creek, I must be in the minority because I have yet to have any kind of failure with mine. When it arrived at my house, the first thing I did after un-crating was check the alignment. It was perfect right out of the box! In fact, the only issue I had was the table being slightly out of level and this was fixed in 10 minutes. I did clean up the chassis ground with a wire brush for the sake of safety, but that's really it. I knew going in that the optics would be junk and the tube was cheap and not actually 60 watts.

I'm still using the same optics, tube, air and water pumps, belts, DSP, power supply, drivers, exhaust fan, etc., etc. that came with it and it actually engraves fine for what I use it for, which is mostly wood. I'll get around to replacing and upgrading the optics soon, as well as upgrading to a true 60W tube, but I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised with this little guy thus far.

[Bert Kemp]

I think with ebay machines its the luck of the draw. Some are ok some are junk. People looking at ebay machines should look at the seller feedback real close and see if the feedback is related to lasers. Most sellers on ebay sell all kinds of stuff not just lasers. So see if you can find out his laser feedback.Also see if you can find out who MFG the machine. If its made by jo wong dong stay away but if its made by Gweki or Shenhui chances are better that its ok. But even then you can never be sure.

[Andy Butters]

The problem with ebay is you can just click "buy now" and it's a 30 second process.

If you want to buy a Tratec or an Epolog, there are no prices, you have to actually phone them, arrange meetings, negotiate on pricing, etc. A process that 99% of consumers do not have the patience for.

So much easier to go on ebay click buy now wack your credit card number in and hey presto I just bought a laser engraver. It's just as easy as buying a pencil!!

If course when it turns up the realisation hits that this is no pencil, and suddenly all of the negative points of doing it this way hit home.

Luckily there are forums like this and facebook pages to help people!

Personally I do all my research before I buy anything, but most consumers seem to do the opposite nowadays.

[John Lifer]

Well, I'm buying direct. I actually thought about getting an eBay little one, just to play with while the better machine was being built and shipped. Didn't do it as I probably would have been frustrated with it. But I never would have bought one with the expectation of getting service. Now with ray fine, I'll get some service if needed.

[Doug Fisher]

If you are within the 90 period (or whatever is the limit for your particular card), I would be in contact with my credit card company ASAP to initiate a chargeback/complaint. That is the only way you get the Chinese sellers to finally do the right thing. Otherwise, it is stall, stall, stall... deny.

[Clark Pace]

Luck of the draw ditto. Got my first. Ebay laser. Cheap under a grand. Had it for a year. Then upgraded to a redsail Direct 3 years ago. Still have it. Works fine. Also got a second ebay laser. Also worked fine. So luck i guess

[Kelly Klaas]

A few years ago I purchased a 40 watt Chinese laser from a company in Connecticut. They are a good company but I am 2200 miles away from them. They did what they could on support but the distance meant all they could do was use the phone or email. It finally self-destructed for good. I purchased a REFURBISHED ULS laser from a HLT Lasers in Nampa, Idaho...just a few miles down the road. I just now installed it and am getting familiar with it. It is a whole different experience working with a US made machine and having support just down the road! My point is, consider a REFURBISHED unit. They replace all the parts that wear and make it in tip top shape before it goes out the door...and you can save literally thou$ands over a new machine yet have the same capabilities and reliability. Mine has a brand new 60 watt laser tube that checks out at 75 watts!

Kelly
Southern Idaho

[Roy Haney]

Now that I have hit the magical 90 days that I have had this machine they magically do not return messages or have the refunded the agreed money. I am smarter now and when I can learn someones scam it isn't a bad day.
So if you want top save money and go with a Chinese sourced Machine be ready to play hard ball. If it isn't right on delivery have them send it back. Understand that when they say go ahead and buy locally and we will reimburse you in my case it was a lie.
What I have is a base machine and with companies like Rabbit where I can get parts I am just fine. The biggest problem is I have dealt fifty thousand dollar jobs on a hand shake and this hurts my inner self to understand they are just Flim Flam Con artist.

[Keith Downing]

Now that I have hit the magical 90 days that I have had this machine they magically do not return messages or have the refunded the agreed money. I am smarter now and when I can learn someones scam it isn't a bad day.
So if you want top save money and go with a Chinese sourced Machine be ready to play hard ball. If it isn't right on delivery have them send it back. Understand that when they say go ahead and buy locally and we will reimburse you in my case it was a lie.
What I have is a base machine and with companies like Rabbit where I can get parts I am just fine. The biggest problem is I have dealt fifty thousand dollar jobs on a hand shake and this hurts my inner self to understand they are just Flim Flam Con artist.

It's unfortunate you're having a bad experience. But IMHO it potentially has more to do with purchasing off Ebay as opposed to purchasing a chinese machine. I know a LOT of people on here have purchased direct from (reputable) Chinese companies and gotten great machines and even decent support after the purchase. You just have to do your homework.

On the other hand, I for one wouldn't ever purchase off ebay and this is exactly why. Others have posted detailed examples of how companies can skirt the issue of having negative feedback on large purchases by posting a lot of little items, and by manipulating the complaint/return feature to limit the ability to rate them negatively as a buyer.

Hopefully the community here can help you work through your issues and problems. Just post clear, concise requests for help when you need it and be patient. This community can be a lifesaver at times.

[John Lifer]

As I've posted before, I started to buy an eBay K40 just to play with. I did have two months plus that I could have learned the RD software and maybe had a decent machine. Or I could have had a real dog and a fight to get my money back. Keith is entirely correct in feedback is not consistent with these sellers. I looked HARD for what I would consider a REAL manufacturer on eBay and not just a reseller and there aren't any! Just trinket sellers that are selling lasers as expensive trinkets.

So after the sale service WILL BE NONEXISTENT WITH ANY EBAY SELLER!

I'm on the RDworks forum and it is interesting that the site manager has posted a very detailed message with the jist being the above sentence and buyer beware.
At least by going direct I have a contact that WILL respond. (and has several times since I got machine).

[trevor scott]

I am looking at buying a Boss right now. how do you like your boss? Feel free to email me trevor@eightmen.com

[Rob Damon]

I bought an eBay 100w co2 several years ago and it has had zero problems.

The secret to buying on eBay is to look in their store.

If 99% of the listings are laser/business grade equipment, you will be better off.

Such as (I have no affiliation):

https://www.ebay.com/str/uslaser?_trksid=p2047675.l2563 (opened: 2014)

or

https://www.ebay.com/str/laserfactory2016 (opened: 2016)

or

https://www.ebay.com/usr/goldraydigital?_trksid=p2047675.l2559 (opened: 2010)


Their stores are nothing but lasers or business class products. They have been in business since 2014, 2016 and 2010 respective.

As oppose to an eBay store that just has one laser for sale and 100 other trinkets for sale.

(would give a link to an example but most also sale NSFW products in addition to lasers.)

See how long they have been listing on eBay. Someone that just opened a store 4 months ago and has all 5-star feed back is someone you may want to be careful about. Some open and close stores regularly to purge old bad reviews.

Also, go to several online forums and ask about specific vendors before you buy to see if anyone has bought from them and what their experiences were.

Do a search on google about customer complaints on that specific vendor.

One consideration that drove me to eBay purchase was a Trotec would be $30K for which I could buy six eBay machines for the same price. That means I could have one working laser with spare parts for years to come from the five other machines and just scrap the big metal boxes they came in. Or run 2 machines and have two spare parts backup for each that are running. And I would still have cash left over for future replacement laser tubes.

When I got my CO2 laser (and fiber for that matter) I took all the covers off and traced out and documented all the wiring and components in the machine and it is just not that complex when it comes right down to it. A main controller, power supplies, filter, motors, motor drivers, laser power source and tube.

So, if you are a tinkerer and can afford the time to learn about the machine, eBay machines or direct from China can be great bargains. But if you just want to let someone else deal with issues and troubleshooting, then stick with US based firms.

I have seen Keith's Trotec speedy 300 running and it is a great little machine and he has high praises for the tech support they provide.

[Jerome Stanek]

I bought from Goldraydigital and found they are very helpful and very fast shipping. Would I buy from them again you bet I would.

[Steve Utick]

I am looking at buying a Boss right now. how do you like your boss? Feel free to email me trevor@eightmen.com

I have a boss machine, and in reality, if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't buy that machine. I've heard a lot of good things lately about Thunder Laser. Hybrid servo machines that have decent speed to them. Not Epilog or Trotec speed, but faster than traditional Chinese machines. Have heard they have great support as well. The other I've heard good things about is Aeon laser. Might check both of those out before you make your decision.

[Kev Williams]

My Triumph 80w RECI machine, the software will let me run it as high as 800mm/S, which is 60% faster than the typical 500. The problem I've found with going that fast, is the engraving quality starts to suffer... but it's not because the steppers and gantry setup can't handle the speed, it's because DC fired glass lasers can't handle the speed. Their reaction time relative to RF lasers is akin to an incandescent bulb's reaction time relative to LED bulbs...'reaction time' is probably an inaccurate description scientifically, but the result is the same ;) ... Many materials, such as engraving plastics, might be more forgiving than the black anodized aluminum I was running...