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Date:         Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:36:49 -0700
Reply-To:     Marc Sayer <marcsayer@HUGHES.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Marc Sayer <marcsayer@HUGHES.NET>
Subject:      Re: Cheapest fuel pump I've ever seen
In-Reply-To:  <99ED9DB70043490A96097036F479BA8E@RON>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

The Bus Depot wrote: > > How ironic that this is posted right on the heels of another list member's > bad experience buying cheap Chinese parts. To recap, he tried to save money > buying Chinese brake rotors and immediately regretted it; out of the box > they were already so badly warped that he's trying to get his money back. > (Yes, these Ebay fuel pumps are also Chinese made, despite the seller's > disingenuous attempt to imply otherwise by using "USA" in the brand name.) > Yep. remember, the term "cheap" describes two aspects of a product. It describes the price and the quality. And the two are intrinsically related. When it comes to new parts, you hardly ever get a cheap regular price (sales are something else entirely) without also getting cheap quality. There are very, very few exceptions to this rule, and Chinese one-part-fits-hundreds junk being sold on eBay is not going to be one of those very rare exceptions. Sure one person may have a good experience with a part like this. But overall, the reliability of parts like this is very low. And as Ron points out, the guy starts off by misleading folks about the product. He Implies these are USA made, which they aren't. Perhaps even more telling, he uses another brand name in the title, then the very first thing he immediately rationalizes and excuses this lie. This is a red flag, a big one. The terms OEM, OEM spec, and OEM equivalent are often used by people selling cheap versions of factory parts. OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) was originally used to indicate when a part was made by the manufacturer that supplied that part to the automaker (generally referring to original parts where the manufacture was outsourced by the automaker). Way back when, you could buy you a part (say an alternator for example) from the dealer, or you could buy an OEM alternator from an independent parts house for less money, which would be the exact same alternator made by the same company that supplied the automaker originally. Later on the term OEM was enlarged to refer to an alternate part made by the same manufacturer as supplied the OE parts, that would meet OE specs and/or work on your car, but that was not necessarily the exact same OE part. Now OEM has been so misused and corrupted that most times it is an attempt to disguise a crappy part that does not meet OE specs. There is no such thing as OEM spec or OEM equivalent. There is OE (original equipment from the automaker itself, that obviously meets OE specs), OEM (a part sourced outside the automaker's system but made by the company that supplies the automaker and identical to the OE part or at the very least meeting OE specs) and there is aftermarket (alternate parts that may be made by other companies than the OEM, that is claimed to work on your car, and that may or may not meet OE specs). And BTW, just because a dealership is selling/installing a replacement part, does not mean it is an OE part. Many dealers sell OEM and aftermarket parts as replacement parts. And most general repair shops sell primarily aftermarket parts. If someone starts selling you on the fact that the part meets OEM specs, or is an OEM equivalent, you are off to a bad start. OEM just means the part was made by the original equipment manufacturer and has nothing to do with the part's specs. Ditto the term OEM replacement, The specs are properly referred to as OE not OEM. And the term should be OE replacement not OEM replacement.

--

Marc Sayer Journalist, Photographer, Dog Trainer (APDT member #062956) Board member - Western States Great Dane Rescue Association Director of Operations& Training - Deaf Dane Rescue Inc. Oakridge, OR USA

My Homepage - http://gracieland.org Deaf Dane Rescue - http://deafdane.org White Danes Yahoo Group - http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/whitedanes Western States Great Dane Rescue Association - http://wsgdra.org RescueWatchdogs - http://rescuewatchdogs.org Association of Pet Dog Trainers - http://APDT.com


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