Offshore iPhone/iPod USB power adapters: Caveat Emptor

I ordered a knockoff from eBay awhile ago. Tried posting this to the feedback page after the seller wanted me to spend my own cash to send it back. Might help a few of you http://i31.tinypic.com/2zgc94i.jpg

The real issue here is that OEMs (Sony, Apple, etc.) are bleeding customers on the prices of accessories. Most of these cables and chargers only cost the OEMs a pennies to produce (I know this because I used to work at Best Buy and employee price (5% above cost) for cables and charges was shockingly low). The OEMs reason that once the product is purchased they have a captive consumer. They establish a high MSRP for accessories and both the retailer and OEM make huge profit margins. The established acessory manufacturies like Griffen or Belkin may charge a little less, but there isn't an incentive when their sole competition is the OEMs. What I find most interesting is that I can pay 3-5 bucks for a generic cable (including air mail) from Hong Kong and there is still profit for the manufacturer and distributer (these things must cost pennies to produce). If there were any serious consumer protection angency in this country these type of pricing schemes, which may be illegal, would be investigated and prosecuted--but for now off-shore generics offer a third choice to consumers that may result in lower pices.

i've boughten one of the usb power adapters from ebay for .99 cents, and it works perfectly fine. it the same apple branded one, and it works 100%

And your total spend so far has been...? My guess is that it's pushing the US$29 mark

i can't believe the sheep in here....
baaaaahhhh
i suppose when you've already paid that much for the adapter you have to justify it to yourself somehow... i've bout 10-20 of these for myself and friends from dealsextreme. they have all worked and friends frequently come back asking me to grab some more for their devices. have fun in the herd all. baaahhhhh

According to the reviews on the online Apple Store it comes with a cable and also charges at 1 Amp instead 500mA which a computer and most other adapters provide. Does this mean it can charge the iPhone etc. twice as fast?

I'm surprised to see that even though someone mentioned dealextreme on here, they didn't post the mini usb charger.

Here is the link to it: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19242~r.99975858

I've bought 3 of these and all 3 of them work wonderfully. No problems at all. (Use them with an iPhone 3G[S], iPhone 3G and an iPod Classic).

i had a similar idea, but started at amazon rather than ebay.

i ordered from two vendors. in each case where the product was described as apple product with an apple SKU and had photographs of the apple boxes in the description.

these types of cables are differentiated by the engineering and assembly of the dock connector.

what was delivered in both cases as the "OEM" cables were far inferior cables that caught when used with my iPhone, and one whose dock connector plastic sheath split in half the first time i tried using it.

one of the firms did not accept returns at all for their product.

but when i pointed out in one of my reviews on amazon that the product was not genuine as advertised, giving it a rating that reflected such - the vendor offered (finally) to take them back, refund my money etc - but only if i changed my review of their product taking away the description of it as "not genuine."

i wouldn't.

they keep emailing every couple of weeks trying to get me to update my review, but the answer is always the same.

i don't want anyone else falling into the same mistake that i did.

Knock offs? Hong Kong doesn't do knockoffs... just check out this perfectly good iPone Air...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNy79_3PXCE

Have you tried using the USB cable included with the iPhone 3G (or 3GS)? I have found that using cables from earlier iPods and the original iPhone produces the same result with a legitimate, OEM power adapter on occasion.