Sold/Expired ██ SCAM ██ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light ██ SCAM ██

[DM51]

Re: 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED!

I am … late to update threads

You were pretty quick to "update" this one, weren't you?

Your "update" was to remove the contents of post #1. In case you wish to refresh your memory about what it said, I anticipated this and kept a copy of it. Considerate of me, huh? There it is, once again in all its glory, as post #2.

I even kept a copy of the photos you posted. To save members the trouble of opening the link, here is one of them:

… and here, for comparison, the photo from the Alibaba site (no magic involved):

They do seem very similar, don't they?

Anyway, you said:

I've been working on a bike light with a better solution. Ostar powered, it is unique.

I had a couple cases of 15 watt Ostars containing 60pcs each … came across a friendly contractor in Taiwan … I decided to have a bike light made using the left over Ostars using this contractor.

So he's a contractor, and you had these made by him. 2 cases of 60 Ostars ea. = 120 Ostars, by my math. But there's a puzzle here - Alibaba is selling them as follows:

Qty (pcs) ........... Price (Per pc)
1 - 30 .................. $173.68
31-50 .................. $142.11
51-100 ................. $121.05​

… so there's obviously no shortage of them. Unique? I don't think so. And hold on – what's this?

I should have thoroughly checked this person out before going through with the deal and purchasing the bike lights.

I thought you said you had the lights MADE? Now you say you PURCHASED them? Would you like to make up your mind which it is?

They are $395 now

So you were hoping to sell a $121 light for $395. That's a mark-up of >300%. Nice. :green:

I don't know how long it will be before the price will eventually go up

Don't you mean DOWN?

I am satisfied.

I doubt many CPF members will be satisfied with your attempt to deceive them by passing off a cheap, mass-produced item as a Custom one. :thumbsdow

Seems like I got the royal treatment

It seems to me more like you were trying to give CPF members the "treatment". :thumbsdow

It really sucks.

That's the only part of either of your posts that I believe. The rest is BS. :thumbsdow

I learned a really good lesson from this whole ordeal which is to stick only with people you've known for a long time.

… and wise CPF members will learn to deal only with people they can trust. Following this, you won't be one of them. :thumbsdow

Moderator: Please, close this thread.

NO. It's staying open. Members may wish to comment. And as it is no longer a sale thread, the "no trashing" rule does not apply any more.

Thank you DM51

My pleasure, I assure you.

 

[Pöbel]

Re: 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED!

I really hope this is not what it looks like.

ARC Mania had really great products in the past and it shouldn't end like this.

But if in fact he tried to sell mass production lights at a premium, than something must have gone terribly wrong or he just got greedy.

 

[easilyled]

Re: 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED!

Well done DM51.

I'm even more suspicious of these succeeding threads now than I was in the first place when they came out. The lights always looked distinctly non-custom to me. I only hope all those that committed to them haven't been badly stung:-

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/281978

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/266012

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/249899

https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/234374

I'm wondering if this thread should be made into a sticky, so that it doesn't disappear eventually?

 

[dom]

Re: 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED!

The pic from the website that DM51 linked
to (with the Shimano bike) was the exact same
one used in Arc's bike forum thread i saw
last week(pics now removed).

You really
shot yourself in the foot Arc ,sad to say.
Maybe change your location to
"The Land of the Setting Sun"

 

[ma_sha1]

Re: 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED!

Can some one find the Taiwan/China X6 mfg link?

This sucks, I am working on Aspheric sst with round spot trying to beat X6, killing my brain cells for a fake?

 

[DM51]

Re: 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED!

Here's another supplier who is even cheaper - unit price from $105.15. That is 1/4 of what the OP was hoping to sell them for. As far from "unique" as one could imagine... they are widely available, and in large quantities too...

 

[Henk_Lu]

Re: 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED!

Well done DM51.

I'm even more suspicious of these succeeding threads now than I was in the first place when they came out. The lights always looked distinctly non-custom to me.

Mike said himself in one of those sales-threads, that they are not custom-made :

To keep prices down they are made at a contractor. It is an attempt to lower the cost of custom lights by using some off the shelf parts. The company, an old supplier to a major name, uses remaining parts like the ZFL shroud. I will have this removed and left blank.

We should stick to the bicycle light here and I hope Mike will give us a better explanation of what happened...

 

[arewethereyetdad]

Re: 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED!

I have been thinking about this thread all night, and I can't help but feel just plain pissed off. If not for DM51's watchdog effort - protecting members' wallets - how many of us would have been duped? And Arc Mania's explanation was crap. It takes a lot for me to go "down under" but this event caused me to do just that.

 

[easilyled]

Re: 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED!

Mike said himself in one of those sales-threads, that they are not custom-made :

Yes, but he claimed to have designed them and to have inspected each one individually and used the best binned leds for them.
They were also sold for a very hefty price.

In light of this thread, I find it hard to believe that the truth wasn't "stretched" for those threads either.

We should stick to the bicycle light here and I hope Mike will give us a better explanation of what happened...

I think that it is quite reasonable to draw parallels with other similar looking threads that some members may not be aware of at this stage.

You have your opinion and I have mine.

 

[run4jc]

Re: ** SCAM ** 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ** SCAM **

I don't know which would be worse - that Arc was DUPED by a cheap producer, or that he attempted to Dupe the forum members by reselling the products from a cheap producer.

Either way, it doesn't inspire confidence. Just Sunday I was having a conversation with DaFABRICATA about how fantastic this forum is, how trustworthy the members are, how many thousands of $$ change hands - within the US and Internationally - without incident. Such an outstanding group of people and the aforementioned record inspires confidence, and helps us to feel at ease whether spending $50, $500, or $2000.

I, for one, still have that confidence. While this 'incident' might have the potential to shake that confidence, the savvy work of and 'heads up' by DM51 helps to maintain the confidence. BRAVO DM51!:twothumbs

Whether we believe it a scam or not (which I do believe it to be), we can simply vote with our wallets. Up until this point I'd never made a purchase from Arc before. Don't believe that's gonna change any time soon! :fail: :shakehead :thumbsdow

 

[F250XLT]

Re: ** SCAM ** 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ** SCAM **

I KNEW this day would come, I have been saying it for quite some time now. Mike has been ripping people off, using his PAST reputation to peddle cheap, mass produced lights for profit here on CPF. Don't be fooled into thinking he had ANYTHING to do with this light, or the X6 for that matter. If you continue to support this clown with your hard earned money, you will eventually get burned.

DM51......YOU ARE MY HERO :twothumbs

 

[tino_ale]

Re: ** SCAM ** 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ** SCAM **

Please everyone : comment with care so this thread doesn't get closed and eventually burried and forgotten. We need to keep this visible to the maximum number of CPFers as long as possible.

I have been suspicious in the past abour ARC mania 's offering. It was never clear what was custom and what was not. Where it came from and what justified the premium price.

This time I am just plain shocked.

A while back there was this STORY. Without hard evidence I couldn't make myselft a definite opinion but my guard was high about this member. I recommend reading this thread.

 

[PScalfano]

Re: ** SCAM ** 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ** SCAM **

Wow. Thanks for looking out for us, DM51. Being fairly new to this forum, it is great to see that members, mods, and even admin here look out for each other.

 

[Tractor man]

Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

WoW Arc , DM51 you so busted in style. Hard and fast baby:twothumbs. It is nice to know there are people like you here to watch our backs, thankyou...

TM

 

[donn_]

Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

A meaningful quote from the thread Tino linked:

CPF as a forum has had a lynchmob, groupie, cheerleader, etc. movement which has restricted the exchange of mutually beneficial information. This thread is evidence of that, and its display will hopefully stem that movement. To me this is probably the most important result, but certainly not the goal of the original post.

 

[brighterisbetter]

Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

Another interesting link, scroll down to "Related Products". http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/299348621/OSRAM_15W_LED_Bike_Front_Light.html

There's even a form to contact the supplier Mr. Leo Yuan: http://kfled.en.alibaba.com/contactinfo.html?mseq=200411131

 

[carrot]

Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

Posting in an epic thread...

Good catch DM51.

I wish I could give Arcmania the benefit of the doubt but in fact the evidence is too damning.

 

[ninemm]

Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

All I have to say is thanks you DM51 and all the mods for your tireless efforts at keeping this forum a great environment in which to enjoy our hobby.

 

[DM51]

Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

Another interesting link, scroll down to "Related Products". http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/299348621/OSRAM_15W_LED_Bike_Front_Light.html

There's even a form to contact the supplier Mr. Leo Yuan: http://kfled.en.alibaba.com/contactinfo.html?mseq=200411131

That first link is interesting. I particularly like the line in the order info:

Supply Ability: 10,000 Set/sets per month

Amazing how far 120pcs Ostar LEDs will go, these days...

 

[TranquillityBase]

Re: ███ SCAM ███ 15 watt Ostar LED bicycle light. In stock! ENDED! ███ SCAM ███

Look on the bright side, at least it wasn't a prepay