Useful items found on eBay and elsewhere

 

Greetings,

I've recently started looking on eBay for hobby tools and other useful items and thought I'd share my findings. I hope that others reply with additional items useful to us GPS/computer users.

What I find amazing is that many ebay sellers in China, Hong Kong, etc. may be able to profit from sales of low dollar items while offering free shipping! My experience is that I find my ordered items do arrive, although at times 3-6 weeks after ordering them, and in the case where a shipment is lost, I've gotten a refund. I expect these can be found in the USA but it's interesting to see how inexpensive they can be found shopping from Asia.

Here is my small list of eBay items that may be of use to others here with the word(s) before the hyphen being a good choice as an eBay search word/phrase:

Spudger - I had a stainless steel spudger arrive in the mail today. It was under a dollar including free shipping from Asia. I admit to coveting one of these after watching a few YouTube videos on the bigclivedotcom YouTube Channel (yes, the ...dotcom is written as is, and is not ***.com). Although I still expect that if I have a nuvi that needs a new battery, I'd buy a kit with battery and plastic spudger but there are times you may want to use a bit more force.

USB Detector - also searchable as Charger Doctor or USB Tester - these handy little devices plug into a computer's USB slot (or cell phone charger, or any other USB socketed device) and have a USB device plug into its other end. These handy little devices will monitor voltage, current, and a few even offer time and mAh. You can watch a GPS with a depleted battery connected and go from a higher mA to a lower mA charge as the battery is charged, confirm the current offered by a USB port, etc. I will again admit that I first heard of these while watching YouTube.

Can you suggest any other inexpensive items of interest to us here?

Me,

Rather than FleaBay, I usually go direct to the Chinese websites like Banggood or ALIExpress. There are others also, but these are the two I use the most.

--
Illiterate? Write for free help.

I have ...

in the past, usually by mistake because I failed to notice it was coming from China. One thing I got on eBay specific for my GPS was screen protectors for my Oregon 550. It did take about 6 weeks, and I had actually given up on receiving them and bought some others in the meantime. But when they arrived, they were great quality ... better that the others I bought from a US seller. One thing I noticed that probably caused the delay is that the addressing on the package was hand written by someone who obviously was just learning to write English. It was almost illegible so I am surprised I got it at all. That is not a criticism. They certainly did much better than I could have done if I was trying to write an address for someone in China!

I do try to buy products from North America sellers whenever I can even if I have to pay more. It just seems like the right thing to do unless there is a specific reason (quality, availability, etc.)

--
Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon

AliExpress

I've bought two inexpensive GPS cases for both of my 255W & very satisfied, it does the job smile

--
Nüvi 255WT with nüMaps Lifetime North America born on 602117815 / Nüvi 3597LMTHD born on 805972514 / I love Friday’s except when I’m on holidays ~ canuk

shipping from China

Some items from Amazon have been shipped from China. Most have gotten here to the east coast of the US in about 10 days. One order took 6 weeks. The shipping was either included or about one dollar.

A battery for an older phone was only available from China. The same with screen protectors. A set of test PC boards for computer power supplies and PCI slots was very inexpensive.

dobs108 smile

855 Battery

A few years back, the only place to get batteries for my old Nuvi 855 was from China. Sadly, they are nowhere to be found now. The free shipment took 30 days but arrived intact. I did have to go to the Post Office to sign for the package though.

eBay

I have been buying things, including a car. from eBay since 2002.
Anything I buy from the USA HAS TO BE SHIPPED VIA USPS !!!!
UPS,FEDEX etc screw you with their outrageous brokerage charges !

--
Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

Garmin Bracket

I purchased a replacement ball mount bracket from a Chinese seller on Ebay for $1.07 including shipping. It arrived in about 3 weeks and works fine. I don't know how they are making money on some of these things...

One of the most useful

One of the most useful things I've bought from eBay is a device that plugs into the car's diagnostics and let's you read it with an app. This has saved me plenty of times when I've bought used cars in person from non-dealership owners.

???

ceevee wrote:

One of the most useful things I've bought from eBay is a device that plugs into the car's diagnostics and let's you read it with an app. This has saved me plenty of times when I've bought used cars in person from non-dealership owners.

I think that you're talking about an OBD II reader which can read codes on cars manufactured after 1995 and of course have the OBD II port.

BTW: I just bought 4 T10 LED bulbs for tail lights. Shipped and cost for less than $ 2.00

--
Nuvi 2797LMT, DriveSmart 50 LMT-HD, Using Windows 10. DashCam A108C with GPS.

Thanks...

This is useful info.

--
RKF (Brookeville, MD) Garmin Nuvi 660, 360 & Street Pilot

Charging Cables

Often find good and low cost charging cables on ebay for my nuvi.

I have ordered wireless ear

I have ordered wireless ear buds from China for use at the gym. They have worked great and were only $15 and highly rated on Amazon. Delivery time was about 5 weeks.

--
John B - Garmin 765T

Aliexpress is my go to

Aliexpress is my go to source. There are a others, Bangsource, DealExpress (Dx), dhgate, etc. Google "china electronics wholesale free shipping". Normally I find the best price at Ali -- not to be confused with Alibaba, which is for large quantity production orders.
ALL GoPro accessories are made in China and are the identical items to those purchased in the US for 3-4 times as much. So the only reason to pay that much is poor planning because you need it today. ALL shipments from China required a 4 week window. I have has some appear in 10 days but not regularly. Most 2-3 weeks.
Also note that NOT ALL things are cheaper from ALI and not all merchants have the same price. Some items cost less on Amazon - usually items not made in China. Also note that free shipping often only applies to ONE item. If you want 2, make a separate order or pay shipping fee.
I had one item that was run over by a truck and it was replaced with no problem. I have had a couple that I had to argue with for a full refund. The customer service is often better than that of US based companies.

USB Tester

I get a lot of useful things of eBay but one that I keep in my travel bag is a little inline USB charger tester. Plug it in and it measure the voltage and makes sure all the wires are right for charging. Plug a USB device in it for charging and it measures the current draw as well as the voltage.

I'll have to check out

I'll have to check out Aliexpress.
Thanks!

--
Maps -> Wife -> Garmin 12XL -> StreetPilot 2610 -> Nuvi 660 (blown speaker) -> Nuvi 3790LMT

Ali?

Ali -- not to be confused with Alibaba, which is for large quantity production orders

Thanks...that's what I was thinking (large quantities only).

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Garmin: GPSIII / StreetPilot / StreetPilot Color Map / StreetPilot III / StreetPilot 2610 / GPSMAP 60CSx / Nuvi 770 / Nuvi 765T / Nuvi 3490LMT / Drivesmart 55 / GPSMAP 66st * Pioneer: AVIC-80 / N3 / X950BH / W8600NEX