Trying to provide working and reliable vintage compatible products can be a nightmare . . .
Do you use new tech. parts that are expensive, over specified and, sometimes, hard to get? Or, rely on AliExpress "New and Original" parts that, obviously, are not "new and Original"?
Well, I go the AliExpress route! Not ideal, however, I try hard to mitigate this by testing, testing, and then testing some more. I test when the parts arrive, test before building them into product, test when the product is built and, finally, test before shipping. I can do this as I'm retired and not expecting to earn a living out of it!
Since the arrival of Temu the experience with AliExpress has improved greatly. One not-so-good 'service-upgrade' is: If you have faulty parts you can't get a refund for just the faulty parts, you have to return them all - a lot easier process, however!
I'm prompted the write here due to a recent delivery from an AliExpress supplier "Shop1102992992 Store". Prices, on AliExpress, have been rising slowly as parts become more difficult to find. I needed a new batch of 62256 RAM ICs. There are still quite a few suppliers selling these and previous deliveries have been reasonable quality. I recently ordered a 100 parts and in due course they arrived (Note: The 7 days delivery is from when they 'ship' the parts not when you place the order!).
Well . . . First thing I noticed was the box had a slightly crushed corner. On opening I found they had packed the ICs in three 'stacks' (a common practice that I always give negative feedback for) e.g. one on top of another and held together with either sticky-backed-plastic or something like cling film. This usually indicates you'll have some pin straightening to do! However, one stack had become loose of its bindings and the ICs were scattered around the box with a few of them having embedded into the cardboard. It didn't look good!
I unpacked a 'good' stack of parts and carried out an initial test! It was a bit of a horror show . . . Imagine the worst case computer you have ever seen that looked as if it had been in a dumpster for 20 years . . . then the ICs were pulled and shipped out to you as "New and Original". This is what they looked like! All the IC legs were short and blackened - some pins were missing - one even has a piece of wire soldered onto a missing pin!
I thought, OK let's just test a few before I return them. I had the pop them into the ultrasonic cleaner first to give the programmer a chance of making contact with the legs. As expected around 50% failure. Repacked and initiated a return. No complaints from AliExpress - returned under "poor condition" I also left scathing feedback for the supplier. A day later I had a message, via AliExpress, saying the supplier had queried the return. I took the opportunity to expand on the feedback I'd already placed against the order. Not had a reply from them . . . yet!
I'm still happy the buy parts via AliExpress - but I do believe the time is near when some parts will become either too expensive or just unavailable.
Buyer beware!
Dave H.
Do you use new tech. parts that are expensive, over specified and, sometimes, hard to get? Or, rely on AliExpress "New and Original" parts that, obviously, are not "new and Original"?
Well, I go the AliExpress route! Not ideal, however, I try hard to mitigate this by testing, testing, and then testing some more. I test when the parts arrive, test before building them into product, test when the product is built and, finally, test before shipping. I can do this as I'm retired and not expecting to earn a living out of it!
Since the arrival of Temu the experience with AliExpress has improved greatly. One not-so-good 'service-upgrade' is: If you have faulty parts you can't get a refund for just the faulty parts, you have to return them all - a lot easier process, however!
I'm prompted the write here due to a recent delivery from an AliExpress supplier "Shop1102992992 Store". Prices, on AliExpress, have been rising slowly as parts become more difficult to find. I needed a new batch of 62256 RAM ICs. There are still quite a few suppliers selling these and previous deliveries have been reasonable quality. I recently ordered a 100 parts and in due course they arrived (Note: The 7 days delivery is from when they 'ship' the parts not when you place the order!).
Well . . . First thing I noticed was the box had a slightly crushed corner. On opening I found they had packed the ICs in three 'stacks' (a common practice that I always give negative feedback for) e.g. one on top of another and held together with either sticky-backed-plastic or something like cling film. This usually indicates you'll have some pin straightening to do! However, one stack had become loose of its bindings and the ICs were scattered around the box with a few of them having embedded into the cardboard. It didn't look good!
I unpacked a 'good' stack of parts and carried out an initial test! It was a bit of a horror show . . . Imagine the worst case computer you have ever seen that looked as if it had been in a dumpster for 20 years . . . then the ICs were pulled and shipped out to you as "New and Original". This is what they looked like! All the IC legs were short and blackened - some pins were missing - one even has a piece of wire soldered onto a missing pin!
I thought, OK let's just test a few before I return them. I had the pop them into the ultrasonic cleaner first to give the programmer a chance of making contact with the legs. As expected around 50% failure. Repacked and initiated a return. No complaints from AliExpress - returned under "poor condition" I also left scathing feedback for the supplier. A day later I had a message, via AliExpress, saying the supplier had queried the return. I took the opportunity to expand on the feedback I'd already placed against the order. Not had a reply from them . . . yet!
I'm still happy the buy parts via AliExpress - but I do believe the time is near when some parts will become either too expensive or just unavailable.
Buyer beware!
Dave H.
Statistics: Posted by daveejhitchins — Sat Mar 08, 2025 10:29 am
