Flood of new Agilent 82357B GPIB-USB adaptors on eBay the real deal?

[Scottjd]

Well o cam tell you for sure that the authentic one does not say Agilent. So if they claim it's real and say Agilent and it's listed about $130 US then it's fake. If the date on the side of the new never opened box is 2009 then it's fake.
My authentic one I have came and has KeySite on the adapter, no Agilent and was made in 2014, I think? Or maybe 2015???
Well it's in this video somewhere I mention or show the date.....


https://youtu.be/NWHg_20cr7A

[bsgd]

Well o cam tell you for sure that the authentic one does not say Agilent. So if they claim it's real and say Agilent and it's listed about $130 US then it's fake. If the date on the side of the new never opened box is 2009 then it's fake.
My authentic one I have came and has KeySite on the adapter, no Agilent and was made in 2014, I think? Or maybe 2015???
Well it's in this video somewhere I mention or show the date.....

Thanks Scottjd! Yes I did watch your video. At first I thought those Agilent GPIBs were NOS, from some distributor that closed down and ended up passing up surplus units to the market. But then people started posting all these horrific soldering jobs and now Im positive all chinese adapters are fake. Yes, the newer ones have the Keysight logo.

Are there any fake 82357A units? I dont really need USB 2.0 support.

[Scottjd]

Well o cam tell you for sure that the authentic one does not say Agilent. So if they claim it's real and say Agilent and it's listed about $130 US then it's fake. If the date on the side of the new never opened box is 2009 then it's fake.
My authentic one I have came and has KeySite on the adapter, no Agilent and was made in 2014, I think? Or maybe 2015???
Well it's in this video somewhere I mention or show the date.....

Thanks Scottjd! Yes I did watch your video. At first I thought those Agilent GPIBs were NOS, from some distributor that closed down and ended up passing up surplus units to the market. But then people started posting all these horrific soldering jobs and now Im positive all chinese adapters are fake. Yes, the newer ones have the Keysight logo.

Are there any fake 82357A units? I dont really need USB 2.0 support.

Yes, I thought they were surplus also because USB took over the use of this technology. But after I bought one someone pointed out this thread, after opening mine I was disappointed in what I thought was a good deal. Further research since then showed me these are more acurate an stable reading then new meter with USB and this tech still rocks. Still I gather Keysoght/HP/Agilent already made back their engineering and development costs and the manufacturing and part BOM has come down considerably. I'm shocked that Keysight who has now even given up on GPIB and makes all new meters with USB hasn't dropped the price of this unit. The markup has to be at least 1,000% by now.

I was even more disjointed when seeing in this thread people were making offered of $55 and getting them on eBay since I paid the full $130 from Amazon for the fake one. Now one store on Amazon is 7 store or more with the fake one. I guess amazon also made returning it easier, no questions asked, and return shipping paid for with fast money back into my account.

I'm not sure if 82357A was forged or not, maybe someone else that has been involved with this longer would know.

[mojoe]

Good info here. Just wish I'd seen it earlier. Before I came across this thread, I recently ordered a "used" Agilent GPIB-USB adapter. When it arrives, I'll have to open it up to see if it is a fake.

[Scottjd]

Good info here. Just wish I'd seen it earlier. Before I came across this thread, I recently ordered a "used" Agilent GPIB-USB adapter. When it arrives, I'll have to open it up to see if it is a fake.

Well the good news is 99% of the forged units are being advertised as new. They come sealed in a new box and all with a fake cert. I think I showed a picture of the new box in my video above in this thread.
So since you ordered a "used" one their is a chance it might be a real used one.
Good luck, keep us posted. If it ends up being real and the seller has more please share the info on this thread for other that may want a real used one.

[mojoe]

It arrived today. I was hoping that since it was used, it would be the real McCoy. It is a counterfeit, just like the pictures posted here. The top-side soldering looks decent. The back-side a bit worse, with the GPIB connector hand soldered and covered in flux.

I don't know if it works or not, as I haven't had time to test it. I will be pursuing a refund because of it being a counterfeit product.

This is what I bought. I offered less. http://www.ebay.com/itm/181921320882

[Scottjd]

It arrived today. I was hoping that since it was used, it would be the real McCoy. It is a counterfeit, just like the pictures posted here. The top-side soldering looks decent. The back-side a bit worse, with the GPIB connector hand soldered and covered in flux.

I don't know if it works or not, as I haven't had time to test it. I will be pursuing a refund because of it being a counterfeit product.

This is what I bought. I offered less. http://www.ebay.com/itm/181921320882

Sorry to hear you received a fake. I think the fact that he had more then 10 available and already sold 18 of them might indicate the seller is selling fakes.
It's hard to tell, because more test gear is moving to USB. But maybe this seller is selling all the other fake units that have been returned and opened?
Or this seller doesn't know he has fake ones in stock?

[dadler]

It arrived today. I was hoping that since it was used, it would be the real McCoy. It is a counterfeit, just like the pictures posted here. The top-side soldering looks decent. The back-side a bit worse, with the GPIB connector hand soldered and covered in flux.

I don't know if it works or not, as I haven't had time to test it. I will be pursuing a refund because of it being a counterfeit product.

This is what I bought. I offered less. http://www.ebay.com/itm/181921320882

Sorry to hear you received a fake. I think the fact that he had more then 10 available and already sold 18 of them might indicate the seller is selling fakes.
It's hard to tell, because more test gear is moving to USB. But maybe this seller is selling all the other fake units that have been returned and opened?
Or this seller doesn't know he has fake ones in stock?

I suspect that the seller is selling as used as an act of deception, "used" implies someone else thought it was genuine at some point...

[Kean]

I suspect that the seller is selling as used as an act of deception, "used" implies someone else thought it was genuine at some point...

I wouldn't be surprised if these fakes were originally made for the Chinese market, and have actually be in use in Chinese factories.
The one shown in the ebay listing looks like it has some grime on it and the cable.

@mojoe - does your fake look like a newly made fake, or does it look like it was actually used?  Does it have the metallisation on internals of the plastic housing?

[bsgd]

If anyone gets the real deal from China, please let us know. I need one and dont really care whether its used or not, but I dont wanna get a fake low quality adapter.

[MarkL]

It arrived today. I was hoping that since it was used, it would be the real McCoy. It is a counterfeit, just like the pictures posted here. The top-side soldering looks decent. The back-side a bit worse, with the GPIB connector hand soldered and covered in flux.

I don't know if it works or not, as I haven't had time to test it. I will be pursuing a refund because of it being a counterfeit product.

This is what I bought. I offered less. http://www.ebay.com/itm/181921320882

Sorry to hear you received a fake. I think the fact that he had more then 10 available and already sold 18 of them might indicate the seller is selling fakes.
It's hard to tell, because more test gear is moving to USB. But maybe this seller is selling all the other fake units that have been returned and opened?
Or this seller doesn't know he has fake ones in stock?

I suspect that the seller is selling as used as an act of deception, "used" implies someone else thought it was genuine at some point...

It could also be that selling it as "new" was too easy to prove it actually wasn't new to a third party, like an ebay or Amazon, by simply showing them the serial number lookup on Keysight's web page.  All the "new" fakes we've seen so far have serial numbers from late 2009.  Clearly the item sold was not "new".  No questions asked when submitting a claim for return.

If you buy it "used" and it's a fake and you want to return it, you might have a to work a little harder to prove your claim.  Although *we* know what quality to expect from Agilent/Keysight, "bad soldering" might not receive an instant decision in your favor by the person processing the claim.

Buying anything of value direct from China sellers is always risky.

[mojoe]

@mojoe - does your fake look like a newly made fake, or does it look like it was actually used?  Does it have the metallisation on internals of the plastic housing?

It looks like new, but came wrapped in bubble wrap and with no accessories. It looks just like the pictures here. Phillips screw, no metal paint, etc.

[Gandalf_Sr]

I just ordered a '82357B GPIB USB Interface-Compatible with AGILENT 82357B new version' from nettcy168 on eBay - I paid $61 which included shipping, I think folks here have had good expediencies with these - any gotchas or anything I should watch for?

I don't think there are any copyright laws in China.

[mojoe]

@mojoe - does your fake look like a newly made fake, or does it look like it was actually used?  Does it have the metallisation on internals of the plastic housing?

It looks like new, but came wrapped in bubble wrap and with no accessories. It looks just like the pictures here. Phillips screw, no metal paint, etc.

Contrary to what others have reported, I had to return the fake product in order to get a refund. Ebay said to return it. I'm still waiting for my refund.

[Stupid Beard]

I just ordered a '82357B GPIB USB Interface-Compatible with AGILENT 82357B new version' from nettcy168 on eBay - I paid $61 which included shipping, I think folks here have had good expediencies with these - any gotchas or anything I should watch for?

I don't think there are any copyright laws in China.

It doesn't work at all on Linux and it's sporadic on Windows, but how well it works may depend on the instrument you use it with. Old pre-SCPI instruments are unlikely to work at all. I ended up getting a refund for mine.

[Gandalf_Sr]

I just ordered a '82357B GPIB USB Interface-Compatible with AGILENT 82357B new version' from nettcy168 on eBay - I paid $61 which included shipping, I think folks here have had good expediencies with these - any gotchas or anything I should watch for?

I don't think there are any copyright laws in China.

It doesn't work at all on Linux and it's sporadic on Windows, but how well it works may depend on the instrument you use it with. Old pre-SCPI instruments are unlikely to work at all. I ended up getting a refund for mine.

Thanks, I was hoping to use it with my E4433B Signal Generator. It's supposed to arrive Tuesday so we'll see, I can always get a refund if it's no good.

[z01z]

Thanks a lot for everyone who participated in describing the differences between real and fake adapters. Based on that info I've managed to get a real 82357B off ebay. It is a very used one, with a cracked case and a cut cable but it works fine nonetheless.

I've noticed that several 82357As are also available, maybe those are a viable option as well.

[z01z]

This is the seller but it won't do much good, he has no items at the moment.

[SkyMaster]

Contrary to what others have reported, I had to return the fake product in order to get a refund. Ebay said to return it. I'm still waiting for my refund.

mojoe,

Was it clear to eBay that the product was counterfeit?

In my case, when nettcy168 asked me to return the item to a USA address (which was strange), I replied that returning a counterfeit item was against eBay policy, and then nettcy168 refunded me quickly.

[Signal32]

Was it clear to eBay that the product was counterfeit?
In my case, when nettcy168 asked me to return the item to a USA address (which was strange), I replied that returning a counterfeit item was against eBay policy, and then nettcy168 refunded me quickly.

eBay is not able to say/tell if the item is counterfeit.
Even we don't know for "sure" if it is. Of course it actually is, but there is no official memo from Agilent stating that all genuine units have metal inner shielding / high quality soldering / etc.
What is most likely to happen is that if you contact eBay and tell them that the item is counterfeit and then the seller says it's not, eBay is going to tell you to return the item for a refund as they do not know if it is or it is not. The seller probably chose to refund you directly as they did not want to draw attention to themselves which throughout time could get them banned from eBay.
Also, many Chinese sellers have/partner with warehouses in the USA. It might also have been the case that the seller was actually trying to see if you really have no use for the item and would rather keep it rather than not have it and get your money back(this has happened to me where just before shipping out the item the seller said to keep it).

[SkyMaster]

Was it clear to eBay that the product was counterfeit?
In my case, when nettcy168 asked me to return the item to a USA address (which was strange), I replied that returning a counterfeit item was against eBay policy, and then nettcy168 refunded me quickly.

eBay is not able to say/tell if the item is counterfeit.
Even we don't know for "sure" if it is. Of course it actually is, but there is no official memo from Agilent stating that all genuine units have metal inner shielding / high quality soldering / etc.
What is most likely to happen is that if you contact eBay and tell them that the item is counterfeit and then the seller says it's not, eBay is going to tell you to return the item for a refund as they do not know if it is or it is not. The seller probably chose to refund you directly as they did not want to draw attention to themselves which throughout time could get them banned from eBay.

Of course eBay cannot tell by themselves if an item is counterfeit

It is the responsibility of the buyer to (try to) demonstrate that the item is counterfeit.

I would still like to know what happened to the mojoe case.

 

[Macbeth]

There have been some seriously bad fuck ups with ebay/paypal and their counterfeit policies. An example: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2082060/PayPal-eBay-buyer-destroy-2-500-violin-deemed-counterfeit.html

[Signal32]

This is the seller but it won't do much good, he has no items at the moment.

Seems like eBay UK and eBay US even though they share users they don't share items.

The point being that the same seller that you got your genuine one from has two more (although these are the 82357A not 82357B) in similar condition to the one that you bought. The description is basically identical to the one you got, minus the broken case. Cut cable, detected by OS, etc.

Lowest offer he seems to be willing to accept is $65 + $10 shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181696458256

If someone adventurous decides to go for it, let us know how it goes.
PS: the $65 price was the 3rd counter-offer I received

[msraya]

What is difference between 82357B and 82357A???
I'm searching for in the Internet, but nothing found..

Regards
Manuel

[Signal32]

What is difference between 82357B and 82357A???

They're basically the same.
The differences are:
USB 2.0 on the 82357B vs USB 1.1 on the 82357A. Both will work with any USB device.
82357B  max transfer speed 1.15MB/sec vs 850KB/sec for the 82357A.
82357B  seems to be the only one that has Parallel Polling (check response of up to 8 devices at one single poll).

Both seem to have same software support / support max 14 Devices in parallel.