Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[URI]

Your contract is with eBay, not him. Any "binding contract" between yourself and the seller in those terms and conditions isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

ALL PAYMENTS, including VAT, are supposed to be made through eBay, or it is a violation of their terms and conditions.

Cancel the order. Report him. If you believe he isn't just scamming you and just want out of the deal, tell him you are not comfortable paying any portion of the purchase outside of eBay, and that you aren't comfortable doing business with someone who doesn't understand his responsibility to disclose the fact his VAT-FREE advertisement is ONLY for wholesale customers.

mnem
Run, don't walk to the nearest exit.

Thank you mnem, but this does not apply to the terms and conditions (Allgemeine Geschaeftsbedingungen, AGB) of eBay Germany: eBay Germany only provides the service of its market place, the individual contract is between seller and buyer.

On the other hand: I always thought /and am sure to have it read somewhere sometimes) that all eBay prices/shipping costs include vat -if not it is explicitly shown, e.g the costs and fees for using the eBay international shipping program.

I have searched for this -demanding extra vat for eBay prices -but still haven't found a matching, clear statement/article. 

[mnementh]

If he is offering shipment via eBay Global Shipping, then yes, VAT is supposed to be precalculated at time of checkout and will show as a separate line item from shipping. They are not supposed to charge VAT on shipping. Any "service fees" etc for packaging materials, handling VAT, etc are also supposed to be included.

If your listing stated Ebay Global Shipping when you checked out, then he is probably scamming you. Again, open a dispute immediately; even if it is just a misunderstanding, open a dispute.

Dispute resolution is one of the services you are paying for.

One of the first things they warn you aboot when you create your buyer account is to be wary of ANY requests to pay off the eBay platform. If they request it, and you do pay it, they can close both your accounts.

mnem
 

[xrunner]

Counter pron. HP 5384A check out.

Went really well - nothing wrong with it at all I can find.

Catching up in the thread ...

Good. I have one also and it sits on my active-use bench. Your acquisition has inspired me to get something akin to it that I don't have. Will post if I find one ... 

[beanflying]

Tail end of the Ozzie 'Fire Season' 

[beanflying]

Managed to stagger to the Shack because the Beer is it the fridge  Stopped along the way to boot up the TDS 520 plug in the newly arrived 6139A probe hold the tongue at the correct angle and swizzle the adjustment stick. Much nicer looking waveform than any other probes (other is a P2200 Tek) I have but the positive overshoot shows I will likely need to go on a leaky Cap hunt for a start then see how it all looks.

Probe Capacitance matters 

[med6753]

Tail end of the Ozzie 'Fire Season' 

My, my....looks a little soggy. Are you having flooding issues at your place?

Are your fire services/rescue squads even trained in swift water rescues? The only reason I ask is that the picture we always get is that it's hot and dry with fires. The fire departments in my county in the Catskill Mountain area have dedicated units specially trained for swift water rescue. Multiple creeks/rivers that can flood at a moments notice and stupid people are a bad combination. 

[beanflying]

My, my....looks a little soggy. Are you having flooding issues at your place?

Are your fire services/rescue squads even trained in swift water rescues? The only reason I ask is that the picture we always get is that it's hot and dry with fires. The fire departments in my county in the Catskill Mountain area have dedicated units specially trained for swift water rescue. Multiple creeks/rivers that can flood at a moments notice and stupid people are a bad combination. 

Brumbies backyard not mine. 1000km from me. The Northern Rivers area (North of Sydney) is used to flooding but not generally this time of year.

2 mm of rain here all day and still just over 20C at 7pm so just kind of pleasant. Generally this area we have had a 'mild' Summer with maybe lower than average Temps or certainly less peaky on the high end than last Summer.

[Brumby]

Yes, it has been rather wet.  My area has seen rain varying from steady to solid to drenching - and it has been like this for the best part of a week with very little relief.  There has been some local flooding - but nothing that has directly affected me.

Further up north it started a couple of weeks ago and has been generally heavier.  Flooding there has been significant.

[bd139]

Looks like the average week here 

Had to Wade through this the other week on a walk...

[Brumby]

Sorry.   I realise that Aussies talking about rain in front of Brits is like preaching to the choir.

[beanflying]

I grew up in a bit of Oz with 40"+ of Rainfall so the Pommies would feel right at home UNTL 'Summer' .....

[bd139]

Yeah screw that. The moment it hits 25 I’m done for 

[FransW]

Calibration is not magical but does encompass a number of steps.

Accuracy verification.....against manufacturers datasheet.
Adjustment..........if required to meet manufacturers spec.
Cart cert creation listing instruments used and their traceable Cal certs.

With sufficient precision in the calibration process instrument drift can be quantified.

Adjustment is a whole nuther rabbit hole where in old instruments it was done with physical adjustment whereas the modern instrument use closed case adjustments where a PC script controls the calibration instruments and adjust the reference points in the instrument being calibrated......a totally automated process.

The few instruments we've supplied to Cal labs get regularly checked for verification of accuracy and nothing more as I've never been asked to provide the Cal scripts that allow for closed box automated calibration.

17025 Accredited Calibration (Tektronix)
Instrumentation is calibrated in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025 within an approved scope of accreditation. Accredited calibrations provide a certificate of calibration with the accrediting body's logo on the document. The calibration date is on the certificate and the calibration due date is only placed on the document when specified by the customer or contractually agreed. A traceability statement is provided. Measurement data and uncertainty for each parameter tested during the calibration is provided.
 

[Brumby]

Yeah screw that. The moment it hits 25 I’m done for 

There are days in Summer when I DREAM of the temperature getting down to 25.





Oh ... and it's still raining.

[Specmaster]

Looks like the average week here 

Had to Wade through this the other week on a walk...

That area is so often flooded that you can see the water damage on the walls and in particular on the wooden doors of all the lock-ups along that section of the Thames, the rot is about 1/3 of the door height  on them 

[BU508A]

Yeah screw that. The moment it hits 25 I’m done for 

There are days in Summer when I DREAM of the temperature getting down to 25.

Oh ... and it's still raining.

I for myself, do hate simply summertime. But because of this climate catstrophe one is having summer time weather conditions even during wintertime, when there are weeks and weeks with sunshine and no clouds in the sky. I hate this kind of weather from the deepest bottom of my heart.

[McBryce]

I'm confused an pissed at the same time..

I found a nice offer for a sensor from a seller in Finland on ebay.de.
Made a reasonable offer, seller made a still acceptable offer that I accepted.

I should have read his description of the ad better:
He writes in his terms and conditions that -if I'm a private person 24% vat will be added to the (ebay-)price.
He obviously declares his ebay-prices vat free.
I wasn't aware that this is possible.
With 24% vat the price is not what I accepted..   

I already paid the ebay price+shipping, he now wants me to send the extra vat to his paypal account.
 

Did he provide you with a a company receipt that includes his companies VAT Number on it? If not, he has no business asking for VAT or selling things at their NET value.

McBryce.

[bd139]

Looks like the average week here 

Had to Wade through this the other week on a walk...

That area is so often flooded that you can see the water damage on the walls and in particular on the wooden doors of all the lock-ups along that section of the Thames, the rot is about 1/3 of the door height  on them 

Yep. That picture I took was actually slightly to the left of yours 

It's quite funny because half the locals, despite living there for god knows how many years, never wear suitable footwear and then have a massive panic 

And then there's the "heed the signs thing" 

[AVGresponding]

Well, census completed. Pleasant surprise that the gov.uk website wasn't lagging in any way, given the likely traffic volumes.

[bd139]

Yeah did mine the other day and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. The gov.uk stuff is pretty good I have to say. Even the tax return isn't painful now.

Today's task: find a half decent 4/4.1V LDO reference I can run off 5V line for this OCXO. I have a 5V headroom on the board and need a stable 0-4V control. So far TI REF34-Q1 seems to do the job and is a manageable SOT-23

[med6753]

Well, while you Aussies and Brits are comparing weather notes it looks like the change has finally happen here about 2 weeks later than typical. The snow pack is finally all gone. For the next week day time temps are going to be +15 C with night time temps just below freezing. Migrant birds have finally started to arrive...again about 2 weeks later than normal. Most ponds and streams are now ice free but still no sign of the frogs/toads with their mating calls. That should happen this week. Crocus are blooming in sunny areas. Daffodils are sprouting.

I guess Spring is finally here.   

[mansaxel]

Looks like the average week here 

Had to Wade through this the other week on a walk...

I live on a small rocky mountain, elevation perhaps 20m above surroundings, and they're 4-5 metres, at most, above Lake Mälaren. The lake is regulated, won't move above 1,5m since then it would drench Parliament, which sits on a very small island in the middle of the chokepoint in the outlet.  There's no tide.

Also, my house is on pillars, true bungalow style. I expect to be dry even if the entire capital has water on the streets.

[vk6zgo]

Sorry.   I realise that Aussies talking about rain in front of Brits is like preaching to the choir.

When I was in Southampton in the UK, many years ago, there was a bit of lively weather about.
It started raining heavily one day-----pretty much about the level of a Perth Winter storm.

One Brit said:-
"Bet you've never seen rain like this, Aussie,"

To which I replied,

"Rain?
You've never seen rain!

In the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, rain is on another level, entirely.
Coming in to Wyndham from the airfield end, just after the "Six mile" Pub, there was a bit of a dip on the road that you would normally barely notice------certainly not enough to slow down.

One night "the Wet" began, & next morning when I headed that way, the "bit of a dip" was a raging river!
It pretty much rains heavily for weeks, flooding large areas.

Then, when the "Dry" starts you have a few weeks of hot, dry weather, when the local "cane grass" grows head high, then along come the "knock 'em down rains", which do just that.
After that, it gets seriously dry & bloody hot.

It is so hot that you can burn yourself on seatbelt buckles!
Everything is wimpy these days, with aircond cars, etc, not like the old Series 2 Landrovers we used to drive!

The "rain" thing in the UK is in the way that it just drizzles & drizzles, with only occasional decent storms.
It makes you feel miserable in a way that the "Wet" never does!

[mansaxel]

Yeah screw that. The moment it hits 25 I’m done for 

We were in the UK -- Interrailing (PMH DID CUM DID BHM BSW KID BSW BHM WNE BHM YRK CAR YRK NOT BLY STP KBN STP) -- summer 2018; spent perhaps 10 days on the island. It only went below 25°C at night. Not a drop of rain. We first thought the overnight ferry from Ouistreham to Portsmouth had turned around, but then the baguettes and wine were horrible, and there was vinegar as condiment to our chips, so we reconsidered that belief.

[mnementh]

Yeah did mine the other day and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. The gov.uk stuff is pretty good I have to say. Even the tax return isn't painful now.

Today's task: find a half decent 4/4.1V LDO reference I can run off 5V line for this OCXO. I have a 5V headroom on the board and need a stable 0-4V control. So far TI REF34-Q1 seems to do the job and is a manageable SOT-23

*says a prayer for your poor heathen soul that tiny bits and aging vision don't yield a "3 lost for one successfully in place" end-product*

That said... I will recommend you to include plentiful spares in your BOM...

mnem