Idea for new classification -> Chinese Components

[ez24]

First of all, I do not know the correct terms.

What about a topic (like General Chat) under General (or under something else) that would have a title like "Chinese Components"  then under this could be a sub-heading like "LED", "Resistors", "Switches", etc.

So "Chinese Components"  would be easy to find and then the categories under it.  I think there is a demand by members to try and find good cheap components.  So people could post good finds and bad ones.

Like this one     --->  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/cheap-chinese-20w-led-that-is-actually-good/msg1051645/#msg1051645

I know members currently do it, but they are random and difficult to find.

The main thing is that there be sub-categories so someone looking for an LED does not have to look through other components.  There does not have to be too many but more there are the easier it will be used.

Any comments?

[mariush]

Thing is, the seller who sells you something good today may have a fake or reject batch of same component the next week.  Or he could very well run out of this part in his personal stock and instead of just waiting until he gets the same type, he just goes a few meters to another seller and takes a similar LED and mails it to you.

When you have LED assemblies or any other product that has no brand name, no product code, id, identification, which could be manufactured in a random factory out of tens of them... how would someone know he/she gets a product that's identical as one recommended by another person?

[Ian.M]

Also, people are lazy.  The idea of a components category  is a good one, but don't limit it to Chinese ones or give it sub-categories as they almost certainly will be low traffic and stuff will still get posted everywhere other than where it should be.

Ideally there would be some way of enforcing tags in the topic title, e.g,:

<request type>:<component type> <Part No.> <rest of title>
where <request type> is FS - for sale, WTD - wanted, INFO - info about, ID? - what is this?, FREE - giveaways, SUB? - substitute, BAD - warning about bad/counterfeit parts, etc. and <component type> is the usual abbreviated designator for components of that class e.g. R C L D NPN PNP NMOS PMOS LED IC OPAMP, etc.   
New request types or component types would be auto-referred for moderation.

However it would need a SMF 2.0 compatible plugin, to enforce that + more work for our moderators so even if we get the forum, we are very unlikely to get the enforced topic tagging it needs to be easily searchable.

[station240]

I cannot see this working due to how the Shenzhen Market operates.

Where if a store doesn't have something in stock, they order the part from where ever. Usually this means another store close by has that part and walks over to drop it off. Sure it's quick, but you have no idea where you parts are actually sourced from. Dave's also constant references to crappy parts used in teardown equipment being "whatever was cheap that day in Shenzhen Market", is an obvious clue there are problems.

I think what we really need is a list of top level component suppliers (factories), or the warehouses that directly order their parts from the manufacturer.
This becomes an interesting challenge for assembled products, where you can pay to have your own branding put on items.

[Rick Law]

What could be more useful would be cataloging the sellers.  But then businesses also change hands.  That it is a good-guy running the show today doesn't mean it would be the next day.