What Did You Buy Today?

[tim81]

eBay certainly be worried. I'm always torn on Amazon or another vendor, but if the seller is listed at Mutitoyo Amazon store, it's been good. Amazon return policy has been good on other things, so I *think* if you got 'taken' you could return it.

If in doubt, use a distributor...

FYI, I really love Mit measurement tools. I know Starrett is good, but usually too desirable and out of my price range!

Mine too, can barely afford these tools so far. But what is needed is needed. I lost 3 years in pandemic and now getting back to where a was in late 2019

 

[woodchucker]

eBay certainly be worried. I'm always torn on Amazon or another vendor, but if the seller is listed at Mutitoyo Amazon store, it's been good. Amazon return policy has been good on other things, so I *think* if you got 'taken' you could return it.

If in doubt, use a distributor...

FYI, I really love Mit measurement tools. I know Starrett is good, but usually too desirable and out of my price range!

That Mitutoyo Store means nothing. It's just a grouping.
I bought a dyson Animal for Christmas one year from the Dyson seller, it came from some store unrelated. If you check many stores, you can register anything. The hayward store on Amazon is Hayward pool supplies, but Hayward won't warranty any of it. They say it's not from an authorized store... So just because it has the name, doesn't make it official.

 

[ttabbal]

Amazon also groups inventory from random sellers into the same box. So for items that have a lot of fakes, you might order from a reputable businesses, but the item they bring you could be from anywhere. I don't buy from them for Mitutoyo anymore because of that. I don't mind paying for quality, but I want to be certain that I'm getting the real thing.

 

[ChazzC]

Amazon also groups inventory from random sellers into the same box. So for items that have a lot of fakes, you might order from a reputable businesses, but the item they bring you could be from anywhere. I don't buy from them for Mitutoyo anymore because of that. I don't mind paying for quality, but I want to be certain that I'm getting the real thing.

Bought a Mitutoyo 500-196-30 digital caliper from Amazon sold by Amazon two years ago; didn’t contact Mitutoyo but it checked all the boxes on Clough42’s video. Been very happy with it (although my daily use is a 30-ish old 500-351, which is on its third battery – another excellent way to tell you have the real thing).

 

[mmcmdl]

If it's 20+ years old it's not fake and is pretty easy to figure it out . The digitals now a days ,

 

[ChazzC]

If it's 20+ years old it's not fake and is pretty easy to figure it out . The digitals now a days ,

Yes, back in the bad old days fakes were easy to spot. The 2-year old one was carefully checked.

 

[mmcmdl]

Can anyone remember when the off shore stuff began ? Must have been after 99 . We had three big 3 suppliers back then , MSC , Grainger and Carr . Bourrohs (sp) was a local distributor that came to the door and Chapman's also . You never had to worry about this stuff .

 

[ChazzC]

Can anyone remember when the off shore stuff began ? Must have been after 99 . We had three big 3 suppliers back then , MSC , Grainger and Carr . Bourrohs (sp) was a local distributor that came to the door and Chapman's also . You never had to worry about this stuff .

ENCO was before 99, and there were others selling Taiwanese machines in the early 90's.

 

[extropic]

Can anyone remember when the off shore stuff began ? Must have been after 99 . We had three big 3 suppliers back then , MSC , Grainger and Carr . Bourrohs (sp) was a local distributor that came to the door and Chapman's also . You never had to worry about this stuff .

It's a process. "off shore stuff" began, for me, after WWII when the Japanese were trying to get their peacetime economy started. When I was a kid, anything from Japan was cheap micky mouse (expletives withheld). Today we love Japanese made goods. Later, Taiwan made tools were at the bottom of the heap. Today, we much prefer Taiwan made tools over Chicom tools, which are, pretty much, at the bottom. I remember, what I saw as the beginning-of-the-end, when Sears started carrying cheaper lines of hand and power tools in the 70s.

You remember Sears, don't you? Another example of snatching defeat from certain victory. In the 70s (before and after the 70s) Sears had a world class catalog order and fulfillment operation running. How they managed to not convert that into an online equivalent is beyond my imagination. Talk about CHOKE!

 

[ChazzC]

It's a process. "off shore stuff" began, for me, after WWII when the Japanese were trying to get their peacetime economy started. When I was a kid, anything from Japan was cheap micky mouse (expletives withheld). Today we love Japanese made goods. Later, Taiwan made tools were at the bottom of the heap. Today, we much prefer Taiwan made tools over Chicom tools, which are, pretty much, at the bottom. I remember, what I saw as the beginning-of-the-end, when Sears started carrying cheaper lines of hand and power tools in the 70s.

You remember Sears, don't you? Another example of snatching defeat from certain victory. In the 70s (before and after the 70s) Sears had a world class catalog order and fulfillment operation running. How they managed to not convert that into an online equivalent is beyond my imagination. Talk about CHOKE!

I had good luck with Sears/Craftsman Club ordering online (picking up in store to save shipping) and tracing items in stock at a local store so I could go look at them before purchasing. I think what killed Sears is the same thing that killed Bed, Bath & Beyond (and others): online competition with similar goods at better pricing. Plus difficulty finding decent sales people for the brick & mortar operations, particularly after the pandemic when the good people found other jobs. Also, people were no longer looking for one source for all of their needs: they wanted to go to specialized stores/websites.