BEWARE when buying CHEAP HDMI cables off EBAY!!!

[Jonathan Fletch]

I went against my usual religion of 'pay for quality, you always get what you pay for'

Again that old famous saying ' buy cheap buy twice' comes to mind.

I thought at £5.98 you cant go wrong with a 24 carat gold plated cable with 5 years guarantee from a reputable seller from ebay...but you can

I know of so many people who are buying these cables and seemingly from the same seller on ebay as the price is recognisable.

Mine is faulty, no picture, no sound, no signal.

I rang my local Jessops to get a price on the Sony HDMI cable, but i really didnt want to pay £25-£30 for a 1.5m cable!!! Bloody Sony!! Anyway the girl said they sell their own 2m HDMI cable, gold plated with a gold plated adapter for mini HDMI, so the lead is also multi useable and only £9.99!! This is still a very cheap cable!! But at least a refund would be easy if it didnt work.

This works straight away

So be warned when buying leads.....I wouldnt touch the cheapo cables off ebay with a barge pole now!!

Remember......you get what you pay for!!

Jon.

[alpine101]

So you got a faulty cable from Ebay? Did you ask the supplier to swap it and they refused?
If not, I don't see what your problem is.

And in the case of hdmi, your adage is completely wrong.

[Jonathan Fletch]

I've emailed the supplier 3 times, now 2 weeks and no response. I'm not going mad because its only £5.98, BUT I do expect a refund.

I'm just trying to warn people if they think the cheap leads are worth a gamble.....probably not. Its worth paying extra from a reputable local store where exchanges are easy.

I would never buy expensive electronics from EBAY.

The point of my thread is as I stated. When i was looking for advice on HDMI cables, reading this thread would have made my mind up to pay a bit more, rather than taking a gamble as i did (like I say only £6 but thats £6 towards a better cable)

They may not all be faulty, but at that price there is more chance of getting a duff.

£10 from Jessops gets a 2m gold plated cable with mini adaptor. Thats better value for me ;-)

[mmace]

I've bought a few HDMI cables from eBay, about 5 and some for my family too, all from different sellers

never had a faulty one, all were under a fiver (and some are 3 years old now)

looks like you have a dodgy seller, but absolutely no need to say all cables on eBay are dodgy when they clearly aren't

[rune]

I bought a HDMI to MiniHDMI on ebay (didnt feel like paying £25 for a cable in PC World, which was the only shop on the high street to stock the cable).. Anyway, After getting a replacement cable which also didnt work I ordered on off a reseller on Amazon which worked just fine.. The 2 ebay cables have gone back and im waiting for a refund.

[Jonathan Fletch]

I've never once stated that ALL cheap cables are dodgy.

With my bad luck or experience with a single seller (who might not be a bad seller, not heard from him yet) I just stated 'be ware' cheap might not always be the way.

I'm sure 90% of these cheap leads are okay, I wouldnt take that risk again for the sake of saving a fiver.

As I said Jessops sell a 2 metre GP cable for under a tenner anyway!

My thread was to those like myself who have had problems using a HDMI cable with the Sony TG3 (see my otherthread) I didnt make this clear in this thread...sorry for that.

There are quite a few people having trouble viewing pictures using HDMI with the Sony TG3, like myself, and my reason was the faulty lead, which just happened to be cheap from EBAY, myself trying to save a few quid. Thats all. no conspiracy against cheap cables as like I said, I'm sure 90% are fine.

There is no need for people to start a thread against mine... but hey, i know you get alsorts on forums ;-)

I was trying to be helpful, not start a war against cheap leads :-)

Regards.

Jon.

[mmace]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Fletch

I've never once stated that ALL cheap cables are dodgy.

With my bad luck or experience with a single seller (who might not be a bad seller, not heard from him yet) I just stated 'be ware' cheap might not always be the way.

I'm sure 90% of these cheap leads are okay, I wouldnt take that risk again for the sake of saving a fiver.

As I said Jessops sell a 2 metre GP cable for under a tenner anyway!

My thread was to those like myself who have had problems using a HDMI cable with the Sony TG3 (see my otherthread) I didnt make this clear in this thread...sorry for that.

There are quite a few people having trouble viewing pictures using HDMI with the Sony TG3, like myself, and my reason was the faulty lead, which just happened to be cheap from EBAY, myself trying to save a few quid. Thats all. no conspiracy against cheap cables as like I said, I'm sure 90% are fine.

There is no need for people to start a thread against mine... but hey, i know you get alsorts on forums ;-)

I was trying to be helpful, not start a war against cheap leads :-)

Regards.

Jon.

you've basically told people not to buy cheap cables and not to buy from eBay, there's nothing wrong with cheap cables and nothing wrong with the majority of eBay sellers

you started a thread because of your one bad experience, I've started on because of multiple good experiences, what's the problem?

[Jonathan Fletch]

No problem at all

I use EBAY all the time, for accessories like camera batteries, leads etc....

My EBAY experience is pretty perfect after well over 100 transactions, again no problem i agree.

I buy genuine batteries from HK, as you can get them for around £20-30 for the high capacity batts, where here in rip off UK their well over £100 some £200 for thr big batteries.

I do not disagree with everything you say, there are as many problems with big name stores here in the UK, but it is easier to get refunded or exchange when buying local at a price matched price.

This all stems back like I say to a problem with HDMI and the Sony TG3 as I couldnt get a signal with the faulty cable.

The people who have had this problem will be the ones who MAY agree with me.....

I still stand by MOST things in life, you get what you pay for.....not always though.

Regards.

Jon.

[headinclouds]

Originally Posted by mmace

you've basically told people not to buy cheap cables and not to buy from eBay, there's nothing wrong with cheap cables and nothing wrong with the majority of eBay sellers

you started a thread because of your one bad experience, I've started on because of multiple good experiences, what's the problem?

Lighten-up mmace Jon has not told anyone that ALL e-bay cables are crap ....just to be aware that some are.
I bought mine from Amazon with no problems.
Thanks for your helpful thread Jon.
Regards headinclouds.

[Jonathan Fletch]

Cheers Headinclouds......I think its crossed wires ;-) Like i say I buy cheap off EBAY all the time with zero problems. I put my issue with HDMI and TG3 down to the cheap lead..which it was. BUT thats not saying if i purchased another that would be the same.....

It was a Beware thread , i would NEVER tell anybody what they must do and not do, I'm not like that.

We can only advise through our experiences on forums...for every 100 people that thinks somethings great, 100 will think their rubbish..thats life.

This would have been a major issue in my eyes if the faulty item was hunderds of pounds though, i would not be as calm, I would be fretting!!.....

[RenaultSport]

To be fair, If the ebay cable was £6 and the Jessops just under £10 I'd just go buy the jessops one simple because I could walk in to the shop and get it now - I'm quite impatient like that

[Jonathan Fletch]

I agree...i dont know why I didnt ring Jessops first!!

I guess i didnt expect to get a HDMI cable from Jessops for a tenner.......Its not like me not to do my homework


Jon.

[Naqv]

I have bought dirt cheap hdmi cables from ebay and have never had ANY problems?

What you should have done was:
-contact the seller
-wait for reply, if you receive no reply after a couple of days
-start paypal dispute and you would have been refunded
-then leave bad feedback warning others

You can get dodgy cables from big stores as well, so the "cheap" in your comment has nothing to do with the situation.

[Jonathan Fletch]

Originally Posted by Naqv

I have bought dirt cheap hdmi cables from ebay and have never had ANY problems?

What you should have done was:
-contact the seller
-wait for reply, if you receive no reply after a couple of days
-start paypal dispute and you would have been refunded
-then leave bad feedback warning others

You can get dodgy cables from big stores as well, so the "cheap" in your comment has nothing to do with the situation.

Yes, done all that. I've explained all above

I'm being fair and giving the seller another few days, then i will contacy Paypal.

Regards,

Jon.

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by Naqv

What you should have done was:
-contact the seller
-wait for reply, if you receive no reply after a couple of days
-start paypal dispute and you would have been refunded
-then leave bad feedback warning others

It all sounds so simple you have to wonder why anyone would bother actually going to a shop any more!