• Have you tried out dark mode?! Scroll to the bottom of any page to find a sun or moon icon to turn dark mode on or off!

diy solar

diy solar

Solar Panel scam?

sunshine_eggo said:
A 400W panel should be about 2 sq-m or about 22 sq-ft

snoobler

Thread 'How to not get completely scammed when purchasing solar panels.'

Too many times folks purchase panels from something like Wish or from anonymous on eBay, and they later realize they were sold LIES.

Sanity check your purchase in the following two ways:

Panel Length, L, in meters
Panel Width, W, in meters.

1000W/m^2 * L * W * 0.2 = absolute maximum possible power output from the panel.

Additionally, you can multiply Vmp and Imp to get max power. That should get you a near exact number.

If those aren't available Voc and Isc values can be multiplied to an optimistically high number by 20-30%.

The less information available to confirm the above, the...
  • Like


Vmp * Imp = STC power

18Vmp * 2.77Imp = 49.86 = 50W

Insist on a full refund.
Click to expand...

I 100% will ask for a full refund.

Ebay is suppose to be reputable platform not some back alley deal with a guy in a trench coat in a rusted out van. They should honestly ban these scam sellers. What is also disturbing is that a lot of people may fall for the scam because he has decent feedback even know now that I look at only the negative it seems that a few people have figured him out.

Maybe if you never have seen a solar panel before in your life, you might think this is a normal size 400W panel. Without any conflicting information on the panel or box and a complete lack of specs sheet, you might believe him on face value.

Unbelievable. The scam must work on a majority of his buyers. Unfortunate.
 
JohnnyDangerDude said:
I thought they were suppose to be an honorable people.
Click to expand...
Why would you think that? Their entire job is to separate you from your money. Amazon: Beware of third party or marketplace sellers. eBay: Use Extreme Caution. Ali*: Don't expect anything, prepare to be disappointed, and you'll occasionally be amazed. Temu: Nope.
 
JohnnyDangerDude said:
True and everyone plays the fool at some point and there no exception to the rule.

Also, both sellers were from CHINA surprise surprise. I thought they were suppose to be an honorable people. I guess not.
Click to expand...
The seller may not be from China. Many Ebay sellers are simply drop shippers of Chinese products. Most have no inventory or shipping they rely on a larger company to handle that after they take your order. Heck some use Amazon, Home Depot or Walmart as the company that ultimately supplies you with the item.

A while ago it was a big issue that some of these relied on fraudulently obtained cash cards (scams, thefts and similar) to buy the product that was sold to a customer at below the going price so they could get real cash. Sorta like a selling a fenced stolen item for 1/2 the value.
 
wpns said:
Why would you think that? Their entire job is to separate you from your money. Amazon: Beware of third party or marketplace sellers. eBay: Use Extreme Caution. Ali*: Don't expect anything, prepare to be disappointed, and you'll occasionally be amazed. Temu: Nope.
Click to expand...

I guess it comes from watching ninja turtles as a kid and various movies with some wise old Chinese man giving advice but now that I think about it, that was Japan not China.
 
wpns said:
Why would you think that? Their entire job is to separate you from your money. Amazon: Beware of third party or marketplace sellers. eBay: Use Extreme Caution. Ali*: Don't expect anything, prepare to be disappointed, and you'll occasionally be amazed. Temu: Nope.
Click to expand...

Problem is everything is made in China. The good stuff, the mediocre stuff and the absolute counterfeit stuff. Real Dewalt made in China, fake dewalt made in China. It's all made in China. medical drugs almost all made in China.

I heard of a tap water center adding chemicals they got from China. It's labeled as Fluoride which is not great to begin with but what is to keep them from putting stronger poison in it? They take the word of some Chinese company dump their chemicals into our drinking water.

At one point in time, someone made the decision that the US would come up with the device or technology and China would manufacturer it.

The solar panels did arrive very quickly for something coming from China. Maybe a week or something. They must have someone inside the US helping them.
 
TomC4306 said:
You did ..
Click to expand...

I spotted the scam the minute the panels came in on day 1 of receiving them. I did not provide him 97% positive feedback as did many of his victims. I asked them for a chance to explain their action and they are blowing smoke at me with BS. I intend to get a 100% refund and report them as a scam to ebay but I'm not sure ebay cares anymore.

Also, I never claimed to be a solar expert by any stretch. I knew from the size difference from my other panels that it was way off.
Also, Volt meters will tell you volts not watts. So the fact that its 12V or 24V does not verify the watt ratings they claim.

I need a device that I can plug into these panels and get the real numbers. My estimates come from the size of the panels being so off.

The 500W is just a 20W panel for gosh sake.
 
JohnnyDangerDude said:
Also, I never claimed to be a solar expert by any stretch. I knew from the size difference from my other panels that it was way off.
Also, Volt meters will tell you volts not watts. So the fact that its 12V or 24V does not verify the watt ratings they claim.
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing your experience. You have certainly helped others.

And I bet we all have made similar boo-boos, I know I have and I'm sure I'll do it it again. My advice to myself is to somehow keep my blunders under a certain dollar amount and then I call them a learning moment. If it helps, there's millions of people who've signed themselves up for 30 year leases on grid tied solar system based on ridiculous saving numbers that are in the hole more per month than you were this one time.
 
Quattrohead said:
Maybe you should have watched Star Trek, "I cannae change the laws of physics"
Click to expand...

You can't change the laws of physics but apparently the laws of biology can be changed at will if scream loud enough.

This ebay situation is like you order a Lamborghini on at a hot deal for 100K and you get like a little envelope with a toy Lamborghini Car inside as delivery. Then its like " you sent me a toy, this weights a few ounces, its 64X smaller then what it's suppose to be, there is no working engine. Then the seller is like " what you talking about, that real Lamborghini car. It goes in all the directions, forward, backwards, left and right, ok I give u $20 dollar discount and you keep ok?"
 
OzSolar said:
Thank you for sharing your experience. You have certainly helped others.

And I bet we all have made similar boo-boos, I know I have and I'm sure I'll do it it again. My advice to myself is to somehow keep my blunders under a certain dollar amount and then I call them a learning moment. If it helps, there's millions of people who've signed themselves up for 30 year leases on grid tied solar system based on ridiculous saving numbers that are in the hole more per month than you were this one time.
Click to expand...

There are many news stories from Florida, Las Vegas, California, etc.... of people who have been totally scammed by these door to door solar salesman. There was one grandmother who the salesman like faked her signature after she died and tied her into something like a 30 year lease which her decedents had to take on. The Salesman was like, nope your 110 year old grandmother wanted to commit to a 30 year lease.

Also, they are being told they will completely eliminate their power bill and they will have full power during a hurricane while all their neighbors are out of power.

They are using the "1 nail, no jail" Philosophy where they will start a job then take the money and run.

I saw this on America greed TV show where the guy told his staff, just do some work even if its 1 nail then you won't go to jail when you never finish the work in progress.

Since they started a job, they can always argue they intended to finish but got delayed. They are planning to get it finish something in the future( NEVER) so the police can't arrest them. If there is too much heat, they shut down the company and reopen with a new name.
 
By the way, I paid over $600 for a bunch of these panels and I was offered $20 discount to keep the fake 400W panels. Seller is unable or unwilling to provide any data sheets, spec sheets where anyone is claiming the solar panel this size can produce 400W.

On the other Ebay Smaller who told me a so called " 500W" solar panel. It said on the box "20WBK" I wonder if that stands for like 20W Black or 20W bulk. The 500W panel is about the size of a 20W ( smaller then even the other ebay scammer's fake 400W panels)
 
You need very little backing to get your money back here. The claims were fraudulent, and can easily be proven by simply observing what you received. Put the screws to them, and don't let up! Yell and scream at Ebay if the seller refuses to budge.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Panel configuration/MPPT question
Replies
1
Views
79
hybe022
hybe022
S
EG4 6000xp max solar power per MPPT input
Replies
16
Views
273
timselectric
T
H
Upgrading Solar Assistant
Replies
0
Views
150
Haysdb
H
E
Looking for advice / review of residential solar setup
Replies
0
Views
117
ej5855
E
N
Solar panels are TOO efficient on a Sunny -30 day....
2 3
Replies
58
Views
1K
yabert
yabert

diy solar

diy solar
Back
Top