ebay seller of cheap(er) tools like stew mac

looks like the exact same stuff minus the stewmac logo

yep- the dremel base is about the same $50, but the base part is about $30 cheaper which is nice

Chinese companies that produce for foreign retailers generally take the same stuff they make (even if from protected corporate designs) and sell it elsewhere and so undercut their original buyer. There's zero respect for copyright or intellectual property. If they can make it or can reverse engineer it to steal it, they will. If they can cheapen the quality to add a few more cents to their pockets, even if it ruins the usability of the product, they will. Unless someone is sitting on them and guarding everything 24/7, it will be exploited. Tainted food, tainted health products, unsafe everything from dog and kid toys to toothpaste to medicines; products that look like they should work and self destruct in a matter of days, where the same thing made in the USA 30 years ago still works or is repairable? It's shameful.

The stuff they sell direct will most likely have no ethical quality control so you'll have to take that gamble, and there's no recourse if something is wrong, unless PayPal backs you up.

YES! ...and you can buy virtually any "American" product for anywhere from 50% off to pennies on the dollar. Why would anyone think of paying full price?

Get your new Martin here, or look around for a new Fender, Gibson, Taylor, or anything else you might want.

http://compass.alibaba.com/tag/search?spm=a2700.7906341.40.80.eYh3mI&appFrom=s_affiliate&pageFrom=keyword&scene=productItem&subject=-strong-Martin-strong-Custom-MMV&pid=50013077137&posCate=100005510

I agree on this one. . . I don't love Stew Mac, but at least they back up their product. Sure, the stuff is probably from the same factory, but Stew Mac can leverage their orders for quality control purposes. It's entirely possible that some of those items were rejected by S.M. for just that reason.

Edit: Caveat Emptor
Edit #2: Most likely, the quality is the same, but is going around S.M. to buy a product they designed and brought to market really ethical?

Teek said:

...and there's no recourse if something is wrong, unless PayPal backs you up.

Click to expand...

My experience with a PayPal claim as a buyer has been dismal. It seems that PayPal has a greater interest in keeping sellers happy, perhaps because it is so economically important to PayPal that sellers put the PayPal button on their retail sites.