Total liquidation sale of HESC Photonics assets

bwang said:

Yeah, what I'm doing screams "bad judgment" all over the place, but the items are currently cheap enough to be worth the risk - if *anything* I bid on shows up I'll be happy.
This is, of course, assuming that I don't get charged thousands in shipping.

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Its your money. Personally, I dont help scammers. Its bad karma. But thats just my opinion.

Peace all, and good luck.

haha 2 days of neg posts and where is he to defend himself.

michael.

And if you do end up buying stuff (or like me, placed some bids before appreciating the danger and doing your own due diligence) then keep track of chargeback deadlines, and don't let anyone who is involved in this process (whether the auction house, chris, or the shipper) convince you to postpone any potential protective action (like a chargeback) beyond any deadlines.

To some extent, I'm happier to have a credit card's 90 day chargeback policy protecting me, as opposed to paypal's 45. But doing it again, I wouldn't have bid in the first place.

I also think that for the betterment of this community, anyone who actually purchases and receives something via this auction should openly state what they've purchased (potentially in this thread).

I would absolutely hate to see the 1,000+ diodes that (maybe) come out of this auction get re-sold by a dozen different people in this forum (especially since there is such a concern as to quality) for the next 5 years.

Isn't anyone close enough to pick stuff up locally? I've done some business with heruur when he was on ebay. He makes impossible claims and calls everything a burning laser, but I still got some cheap laser diodes and other stuff. There are a lot of interesting auctions, the only thing scared of is having no items arrive. Paypal also closed his account and I don't have a credit card. So can anyone just pick items up? I don't care much if they are broken, that's what I assume by default if I don't trust a seller.

For those of you who are bidding, care to post your ProxiBid usernames?
It would be nice if the auctions didn't get bid up very much, considering how sketchy Chris is known to be.
If several of us want a lot, we can conspire to part it out afterwards
I'm 'bwang' on ProxiBid, btw.

Good call ^

In fact, if there was a reputable forum member nearby, maybe they could pick all the items up and ship them out to bidders.

Not for Chris's benefit, but for everyone elses. In fact, I'd be really happy to see an honest member get $5 or $10 per shipment to add to their pockets, as opposed to a "professional shipper" getting the same.

bwang: I PM'd you my username (as opposed to posting here)

I'm very interested in the test equipment and a coherent compass PSU, but if I hear the shipping is expensive and I need a credit card it's going to be difficult. I'd rather paypal a member here to pick up the stuff plus something for the effort.

And he seems to offer a lot of 808nm diodes. I once bought "2x 2W 808nm" diodes from him, but it were 2x 1W diodes, one 830nm and one 808nm. Still worth what I payed for them. My guess would be all those diodes aren't all 2W 808nm.

I called the auction house today and spoke to a very kind woman. She explained to me that the information for shipping will be updated on the site, as well that Sharon...the shipper... will contact each winning bidder before shipping to arrange what you wish to use. I.E. UPS, USPS...etc.
She also gave me an email for the shipper which she said will be posted on the site as well.
Personally I like to talk to a person, so I left a message with Sharon and will continue until I speak with her personally.

I VERY MUCH understand what people are saying here and agree....i'm a bit bent about the auction house prices...18% and feel that should be on the seller and not buyer, but when it's done and said, if I get the items for what i'm willing to pay, I should still come out ahead.(even if some of them don't work)

532, did you get any insight into the nature of the relationship between Chris and these auctioneers? IE, are they selling his electronics as part of a forced bankruptcy sale, etc? Or are they just selling it for him as part of a typical business relationship whereby they help people sell stuff?

rhd said:

532, did you get any insight into the nature of the relationship between Chris and these auctioneers? IE, are they selling his electronics as part of a forced bankruptcy sale, etc? Or are they just selling it for him as part of a typical business relationship whereby they help people sell stuff?

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I did not get into their relationship or ask any questions related.

The woman that I did speak to was very helpful and kind. Their company, all be it small, does have other auctions going on in the area. I'll try to keep everyone posted what I learn.

532 with Envy said:

I did not get into their relationship or ask any questions related.

The woman that I did speak to was very helpful and kind. Their company, all be it small, does have other auctions going on in the area. I'll try to keep everyone posted what I learn.

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Thanks, we really appreciate that. I tried today but ended up on hold a long time. I didn't feel like leaving a number or continuing to wait.

I saw your bids. Keep us up to date on anything you learn.

the 18% auction house fee is pretty much standard in industrial auctions. and that fee is never less than 15%

michael.

Just got off the phone talking to Sharon for about 10min. She seems pretty straight and in line. She will contact each buyer after the auction with their preference for shipping, they prefer USPS, but will do UPS or others at you request, also the email will be asking if you want insurance.
I asked here as well about here charges for shipping. She said that it will be per shipment and NOT unreasonable. Perhaps something like(this was just in conversation)$3-5 per actual package shipped plus the shipping charge itself. Again, this was just a conversation, but I got the feeling that this is not just some company that is going to charge your credit card without talking to you first.
As well in our conversation she mentioned that the auction will end on a Friday and she will pick up the items on the next monday, and it will take a few days from the to process it all and get it shipped......(again this was just a polite conversation, if you wish to set something in stone, call her directly)
For all your info's....it makes me feel better to talk to here and the auction house directly, I'm a pretty good judge of people when I can hear their voice inflection and feel the way a conversation is going,
My personal feeling is that both the auction house and shipper are not related to the seller on this transaction. For sure not the shipper as she did not even know what was being sold.

532: Thanks for putting in all that effort, and sharing it with the thread.

I had contacted the auction house earlier today when initially I got Sharon's voicemail (and thought it was incorrect on account of it being an individual, not a business). At any rate, the auction house was fairly quick to get back to me, and very quick to take action on my request for information about/from the shipping company. They very quickly gave me an additional email address for Sharon, and confirmed that my choice of shipping company would be ok with her.

I'm yet to hear back from Sharon, but certainly the auction house/company was very responsive and professional. I got the sense that auctioning lots was what they do, and the only thing they do. They also have a website which is just about as far from "related" to laser gear as is imaginable (probably a good thing).

For me at least, at this stage, my only concern relates to the quality/description of actual items. I'm no longer concerned about proxibid, the auctioneer, or the shipping company. Having said that, the remaining concern is still a significant one, especially if as TJ said, this is "bottom of the barrel" stock.

I'm basically approaching this the way I would approach a "3,000mW green laser burns good happy live long life for you" laser pointer from China. I won't spend any more money on it than I'd be comfortable writing off if the worst possible end of the quality scale turns out to be reality.

"3,000mW green laser burns good happy live long life for you" laser pointer from China"

Perfect!!.....lol....

As I mentioned my thoughts on the auction....I understand the risks that what i'm getting may or may not work, but I figure if I win a lot of 50 diodes for $10, plus 18%, plus shipping I still could come out ahead with 2 or 3 working ones, if none than thats my loss on the gamble.