OBS ripping off customers with o-rings

[tailland]

Browsing Ali for new vape stuff, I stumbled upon this.

Taking $6 from their own loyal customers for 1 set of o-rings, because we can't buy them anywhere else? Makes me speechless. And we can consider ourselves lucky since they're already 30% off ... regular price is $8.56 then??

If I buy an OBS Engine for $18 at their shop, and it comes with 1 set of rings already installed, and another one in the spare parts bag, does that mean the o-rings are worth $17.12, and the rest of the tank is worth $0.88 ? Is that the message they want to send out?

What the actual ...., OBS ???

I've PM'ed them on Ali, asking if this is real, or maybe some "error in the system". If it is, I will write them a few lines that will get me banned from their shop.

 

[Zaryk]

I would say that the shipping cost is also included in the price. If not they would likely loose money selling them.

 

[tailland]

They ship from Shenzen. Shipping to you or me costs them between $0.10 and $0.20.

 

[Zaryk]

They ship from Shenzen. Shipping to you or me costs them between $0.10 and $0.20.

It would cost about 2 bucks according to the shipping calculator I used.

And that was calculating it at very modest .05kg in a 4x4cm envelope.

 

[tailland]

I hate to play captain obvious, but they're comercial customers. They pay substantially less. That's how they make money with even the smallest of orders.

And for comparison, here's what you get for your money in other places. Free shipping included. Of course.

For 1 OBS o-ring set at its "regular" price, I get 20 (!) BBB o-ring sets. One there. Twenty here.

Hell, even if I bought overpriced original SMOK o-ring sets, I'd still pay no more than $1.50 per set. And that overpriced stuff STILL would only cost 1/6th of what OBS is trying to charge... That's why I'm upset.

 

[Tim Wiseman]

I hate to play captain obvious, but they're comercial customers. They pay substantially less. That's how they make money with even the smallest of orders.
View attachment 776197


And for comparison, here's what you get for your money in other places. Free shipping included. Of course.

For 1 OBS o-ring set at its "regular" price, I get 20 (!) BBB o-ring sets. One there. Twenty here.

Hell, even if I bought overpriced original SMOK o-ring sets, I'd still pay no more than $1.50 per set. And that overpriced stuff STILL would only cost 1/6th of what OBS is trying to charge... That's why I'm upset.
View attachment 776199

I totally agree it's a rip off but the delivery isn't what you highlighted. The example you showed to get a really cheap shipping amount is 30-50 days (which will be working days) no tracking (doubt you would ever actually receive them) but the shipping for the OBS O-rings is 20-35 days ePacket (ePacket has tracking) so i hate to play Captain obvious but delivery would be nearer @Zaryk example than $0.14 and whatever the shipping costs is included in the price.

 

[Zaryk]

I'm not here trying to defend that company, I have never and likely will never own a single item they make, so I have no emotions good or bad for them. But I just supplied what I found according to calculators that popped up on the web.

Getting shipping estimates from a calculator tends to be more accurate than what you find on retail sites, for all I know it could cost them 14 cents, or that could be the extra they didn't add to the price already. There is no way for me to know what the details of that are for them.

What I do know is that you pay more when you buy from manufacturs than if you buy from wholesale or discount retailers such as fasttech that buy huge amounts to get the lowest prices and specialize in selling bulk amounts of a plethora of items.

With all due respect, OBS can charge whatever they want. If you think it is unfair then don't buy it. There are plenty of other options you could take. OBS may just have an inflated price because it is more hassle than it is worth to pack up and send out a couple of o-rings that they are making basically no profit on, so a bump in price slows down the amount sold and makes it worth it for the ones they do sell. It makes buying a new atty a lot more attractive with that business plan, which selling an atty is what their goal is in the first place.

 

[tailland]

1 thing is correct. I should've chosen epacket as a comparison. I went through my orders and found this:

That would leave us with $3.88 (at 30% discount) or $6.44 per set (regular price). So I still get 15 BBB o-ring sets for 1 OBS o-ring set instead of 20. To me, that's a negligible improvement.

And please don't forget: They will charge the $6/8 for every single item. No such thing as Ebay's "combined shipping" on Ali. When I last looked, 1 order of 4 pieces was placed so far. Means that person has just spent $24 on 4 sets of o-rings...just wow.

The example you showed to get a really cheap shipping amount is 30-50 days (which will be working days) no tracking (doubt you would ever actually receive them)

Well, luckily it isn't so.

Since July, I have placed a whopping 26 orders with Ali, always with the cheap/standard shipping options, and regardless of what the column on the right says, even the cheapest of the cheap are trackable AT LEAST until the point where they leave China, or when they arrive at the destination country. Infact, the majority of my orders was trackable the entire way...

Here's the tracking for the "free shipping 28-56 days no tracking available" order from above:

The result: 15 days. Full tracking. Delivered. Just like 25 out of 26 orders I placed so far. The longest I had to wait for an Ali delivery, was 28 days.

Infact, the only order that failed me, or is about to fail, is running out of Ali's accepted delivery timeframe TODAY. And it didn't even come from China, but from Vietnam. It was tracked until it left the country, and from that point, there was no tracking update and no delivery. Bummer. I hope that airplane fell into the ocean.

However, the chinese work better than you think.

If you think it is unfair then don't buy it. There are plenty of other options you could take. OBS may just have an inflated price because it is more hassle than it is worth to pack up and send out a couple of o-rings that they are making basically no profit on...

No, there aren't other options. You won't get those o-rings anywhere else. Not for the new atties, not for the old ones. In that regard, OBS is worse than Joyetech and Eleaf combined. And that's a low bar indeed.

Smok's exemplary support for their atomisers has brought them what? Even the old ones still sell like hot cakes bc people know they can get spare parts for them. Plus, for that supported longevity, "Baby Beast compatible" coils have become a category of their own. Even OBS produced a BB compatible tank, the Damo. Ironic.

 

[Zaryk]

No, there aren't other options. You won't get those o-rings anywhere else.

The O-Ring Store, We make getting O-Rings easy!

Leading provider of O-rings, Oil seals & Sealing Related Products | A leading provider of o-rings, oil seals and sealing related products

McMaster-Carr

They are not special, they are just simple o-rings that hardware stores and websites sell all the time. You can find what you need on any of the sites in the links I provided. I prefer mcmaster-carr myself. I have used them for my o ring needs many many times.

 

[tailland]

Not special. Ok, then maybe you can help me with the vocabulary.

What do you call o-rings with these sideview profiles?

 

[Zaryk]

Not special. Ok, then maybe you can help me with the vocabulary.

What do you call o-rings with these sideview profiles?
View attachment 776235

You can typically find those profiles under rotary seals or piston seals. They could also be listed under cup seals.

 

[tailland]

Unfortunately, the ones found under these 3 terms look nothing like the shape above :ß And it's already way too offtopic.

 

[Zaryk]

I have bought seals like that to seal the glass section of an RTA to the deck (they looked exactly the same as the ones the tank came with) so I know they are out there. It just takes a little effort to find since there are so many types and sizes to sort through. It costed me 4-6 cents (I think) per o ring for mine with a similar profile.

 

[untar]

Let's say finding the exact dimensions of more complex seals is more difficult than just buying off the shelf round orings you can get just about anywhere for half a bag of peanut shells.

There's a possibility OBS are having those made to order and not using existing ones, that would explain part of the price (still overpriced though, shouldn't be more than 2€ a pair max imo)

 

[Zaryk]

I did a quick search (without having the seal in hand I really can't be sure if what I found is it though) and you could try L gaskets (which is what I ordered for my tank, checked my order history) and T shoulder radial seals. Those match the profiles in the picture you listed.

 

[Tim Wiseman]

I hate to play captain obvious, but they're comercial customers. They pay substantially less. That's how they make money with even the smallest of orders.
View attachment 776197


And for comparison, here's what you get for your money in other places. Free shipping included. Of course.

For 1 OBS o-ring set at its "regular" price, I get 20 (!) BBB o-ring sets. One there. Twenty here.

Hell, even if I bought overpriced original SMOK o-ring sets, I'd still pay no more than $1.50 per set. And that overpriced stuff STILL would only cost 1/6th of what OBS is trying to charge... That's why I'm upset.
View attachment 776199

I don't get your point the OBS O-rings were free shipping obviously by the estimated delivery using ePacket $2.11.
What's all the other stuff about why show a random tracking and then take a screenshot of delivery options on a page, i fail to see the connection between the screenshot and tracking and non of them have anything to do with Yanwen economy air mail at $0.14.

I put a comment because the Captain Obvious comment came across as arrogant when you were actually wrong as you accepted but i get a notification which only shows me the last part

However, the chinese work better than you think

Which again came across as arrogant as if you have superior knowledge and more experience of ordering from China than other people. As someone who going by your "whopping 26 orders since July" you would know best.

I get roughly 10 parcels a week, 90% from China and have done for over 2 years so i know how the Chinese work and never said anything about their standard so i don't again understand why the comment other than arrogance.

And as for

I hope that airplane fell into the ocean

i seriously hope it didn't it would have human life on their like me and you!

 

[dripster]

What do you call o-rings with these sideview profiles?
View attachment 776235

Dealbreakers?

 

[United States]

All this over $6? Really?

If you can't come up with $6 you're already broke anyway.

Don't buy 'em. Me? If I need them to keep from smoking a $6 pack of cigarettes (and resuming a smoking habit after) it's money well spent.

 

[untar]

All this over $6? Really?

If you can't come up with $6 you're already broke anyway.

Don't buy 'em. Me? If I need them to keep from smoking a $6 pack of cigarettes (and resuming a smoking habit after) it's money well spent.

It's not about being able to afford them, it's about them being overpriced. As evidenced by the fact that if you buy 3 "servings" you get a free OBS atomizer on top...

 

[United States]

That is a matter of perpective.