Nadeem's Blog

What Wise Businessmen Do After Holidays

2012-03-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

It is true that most shop owners get over 75% of their income during the holiday season at the end of the year by promoting special offers related to Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Most business owners are tired of their busy routine after the months of November and December and start slacking off once they hit January of next year. However, what wise businessmen do after holidays is make every moment count and use the earlier months of the year to continue selling, prepare for the next holiday season, manage their human resources and promote their brand. Here are some things that you should consider doing after all the hype of the holidays is over.

• Reflect on Last Year.

How well did you do last year? What were the main points holding you back? Were you attracting enough customers, and were you able to convert plenty of leads into sales? Think of the problems that you ran into last year and what you need to do in order to ensure that you won’t make the same mistakes twice.

• Clear Out Seasonal Products.

The last thing you want is for your store to look like it is still stuck in the Christmas theme. Try to get rid of seasonal products as quickly as possible unless you have enough room to store them until the end of the year when you can try to sell them again. Perhaps you could have a clearance sale or even offer the leftover products as a gift for purchasing other items at your store.

• Restock Your Shelves.

What was in demand most at your store last year? Were customers asking for certain types of products that you didn’t have available? When restocking your itinerary, think about the needs and budget of the customers that you attract. Making sales is all about supply and demand, so if consumers are demanding for something you should feel obligated to supply it not only to boost your sales but also to show that you care for your customers and what they want to buy.

• Lower Costs.

There may be unwanted expenses lingering from the holidays that you want to get rid of as soon as possible. Such expenses may include overstaffing since you may have hired more people when sales were at a peak but you don’t need to keep paying salaries to people who no longer have enough work to do. You may want to cut back on advertising costs as well now that the holiday shoppers are no longer looking at ads and the target audience for advertisements has diminished.

• After-holiday Perks

Remember that smart shoppers are always looking for deals no matter what time of the year it may be. You should keep customers interested in your store by occasionally offering discounts and other perks. Some businesses offer discount coupons for the next purchase when someone buys a gift at their store during the holidays. This is an excellent way of getting continuing business from holiday shoppers because they will come back to shop at your store and use their discount coupon after the holidays are over.

How Entrepreneurs Deal With Stress at Work

2012-03-01T20:59:00.000-08:00

Being an entrepreneur is certainly not a shortcut or loophole into doing less work. In fact, most start-up entrepreneurs have to work much harder than they would at a day job in order to make the same amount of money. Another major stress factor is that their own money is at stake – many small businesses have difficulty in finding investors due to their lack of presence in the market and hence have to start off by taking out loans or being self-funded. So what is it that keeps these ambitious people pushing onwards and pursuing their dreams instead of giving in to all of the stress of financial debts and heavy workloads?

• Finding Inspiration

It is important for you to find things that inspire you in life but also to have a business that inspires you on a personal level. For example, if you enjoy listening to music then you may consider opening a music store or creating a magazine that covers music news, events and personalities. If you feel that a music business would not be lucrative then you can still try to play music at your store or discuss music with your customers once in a while. Bring whatever inspires you on a personal level into your work life and make it a part of your business. Customers enjoy meeting business owners that can somehow personalize what they do and enjoy it more.

• Humor

Having a laugh can get more difficult when you are stressed out. Try to look at things with a lighter perspective instead of being a worrywart. This does not mean that you should be a non-serious worker, but not all business matters are under your control and there is no point in worrying about the things that you can do nothing about. Do the best you can and leave the rest to fate. Befriend your employees and crack jokes with them once in a while, but never make mean jokes or pranks at work. You do need to keep the atmosphere professional and make sure everyone realizes who’s boss, but we are all human at the same time and should learn how to interact at a humane level as well.

• Gratitude

You business may not be doing as well as you had wanted, but be thankful for whatever you have. Remind yourself of all the pros of being an entrepreneur such as being able to set your own work hours and being your own boss. Being an entrepreneur is not just about money but also about a lifestyle that should be appreciated.

• Breaks and Getaways

Take breaks during your routine to relax. It is better to take many shorter breaks instead of just one long break, so plan your breaks in advance intermittently throughout the day. Force yourself to go on a break when it is scheduled even if you are too caught up in work to want to get out of the store or office. You can take the time away from work to go on a short walk, nibble on a snack or take a short nap. During off-seasons, consider taking longer vacations where you can get away from any stresses that may have been bothering you at work. Afterwards, you will come back to attend to business with a refreshed feeling and a more positive attitude.

How Small Businesses Are Surviving the Recession

2012-02-20T21:02:00.000-08:00

Most businesses have taken a hit for the worst during the recession, but the key is get back up after you get knocked down. By no means can we say that we should look at the recession with optimism because people have lost their jobs and even some major banks have declared bankruptcy, yet some businesses have found ways to deal with the problems related to the bad economy. What has enabled these small businesses to survive the recession?

• Adaptability

The economy and consumer behavior get extremely unpredictable during a recession. Companies need to adapt to the changing markets by first analyzing the consumer. The products that people could afford to buy a year or two ago may be out of their budget now and no longer in demand. You need to change your inventory with lower-priced products, and although they may not be of high quality most customers will probably be willing to compromise on quality for price.

• Experimentation

It is important for you to test the new market. Don’t get stuck with business mottos or company rules and become open to new ideas. You should welcome whatever suggestions you can get that will encourage more cash flow. Perhaps you could start a side business or work more through referrals. Some changes may only be temporary while others will prove profitable enough to become a part of your permanent business setup. Don’t be afraid of change, in fact being able of changing is perhaps the best attribute that your business can have for surviving the recession.

• Budgeting

Remember that there are two ways that you can increase your net income. The first is to increase you gross income, but this becomes difficult to do when the economy is bad because people don’t have the money to pay for the products that you are selling. The second method that you can use to increase your net income is to cut back on expenses, and this is in fact easier to do during a recession. The employer has the upper hand in the job market when the unemployment rate is high so you can hire employees that are willing to work at lower rates. Advertising agencies are also desperately seeking clients so the cost for marketing your products also goes down. Compare rates when hiring new employees or signing up for an advertising campaign and you are very likely to make a considerable saving.

• Payment Options

Listening to your customers is vital at all times. Many customers may not be able to make a full upfront payment for your products, but if you offer them a financing plan that is practical for them to pay off then they may still end up purchasing your product and eventually paying the full price. In fact, some businesses may even be able to charge interest for offering financing plans, but keep in mind that the purpose of offering financing is to strengthen the customer’s purchasing power rather than scare customers off with high interest rates.

2012 is Good for Entrepreneurs & Small Businesses

2012-02-15T23:57:00.000-08:00

Are you having a tough time during the bad economy? It isn’t surprising to find people getting frustrated when unemployment rates are high and it is hard to hold on to the job you have due to lay-offs. However, you may also be surprised to realize that a recession can be the best time to pursue your dreams and perhaps start a business of your own. 2012 is proving to be good for entrepreneurs because of the following reasons.

• Lower Living Costs

You get more bangs for your buck during a recession because other businesses are more desperate to earn the dollar in your pocket. The cost of food tends to go down because people are looking for deals at restaurants and the same goes for groceries shopping. All this means that your savings will last longer, giving you more time to explore options for starting up your own business.

• The “Big Fish” is Dying

You may be wondering why you should even consider opening up a business of your own when so many preexisting shops are shutting down. Well, the truth is that it is the larger companies that are hit worst by the bad economy because they have higher overhead costs. Many franchises and big fish names such as Sears and Taco Bell are expected to disappear in 2012, making more room for the smaller fish to take their place. There will be less monopoly in the market because the big companies will no longer dominate and you will have a better chance of filling the void in the market and making a name for yourself as a startup company.

• Lower Shop Rent

Usually it would cost an arm and a leg to open up a shop in a mainstream mall, but large businesses and franchises are cutting down on their store locations so there are many vacant spots available right now. Hence, the rental rates are much cheaper and commercial real estate owners are willing to show more flexibility and negotiate according to your terms. The store location that was way beyond your budget a couple years ago may well be within your reach this year.

• Affordable Supplies

Brand owners are desperate to get their products on as many store shelves as possible and willing to offer very appealing incentives to shop owners. You can get the products that you want to sell at much cheaper prices and sell them with a higher profit margin. You can get great deals on whatever you need to fill up and operate your store, including everything from cash machines and computers to furniture and vending machines.

• Cheap Advertising

Advertising agencies are looking for new clients and are offering some very cheap advertising options. You could have your company website built for less than $100 as a one-time payment and hire sales companies to promote your business and sell more products for you on a purely commission basis. Advertising companies are realizing that the consumer trend is switching towards small businesses so they are customizing more packages that suit the entrepreneur’s needs and budget.

SEO Content Development Deal

2012-02-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here is what we will do for the company:

- We will edit existing content and create more content for the website, especially for the landing pages being used for AdWords.

- We will analyze the content on individual pages in terms of word count and keyword density to make sure they meet expected SEO standards.

- We will enhance internal links and build more to create a more integrated and browser-friendly website in order to retain traffic (keep visitors on the website for longer durations and earn their trust).

- We will find and implement more ways to generate more leads and have more website visitors follow call-to-actions (purchase products/services, fill forms, sign up to receive more information, etc.).

- We will contribute towards building a company blog, subscription newsletter or new website pages if requested.

The intended results of this will be a website that provides more practical information to the viewer, which is a major appeal for attracting more website visitors and also increasing conversion rates. It will increase the page rank of the website on search engines such as Google/Yahoo/Bing and also make the AdWords campaign and all offpage SEO/advertising more efficient because the website's Quality Score will go up.

Suggested invoicing method: $/article.

Email me at nadeemalim@gmail.com for your content writing needs. Thank you.

AdWords Management Deal with Enhancements

2012-02-05T18:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of what we will do for the company:

- We will enhance their list of desired keywords (what they want to sell) using industry-related keywords research, Google tools and information provided by the company.

- We will further focus their campaigns according to their target locations (where they want to sell) using location-specific keywords and ad types (geo-targeted advertising).

- We will revise, improve and manage their AdWords Campaign Management, Ad Groups/Types/Text, bidding strategy (Max CPC's and CPM's), Conversions (CTR/URL tracking reports), Analytics (click-rate, traffic sources), etc.

- AdWords account will be handled by people who have passed the Google Advertising Professionals exam/program and have been certified by Google as an "AdWords Qualified Individual."

- We will present reports to show the results of our efforts as requested.

The intended results of this will be an AdWords campaign that is more organized and unified in its theme and also has more optimized advertisements. This will enable us to utilize the budget better by eliminating clicks from customers that we don't want and reaching out to more of the type of customers that we do want (ie. attract more relevant traffic).

Suggested invoicing method: $/month.

Contact us at nadeemalim@gmail.com if you'd like us to manage/enhance your AdWords campaign.

SEO Services Deals

2012-02-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

Initial Setup Deal (one-time cost):

The following brand enhancements will be made:

• Create profile page on Aboutus.org (a professional Wiki page)

• Add to online business directories (Google Maps, Yelp, Yahoo Maps, Superpages, etc.)

The following onsite enhancements will be made to the blog:

• Indexing/Organizing Content:

- Add index page (a live feed of all content).
- Add labeling system (label feeds, label links and label tags to categorize blog posts).
- Add site search (allows users to search within the site).

• Retaining Visitors/Integrating Pages:

- Create internal links within blog posts.
- Add menu links (“Featured Articles,” “Topics,” “Popular Posts,” “Archive,” “What is Citycast?”).

• Onsite Social Networking:

- Add Facebook “Like” button.
- Add Google Plus button.
- Add “Share” buttons (so visitors can share links to blog posts via email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).

The following offsite enhancements will be made for the website:

• Submit blog URL to search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing).

• Setup live ping feeds so search engines are notified whenever new content is added or old content is updated.

Social Networking & Maintenance Deal (monthly subscription):

• Add fresh content regularly (write and publish at least 2 blog posts/week with enhanced keywords optimization).

• Edit any additional blog content submitted by other writers to enhance SEO.

• Comments exchange (exchange comments with other bloggers).

• Blogroll exchange (exchange template links with other blogs).

• Feed exchange (exchange blog feeds with other blogs).

• In-page links exchange (get mentioned with links to website/blog on posts of blogs by other individuals and companies).

• Twitter correspondences (create Twitter account, post blog feeds, share company/product updates, gain followers, etc.).

• Press releases (write and publish press releases on prominent PR websites such as www.pr.com).

ADDITIONAL SERVICES/DEALS:

• AdWords – account management fee depends on PPC budget.

• Website monitoring (measuring and assessing page views, Google ranking, traffic sources, trends in traffic, etc.) – fee depends on website traffic and amount of detail required in reports.

Email us at nadeemalim@gmail.com if you wish to hire for any of these services. Thank you.

Annoying Manager at Ralphs Store

2012-01-28T23:55:00.000-08:00

Today I took my mum grocery shopping at a Ralphs store in Irvine, California (this one is on Culver Drive near the 5 freeway). We bought a bunch of stuff from their discounts aisle including chocolate and sprinkle mini donuts, bread, garlic bread, and a cake. The cake looked very nice; it was a fudge brownie cake with smooth chocolate icing that was on the manager’s special price. Greatly pleased at our baskets full of goodies found during our shopping spree we proudly walked to the cashier line.

The store was not crowded at all and we went to a counter that just had one customer who was about to leave. There was no line so we did not go to the self-checkout since the Ralphs cashier could just scan in the barcodes for us. However, a manager walked by us and asked whether we are ready to check out the products that we had collected. We told him that we were, which turned out to be a regrettable mistake.

The manager walked us to the self-checkout counter and started scanning in our products. “Oh well,” I thought. At this point I did not have any problem with this Ralphs manager. However, after scanning in the items that we had bought and putting them in plastic bags he started talking to us about upgrading our Ralphs rewards cards. He gave us a marketing spiel saying that the old rewards card used to give customers a 5% discount but now it doesn’t. Although the old card can still be used to get the discount prices, there is no additional reduction on the final purchase. The new card on the other hand has some points system where you get $5 back after you have made purchases totaling to $500. This did not sound so good to me since in essence he was saying that now Ralphs is only giving 1% instead of 5% discounts. Anyway, my mum agreed to sign up for the new card.

So this is where this manager at the Irvine Ralphs store becomes rude. Of course his language is still all sugarcoated but his actions are disrespectful and selfish. He stops scanning the products from our shopping basket and goes off looking for a sign-up form that my mum has to fill out to get the new Ralphs rewards card. As he trots off my mum asks him what we need to do about our groceries and he says we need to select the “Pay” option and make the payment. So my mum completes the process on the self-checkout machine by herself. After that we just look at the manager wandering about in the store and then from a distance he says that he can’t find the sign-up form so we will have to come and fill it out some other time.

The story gets worse. I pick up the 2 shopping bags hanging on the self-checkout bar and put them in the trunk of the car. When we get home my mum checks the receipt and we realize that there are some items missing, including the chocolate fudge brownie cake that we were looking forward to eating! Although I do share the blame in this mishap occurring, here is what I think happened: the manager either did not take out the cake and other remaining items in our basket to scan on the self-checkout machine (although the items are on the receipt so this probably was not the case) or after scanning them in he put them in a shopping bag and placed the bag somewhere where I did not notice it when it was time to leave the store. You see there are many empty bags at the self-checkout counter and when a customer scans the items he or she knows which bags the items have been put in, but when a manager does it without handing over the bags to you or at least indicating which bags the customer needs to pick up they can easily get mixed with the cluster of empty bags and left behind. On a regular cashier counter I always check that I have not left any shopping bags behind, but this is harder to do at the self-checkout machine especially when someone else is processing your items. I wish this manager at the Irvine Ralphs store had just minded his own business rather than pretend that he wanted to help us just to act busy or look for an opportunity for a sales pitch. Now we have a bag missing from the groceries that we brought home and there is a delicious cake either sitting somewhere in the store in Irvine or has already landed in the stomach of some other customer who came by it while using the self-checkout machine. Just to clearly indicate the level of agony involved in this incident I’d like to remind you that this was a fudge brownie cake with creamy chocolate icing!

After-note: I called the phone number for the Ralphs store in Irvine the next day and they said they would replace the missing items. We managed to get all of the items that were missing, including the cake that was no longer on manager’s special price, although I did have to drive out there again. I told the manager upfront how I felt about the whole experience and he apologized, and I know people are just trying to do their job so I don’t hold any of this as a personal grudge. It was partially my fault too for leaving the bag behind but still I feel I shouldn’t have received such poor customer service. It got to me at first but now I’m okay!

Using eBay Buyer Protection to Get Refund

2011-12-20T21:56:00.000-08:00

After opening the eBay Buyer Protection case I continued to communicate with the eBay seller as suggested. The seller said that he is working towards getting me a refund:

“Dear I know you are worry about this. I am an honest person. I will ask for refund from my boss ok? But could you please close the case and tell me.”

I was definitely going to close the case unless I received my refund, so here is what I wrote back:

“My Friend,

Did you get the message from eBay about the case? Please show the message to your boss and on it the reasons why I have opened case saying he is selling illegal product. Then I think he will give me full refund. Other ideas we can discuss later. Thank you.”

The seller kept insisting that I close the eBay Buyer Protection case that I had opened against him:

“Hello, thanks for your information. I have applied to the boss again. He asks me to communicate with you. I want to refund you but the case affects me so could you please close it for me. Then I can refund you and I will beg the boss to allow. Is this ok?”

Seemed like I was getting caught in a lot of red taping since the seller was trying to put the blame on his boss for not giving me a refund. Or perhaps his authority really was limited. Meanwhile, I tried to find other options for how to solve this problem and sent the eBay seller the following proposal:

“Hi,

Okay I talked to somebody in USA who says he can try to fix the problem with the tablet for $50. So can you refund $50 only no need to give full refund and I keep tablet so I fix this problem and also you don't get bad eBay feedback? After you refund $50 no more problem and no more case, sale is final! Is this okay? Thank you my friend.”

The seller agreed to this proposal:

“Hello. I agree with your idea so thanks for your information and idea. Now we have asked the engineer. The model is WM8650, you know have different inches tablet pc but all of them using the chipset of WM8650.”

Even though the seller had agreed to refund my money I did not receive any refund during the following days. So I wrote back:

“I am waiting for the $50 refund to my PayPal. Please refund soon so I can close the eBay case against you. Thank you.”

I got a quick short reply from the seller saying “So please request 50USD to on eBay.” I was confused on how to request a refund through eBay so I asked the seller for some assistance:

“How do I request $50 refund on eBay? I have put a note on the eBay case that I agree that you can refund $50 and let me keep item. Is this okay? Also I want refund to go to my PayPal account, not any credit like store or eBay credit, so please make sure you give refund to my PayPal account that I used to make original payment. Thank you. Anything more you need me to do please be specific with fast response.”

Apparently there was something specific the seller needed me to do because he sent the following message indicating that he could send the money and but wanted to have everything on record.

“I will refund you 50USD. Hope we can solve this now and refund you to your PayPal please accept here on eBay case.”

After reading this message I realized that I could make adjustments to the eBay Buyer Protection case, such as the amount agreed upon for refund. I changed the refund amount on the eBay Buyer Protection case and soon got a refund of $50 credited to my PayPal account.

So you’d think since I purchased the WM8650 tablet for original price of $72 that I went in a loss of $22, right? On the contrary, I had ideas of how to turn this whole catastrophe into a profit! Read on to find out how I get more of my money back.

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Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

An eBay Buyer's True Story

2011-12-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

Buying on eBay can be fun, challenging, and frustrating, all at the same time. Apart from finding and bidding on the right deals you also need to be very patient and persistent about making sure you get the product you want at the lowest price. My personal true story as an eBay buyer involves a certain WonderMedia WM8650 tablet purchase that is also sold under the name of SuperPad, ePad and Flytouch. If you’re not careful about your online purchases then eBay sellers can take advantage of you very easily, so read my story carefully to learn from my mistakes and also learn what to do to fix certain common issues when buying on eBay.

Real Deal Behind Fake Android Tablet on eBay
So here is what I was expecting to get when buying my WonderMedia WM8650 tablet and what I actually got. It seems that sellers can often throw words around like “Google Android” and “Android Market” in order to increase sales, despite such brandnames being heavily copyrighted.

Fake Android Market on WM8650 Tablet
The Android Market allows you to download more apps onto your tablet. These apps are essentially like software on a computer. Having a fake Android Market on your mobile device is a major limitation to what apps you can have on it.

Fixing Android Market on WM8650 Tablet
To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing here. I did manage to improve the version of the market on my Android tablet although I could fix it completely.

Finding Out Which WM8650 Tablet Model You Have
This Became a major headache, because it turns out there are a bunch of different products being sold under the name of WonderMedia WM8650, ePad, Flytouch and SuperPad. I just wish I knew what I had!

WM8650 ROM Upload Fails All the Time says eBay Seller
I tried to upgrade the ROM on my Android tablet, which is sort of like the operating system on it. A few attempts succeeded, but it was strange how casually the eBay seller thought it was normal for ROM uploads to fail.

Getting Refund from eBay Seller for WM8650 Tablet
So yes, by now I wanted my money back, and all of it! This was turning out to be a waste of time and money.

Getting WM8650 Tablet Replaced
The seller’s offer for a free replacement did seem appealing. However, the main problem was he still couldn’t tell me exactly what he’d be sending me as a replacement (ie. The exact model name of the tablet).

Confusion About WM8650 Tablet Model Number
I wish the eBay seller knew what he was selling! The purchase may have worked out for me if I only knew what was being sent to me.

Getting eBay Seller to Refund All Money
I have to say it can be very hard to get all of your money back even if the item listed said full refund is offered.

Warning Seller About eBay Buyer Protection
Efforts had to be made to pressurize the seller into giving me my money back. However, eBay is initially very passive about helping its buyers in this matter.

Contacting eBay Buyer Protection
Truth is you don’t really “contact” anyone, at least not a live person. The eBay Buyer Protection program is mostly just an automated system and alternate mode of communication between buyer and seller.

Telling Seller About eBay Buyer Protection Case
Well I guess telling the seller did help in trying to have him take the matter more seriously. He was now dealing with an urgent problem, since the eBay Buyer Protection system does make everything more monitored with fixed deadlines, aiming towards a more systematic resolution.

Using eBay Buyer Protection to Get Refund
I did get a lot of my money back. There is a certain procedure that I had to follow to make sure everything goes on record, such as my acceptance of the refund amount.

Telling Seller About eBay Buyer Protection Case

2011-12-15T16:24:00.000-08:00

After contacting eBay Buyer Protection I contacted the eBay seller so he knew a case had been opened against him:

“Dear friend,

You did not give me full refund within the deadline in fact you have not even responded in the past 3 days so now I have contacted eBay. They say we can solve the problem within 8 days (which can only be done if you send me full refund) otherwise they will do a review and make a decision. I have told them your Android is fake which means if they review the case they might ban you from eBay and delete your eBay account. So I think better for me and you that you send refund of $72.58 to my PayPal account nadeemalim@gmail.com quickly otherwise this problem will get more and more bad.

We can discuss more details and options later as much as you want but right now you must send me full refund first. So please do not waste more time and send me full refund before there are more bigger problems.

Thank you.”

Perhaps realizing this problem was getting out of hand he tried to not take responsibility for it. Here is what he wrote back:

“Dear,

I have asked the boss and tell him the situation but he agrees that we can refund you half then you do not need to send back and we can refund you full if you send back. So I am just a staff in (company name) I have to get the agreement of the boss. So really hope you can understand me. Tell me your idea.”

Well, I had already told him my idea that I want a full refund. It seemed he was not willing to compromise, and neither was I. I reiterated my plan of action to the eBay seller, trying to keep my composure:

“Dear Staff Friend,

So your boss is saying it is okay for me to give his company very bad eBay feedback? Did you tell him I have opened complain case with eBay Buyer Protection saying that he is selling pirated products and that if he does not give me full refund then eBay might delete his account?

My idea is you give me full refund otherwise bad for me and you and also bad for your boss and his company. If you want me to send tablet back to you then you have to refund me full sale price and return shipping, you are the one doing illegal things not me so I am not going to pay anything.”

I have to admit, this seller had a thick skin! His counteroffers were still not acceptable for me though, and feeling that the eBay Buyer Protection case would favor me in trying to get a full refund I stood my ground firmly.

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Contacting eBay Buyer Protection

2011-12-10T16:20:00.000-08:00

Unable to convince the seller to give me a full refund, I contacted eBay Buyer Protection. Here is my case summary:

“Here's what just happened:
You opened an eBay Buyer Protection case for 7" Google Android 2.2 Tablet PC MID WM8650 800MHZ HDD 4GB WiFi G-Sensor Camera.

Here's what you need to do next:
Try to work things out with the seller. If you don't hear back by Oct 20, 2011, you can escalate this case to eBay Customer Support.

What you should know:
This case will automatically close on Nov 11, 2011 if the case is not escalated.

Details you've provided:
Problem: The item is not as described
You have already contacted the seller through eBay Messages
You paid on Sep 11, 2011
The item is fake
The seller has responded to you
The seller tried or is trying to help you with the problem
We can share your phone number with the seller.

Additional information:
"I have told the seller that the item is not as described. It has fake Google Android operating system I know this due to the following reasons: - The operating does not even allow the user to enter Google account information in the Account Settings. Obviously an operating system is not Google Android if you can't even enter your Google account in the settings. - The Android Market is fake. It has some Chinese apps and does not even have basic apps such as Skype, MSN and Yahoo messenger that can be found in the real Android Market. Other than that many other features can be easily discerned as fake. I told the seller about this problem almost immediately after receiving the item and told him I want a full refund. He said he will try to solve this problem for me but has not really done anything concrete in trying to do so. I have tried to work with the seller but now I feel he is wasting my time. I feel like I have been scammed with a pirated product. In fact I find it hard to believe that eBay is allowing this seller to sell pirated products. I am not willing to let even a cent of my money go to waste and I want a full refund. If the seller wants the item back he is going to have to pay me for return shipping first. Whatever his policies may be it does not justify him selling me a pirated product, which is illegal. However, as long as I get my money back I will not turn this into a legal issue against the seller or eBay. As I understand according to the eBay Buyer Protection I should get my full refund within 10 days. If this is not done I will report this matter to consumer protection agencies such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB). For now I trust you to handle the matter swiftly. To summarize, I want a full refund and I am not going to pay for return shipping because I have been sold a pirated product. I believe upholding the law is more important than upholding any policies made by the seller, and false advertising or being an accessory to it are criminal offenses. The least the seller and/or eBay can do is not have any payments incurred on the buyer. Thank you."

You asked for:
A full refund

Remember, you can always check the status of your case in the Resolution Center.”

After contacting eBay Buyer Protection I let the seller know that a case had been opened against him. I continued to communicate with the eBay seller and tried to convince him that he should give me all my money back otherwise he may have to suffer dire consequences.

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Next post -->: Telling Seller About eBay Buyer Protection Case

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Warning Seller About eBay Buyer Protection

2011-12-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

Warning the eBay seller about eBay Buyer Protection was not a nice thing to do but it had to be done. So I tried to write as politely and clearly as possible, presenting the seller with an exact plan of action:

“Hello my friend in China. :-)

I appreciate you trying to solve this problem for me. Here is my idea:

First you send me full refund of $72.58 to my PayPal account.

After that if you want me to return the item to you then you have to put $15 more in my same PayPal account for return shipping. After that I can return the item to you (I will try to return whole item including tablet, original box and accessories).

After that in future if I want a replacement I will do a new purchase. Because right now it is better for me to get a full refund since item was not as described in your ad listing.

So right now the idea is that you send me $72.58 to my PayPal account by end of coming Monday. Because if you don't give me full refund by end of Monday then I will contact eBay and they will help me get the refund, because there is a deadline of when I can contact eBay for Buyer Protection so I want to contact them on Tuesday if you don't give me the refund by end of Monday. So please you refund $72.58 to my PayPal account in 3 days, better for both of us if you do this so I get my money back and you do not get banned or bad feedback on eBay. Also I am NOT going to send you back the item right now first you refund all my money! So now first you send me full refund on PayPal then let me know okay?

Pay $72.58 to PayPal account before Tuesday October 11, 2011 or I report this problem to eBay and maybe they ban you.

Thank you. :-)”

Well, that was as nice as I could be considering that I had been sold a fake/pirated Android tablet. Unfortunately the seller decided to share ideas of his own instead of complying with my plan of action by writing the following reply:

“Hello, thanks for your kind reply. The address are correct it is an industrial area. Could we refund you when we receive the tablet pc?

If you send back cost a lot so how about you keeping it we can refund you half as an compensate.”

The tablet was useless to me; I was not willing to settle for anything less than getting a full refund! So I contacted eBay in hopes to get my money back through the eBay Buyer Protection policy.

<-- Previous post: Getting eBay Seller to Refund All Money
Next post -->: Contacting eBay Buyer Protection

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Getting eBay Seller to Refund All Money

2011-12-01T16:14:00.000-08:00

Realizing that I did not want to get a replacement for the tablet being sold as a WonderMedia WM8650, Flytouch, SuperPad and ePad I wrote to the eBay seller:

“Listen, I know it is WM8650, I know it is 7 inches, and I know it is 4GB storage, but there are many tablets like that so what is the MODEL NUMBER? For example, it can be the BLY-706v1, APEX, WMS8125B Eken M009s, or some other model number. All of these have WM8650, 7 inches screen, and 4GB storage, so which one is the one you sent me or is it some other model number? Really when you sell something you should give model number this is basic information to know what you are selling. Maybe you can ask the manufacturer for exact model number.

Also I'd like you to pay me the return shipping now of $14. You can send it to my PayPal account. I will not be paying you anything more even when you send the replacement, not even for the shipping. You have to pay for all shipping. If you can do this then okay otherwise I will just use my eBay Buyer Protection to get all my money back and eBay might take action against your account as a bad eBay seller.

So it's not that difficult to understand: Tell me the exact model number, send me $14 on PayPal, and we still have a deal. Also your China address is very long and it did not map on Google Maps are you sure it is correct?”

Here is the eBay seller’s reply:

“Hello Friend,

Please be ease. I want to solve for you asap so could you send back for your refund or replacement? I have given you the address. Tell me your idea.”

The last line was kind of interesting. Tell him my idea? He seemed to ask me this question a lot, especially right after I had told him my ideas! I guess I could try to lay out a specific plan of action so he could understand that I wanted to get things done and have this matter resolved as soon as possible rather than just share ideas with him.

I read up on the eBay Buyer Protection policies and felt that I could utilize this eBay service to my advantage. The protection policy was going to expire 45 days after the date of purchase so I felt that I should use this service while I am still eligible for it. From what I understood, if a matter is not resolved between a buyer and seller on eBay and the buyer reports this to eBay Buyer Protection then eBay may issue a full refund including original shipping cost to the buyer. I figured that I should try to get my money back one way or another, so I gave the seller a fair warning by explaining my “idea” in detail in the next message.

<-- Previous post: Confusion About WM8650 Model Number
Next post -->: Warning Seller About eBay Buyer Protection

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Confusion About WM8650 Tablet Model Number

2011-11-25T16:11:00.000-08:00

As I had explained earlier, it was critical for me to know which model WM8650 tablet I had so I could try to upgrade the ROM or OS (operating system) to Uberoid. Unlike other WonderMedia WM8650, SuperPad, ePad and Flytouch tablets, this one had nothing written on the manual, packaging or on the tablet itself. So I wrote to the eBay seller:

“Hi. If you check on eBay/forums you will see there are more than 10 different types of tablets all using the WM8650 and they all have different model numbers. Sometimes they will have the model number on the box, or on the manual, or back of tablet, but yours don't. So you should tell me the exact tablet model number, not just WM8650, just like you can not call all laptops "pentium" you have to know the model number like Compaq n610, Lenovo Thinkcentre, etc. Just ask the manufacturer for exact model number or closest match it should not be so hard in fact you should be providing this information to every buyer.

Yes, please refund the return shipping fee of $14 and also confirm your full shipping address. Can you send return shipping fee now? Also, you took more than a week to reply to me this time, so please reply more quickly within 1-2 days to show good customer service. This tablet is just lying in my room in the box I am not using it and want to send it back to you as soon as possible so please reply quickly. Thanks.”

Now the next response I got from the eBay seller, it almost made me laugh!

“Hello,

Oh thanks for your remind. We have several type of WM8650. This is the 7 INCHES and we also have the 8 inches and they are different storage.

And you want to send back to me we refund you the shipping postage but when we resend you again who pays for the shipping fee? If you willing, please return it for a replacement. Please don’t forget to mark your ebay ID, and item number on a stick to returned package so that we can check the information quickly and process replacement. Please return it to the following address…” (seller provided a very long and odd Chinese address that did not map to even any near degree of accuracy on Google Maps).

So at this point I felt I was dealing with someone who either thought that I was stupid or really didn’t know even the basics of the product that he had sold to me. I decided it is better to just get my money back than trying to get a replacement and still not knowing what product I had. I wrote to the eBay seller about the actions that I could take to get my money back, including a direct refund as well as contacting eBay regarding the eBay Buyer Protection service in case the seller does not collaborate.

<-- Previous post: Getting WM8650 Tablet Replaced
Next post -->: Getting eBay Seller to Refund All Money

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Getting WM8650 Tablet Replaced

2011-11-20T16:08:00.000-08:00

After more than a week without response from the eBay seller I wrote to him again, this time proposing that perhaps he’d be more open to replacing the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet instead of issuing me a full refund (although I’m not sure why I did this since the product he was selling was not what I wanted anyway):

“Hi. It has been some days and you have not responded. Can you help me fix it or not? If yes great if not then I have a new offer for you:

You can replace this tablet with a new one. This way you will only have to refund $14 for return shipping and you can keep my original payment of $72.58. So you will still keep most of my money. I will only send back the tablet (not original box and accessories) and you can also send me only the tablet (without original box and accessories) that way it will cost less to ship. You must send me new and tested tablet, ok? So what do you think, does this sound good? 2 things (free and easy) you must agree to though before we do replacement:

1. You must tell me the exact model number of this tablet. Not just general like "flytouch" or "wm8650" I mean exact model number, because even the fake android tablets like this one have a model number and I want to accurately know exactly what I am buying before you send it this time.

2. Please try to send download link for the original rom file (that can be booted from sd card). After I receive the new tablet I am going to upgrade it with uberoid, because that is a much better rom. In case upgrade does not work I might have to put original rom on it again.

Please try to do both these things because it will help us both because then I can fix the tablet more easily if something goes wrong. So do you want to do replacement/exchange of only tablet (without original box and accessories) so you can only refund $14 return shipping and keep rest of my payment? If so please tell me the information I asked for and also confirm your shipping address. Thank you I hope this is good solution for both of us! Also please try to reply more quickly this time.”

Here is the eBay seller’s response:

“Dear friend,

You can check all the tablet on eBay. This item is WM8650 the motherboard is WM8650. We name all the tablet according to the motherboard and you say you send back just the tablet it is ok but make sure the tablet wraps well so it will not be damaged. About the shipping postage we will send to you again after we receive it for free and should I pay for the postage you send back to me?”

Oh great, here we go again, this guy did not even know what model tablet he was selling! Was it even a real WonderMedia WM8650, Flytouch, ePad or Superpad (these are all names the seller tried to use in the product description)? I mean I could’ve tried to fix it myself if only I knew what I was fixing. Other messages followed in trying to clear up this silly confusion.

<-- Previous post: Getting Refund from eBay Seller for WM8650 Tablet
Next post -->: Confusion About WM8650 Tablet Model Number

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Getting Refund from eBay Seller for WM8650 Tablet

2011-11-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

I sent a message to the eBay seller asking him for a full money back refund for the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet (aka ePad, SuperPad, Flytouch) that he had sold to me with the fake Android 2.2 operating system:

“Hi. Now it is not even powering on just the color of power light changes the screen doesn't turn on. Please confirm your shipping address I want to return this item and get my full money back. The item is not in original condition I tried to use it and it just stopped working, but I have not opened it or anything all the hardware is still in original condition maybe some problem with the software. So since item was not as described I can give you 2 options:

Option 1: I return the item and you give me full refund including the cost for return shipping. Refund will be $86 ($72 sale price + $14 for return shipping).

Option 2: You can only refund me sale price or do something else, but then I will leave negative eBay feedback for you saying "item was not as described." I'm sorry but this is the truth! Only way to stop my negative feedback is to give me $86 refund so I know you have not wasted my money.

Please reply soon with your shipping address so I can return the item quickly. Thank you.”

The next reply from the eBay seller actually made me happy, because I thought at least I’d get my money back:

“Hi, I got your idea but could you take a video of you using the tablet PC? If it is really bad we can accept your idea, we can refund you the price+shipping fee when we get the item.

Is this ok? Really hope we can solve for you very soon and if you have the telephone I can call you. Keep me informed.”

I provided the seller with my telephone number, but little did I know that he would disappear for over a week!

<-- Previous post: WM8650 ROM Upload “Fails All the Time” says eBay Seller
Next post -->: Getting WM8650 Tablet Replaced

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

WM8650 ROM Upload "Fails All the Time" Says eBay Seller

2011-11-10T16:00:00.000-08:00

In the hopes that I could upgrade the operating system (also known as ROM or OS) to Uberoid on my Wondermedia WM8650 tablet I had written a message to the eBay seller:

“Okay, I will try to work with you and solve this problem. If you can give me the product's exact model number and a download link to create a bootable SD card for reinstalling the operating system then it might work. Yes I have gone to the Market but it is fake, I need the real one. The whole operating system is fake I will probably have to upgrade the operating system eventually to Uberoid or Rudroid to get the real Market, if you can give me a link to upgrade that would be excellent.”

In a nutshell, I could solve the problem myself if only this eBay seller would tell me the model number of the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet that he had sold to me (or Superpad, Flytouch, ePad, or whatever else he wanted to call it). Here is the response that I got from the seller:

“Thanks for you. We are trying to upload it because it is so large it fails all the time but we are trying to do all the time. Do not worry.”

So basically the seller was telling me to continue waiting. I was surprised that he or the manufacturer did not already have an active download link that they could just refer me to. Meanwhile I continued my own tinkering with the tablet’s software, and in the middle something happened which started to make the touchscreen act bizarre (I thought it was phantom clicking or perhaps a virus or online invasion, but now I realize most likely it was a problem with the script in the OS that does not match with the type of touchscreen chip code that these tablets have). Eventually the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet got totally bricked and the screen would not come on. I told the eBay seller about this and tried giving him some options to resolve issues in my next message.

<-- Previous post: Finding Out Which WM8650 Tablet Model You Have
Next post -->: Getting Refund from eBay Seller for WM8650 Tablet

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Finding Out Which WM8650 Tablet Model You Have

2011-11-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

While waiting for the eBay seller to contact the manufacturer and write back to me I began doing my own research on the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet which some sellers also try to sell as Flytouch, Superpad or ePad. Turns out that there are a whole bunch of different tablets being sold with the Via or WonderMedia WM8650 processor. Calling a tablet a “WM8650” is like calling a laptop a “Pentium” (while the information is accurate it is hardly specific). Here are all the different tablet model numbers I found that use the WM8650 processor:

E16 5cun1603, M009s, WinPad-C07, EPAD GW-70, MIDV7, M010s, TomTec, M009D, E18 7cun1603, MID V7, Maylong M-250, Intertoys NL, Fview, MID-703, MID-710, ILC PC Tab701, KLD-MID701, ViaPad M7, M010s, Via WM8650, M768A, Leader V70, M70007T, EPAD GW-707, MID-E18, ATF3416-7, BLY-706v1, APEX, WMS8125B Eken M009s, W0702 V80 KD EPAD, CEM8650702, MID-721, BLY-706v3, M009D, Xiron, IMITO Im7, Bart Smith, M003s, Innovatek MID, M012s, BLY-806, M80003W, PC-802, MID M806S, ED99 8cum1603, ED99 8cun8900, Ricatech RATAB, and M013S.

Phew, what a long list! Now if you are trying to find out which WM8650 tablet you have, here is a “chart” that has different WonderMedia WM8650 tablet model names arranged by features such as screen size (7”, 8”, 9.7” and 10.1”), power LED color (green or blue), Vibration capability, and 2-point touch capability.

5-INCH MODELS:

E16 5cun1603 – 5” screen (pretty much only model in market with that screen size).

7-INCH MODELS:

M009s, WinPad-C07, EPAD GW-70, MIDV7 (w/ blue LED) – 7” screen, blue or green LED, not vibrate, no 2-point touch. Also if it has green headphone port it is probably one of these models since the others only have black audio ports (these models can have green OR black).
M010s – 7” screen, blue LED, does not vibrate or have 2-point touch.
Tomtec (new version), M009D – 7” screen, green LED, vibrates but no 2-point touch.
E18 7cum1603 – 7” screen, blue LED, vibrates and has 2-point touch.
M009s, MID V7 (w/ green LED), Maylong M-250, Intertoys NL, Fview, Tomtec (old version), MID-703, MID-710, ILC PC Tab701, KLD-MID701, ViaPad M7, M010s, Via WM8650, M768A, Leader V70, M70007T, EPAD GW-707, MID-E18, ATF3416-7, CEM8650702, MID-721, BLY-706v3, Xiron, IMITO Im7, Bart Smith, TomTec – All of these have 7” screen, Green LED, and they vibrate as well as are 2-point touch capable.
BLY-706v1, APEX, WMS8125B Eken M009s, W0702 V80 KT EPAD – These all have 7” screen and green LED and are 2-point touch capable but do NOT vibrate.

8-INCH MODELS:

M003s, Innovatek MID 8, M012s 8”, Via WM8650 8”, BLY-806 8” – 8” screen, blue LED, does not vibrate or have 2-point touch.
M80003W, PC-802 – 8” screen, green LED, 2-point touch but no vibration.
MID M806S – 8” screen, green LED, has 2-point touch and can vibrate.

There are some other 8” screen models that have discrepancies in features, such as ED99 8cun1603 and ED99 8cun8900.

9.7-INCH MODELS:

M008S – Pretty much the only model with that screen size using the WonderMedia WM8650 chip unless newer models have come out. This model has blue LED, 2-point touch but does not vibrate.

10-INCH MODELS:

These deviate in features but include the Ricatech RATAB and largest-sized TomTec.

10.1-INCH MODELS:

M013S – This model has blue LED, 2-point touch but does not vibrate.

Furthermore, some other blogs and forums have instructions and download links for installing a new operating system on it called Uberoid (in mobile technology the operating system or OS is also sometimes called the ROM). Uberoid is basically a fake hybrid version of Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Android 3 (Honeycomb). Also if you have an Android tablet that has features common with many other tablets this may not be such a big problem because the ROMs for them are often common too (ie. you may be able to use the same ROM on all of them). Perhaps this was the solution to my problem? Maybe I could upgrade my WM8650 tablet to the Uberoid operating system, which would hopefully be better than the Chinese preinstalled ROM? I continued my research and in the meantime also got the next message from the eBay seller.

<-- Previous post: Fixing Android Market on WM8650 Tablet
Next post -->: WM8650 ROM Upload “Fails All the Time” says eBay Seller

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Fixing Android Market on WM8650 Tablet

2011-11-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

The seller was under the incorrect impression that the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet (aka Flytouch, Superpad, ePad) had the real Android Market. In truth this was a Chinese apps market and in my view calling it an Android Market was an act of piracy and misleading the buyer. I wrote to the eBay seller trying to explain what he was selling and wondered if he had a solution:

“Hi,

Well, this is a fake/pirated product. It does not have the REAL Android 2.2 lots of things are missing (original operating system is missing). Also the Android Market is FAKE it does not have apps I want that are in the REAL Android Market. If I say I will give you a Seiko watch, then give you a fake watch even if I write on it it is Seiko, how will you feel? Same way you said you will give me Android Tablet PC, it is not that, and you saying it is doesn't make it the real thing.

For the time being if you can give me the exact model name of this product I can try to fix it (it does not seem to be the model names you put in the item title). If you have a way I can COMPLETELY ERASE/FORMAT the product operating system and data and then put a better compatible ROM or operating system, then I can try to make it work, although still this product is not what you described. Now it has lots of bugs so I will have to reinstall operating system from total blank. Please send specific links for downloads/instructions if you can tell how to do this, otherwise I will have to dispute further. Thank you.”

Once again I immediately got the “Seller is out of office” auto response on eBay messages page. When the seller replied later on his response was somewhat a general customer service type response with no clear steps that I could follow to solve this problem:

“Hi friend,

Please do not worry we will solve this for you asap and we have asked the manufacturer to upload the software to the website so we will give you the link asap.

The android market surely you can upload a lot of things so have you enter into it?”

The good news was that the eBay seller was going to contact the manufacturer on my behalf, so there was a chance that the manufacturer would understand my problem. The bad news was that the seller was still trying to justify the preinstalled Chinese apps market as being a legitimate version or suitable alternate to the genuine Android Market! So in my next email I showed some patience and told the seller that I will try to work with him, hoping that the manufacturer could help me out.

<-- Previous post: Fake Android Market on WM8650 Tablet
Next post -->: Finding Out Which WM8650 Tablet Model You Have

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Fake Android Market on WM8650 Tablet

2011-10-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

The first thing I realized about the WonderMedia WM8650 tablet was that the Android Market was fake (this tablet is also sometimes falsely sold as Flytouch, Superpad and/or ePad). It had very few apps (in fact I don’t recall being able to find any of the ones that I wanted such as Gmail, Skype, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger). I was also suspicious about the 2-point touch screen since all the apps that I initially used did not allow me to pinch zoom (later I found the hardware does allow 2-point touch but is not compatible with many apps). So here is what I wrote to the seller expressing my dismay:

“Hi. This item is not as described because of the following reasons:

- It does not have the REAL Android Market and does not allow me to link a Google account to the device. I need some way of installing many new software on it, NOT your FAKE Android Market because it does not have the programs that I want.

- It does not let me pinch zoom. You said it is 2-Point touch screen but this does not seem to be true.

Please tell me SOON how to fix these 2 problems. Otherwise I will have to give a very negative eBay feedback because item is not as you have described. I hope we can solve these problems.

Thank you.”

After sending the eBay message I immediately got a few auto responses saying that the seller is out of office. They read:

“Dear customers:

This is an auto reply, I received your email. As we will be day off at weekends, your message will probably be replied on next week. I will deal with your problem when come back for work, please check your message box later. Thanks for your understanding. Have a nice weekend!

ps: in order to provide you better customer service we set this automatic message to tell you what happened and we will give you solution for your problem when we are back.”

“Oh boy,” I thought, “What have I gotten myself into?” I did receive a response the very next day though. Seeing the message in my eBay Inbox I was temporarily relieved, although the joy lasted only a few seconds and you can understand why after reading what the seller wrote:

“Hello friend,

When you enter the Android market you should create an account and must do again and again. So when you use it you can enter into and download the software.

About the two point, when you take photos you surely can use your two fingers to make it large or small we have a test before we send out.

So could you tell me more about it then I can feedback the points to the manufacture is this ok? Do not worry we surely solve for your problems.”

I realized that perhaps the seller did not even realize that he was selling a fake/pirated product, and this was going to be a big problem. Rather than the seller educating the buyer, I would have to do the reverse! Read what happened next as I attempted to do this.

<-- Previous post: Real Deal Behind Fake Android Tablet on eBay
Next post --> Fixing Android Market on WM8650

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Real Deal Behind Fake Android Tablet on eBay

2011-10-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

The title of the eBay item was “7" Google Android 2.2 Tablet PC WM8650 800MHZ HDD 4GB WiFi Flytouch 3 SuperPad ePad G-Sensor Flash10.1 C1212.” As you will learn, this title really does not tell you much about what is being sold since a variety of products are being sold with these brand names and attributes linked to them. Here are the specifications that were mentioned on the item page for what I paid approximately $72 for on eBay with notes describing what I really got:

Operation System: Google Android 2.2 – Although when you power on the tablet it does say Android 2.2 (Froyo) and a build number at the start-up screen, the operating system is not the real genuine Android. It is in fact some other very poor operating system being sold under the name of Android, making it a pirated OS.

LCD: high-definition WVGA wide-screen, 800*480 (16:9) – The screen quality and resolution was actually not that bad, but I don’t think it was high-definition. I’m confused because the description says high-definition but also says WVGA which I think is a lower resolution.

CPU: WonderMedia WM8650, high-performance 800MHZ CPU +400MHZ DSP, supports Flash10.1 – I don’t know whether this information is correct or not. I don’t see why they’d lie because a WM8650 processor is nothing to boast about. The tablet did support Flash video although it was a trial version of Flash.

Memory: 256MB DDRII – Information is unverified.

Storage Device: 4GB internal, support external TF card, maximum capacity of 32GB – The tablet did have 4GB internal memory and the micro-SD card slot did work. The maximum capacity I used was 4GB for the micro-SD but it may well support higher capacities.

G-sensor: 4-dimensional gravity sensing – I rotated the screen 360 degrees and the display adjusted after showing an upward arrow sign showing which side the sensor is detecting as the top side. Did not test out the G-sensor with games.

3G: TD-CDMA: TD368; WCDMA: Huawei E220/E230/E160X/E169G/E1750, Alcatel X060S/X200; CDMA2000: Bora 9380/AWIT-U8 – Information unverified since these features were not important to me at the time.

Screen: 7" LCD widescreen – The screen does measure 7” diagonally. However since it is a wide-screen aspect ratio you get less viewable area (it is a thin and long rectangular display).

High-sensitive 2 points resistive touch-screen – The 2-points touch-screen works with some photos for pinch zooming but does not seem to work with all apps.

WiFi and Internet: WIFI: IEEE802.11b/g/n wireless network; Cable Internet: 10/100M connector – I did not have a problem staying connected with a decent signal. I have a D-Link wireless 300N router.

Camera: 0.3 megapixel camera – Camera worked but I’ve heard it doesn’t work for streaming (mobile video chatting on Skype, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, etc.).

Audio Support: MP2, MP3, WAV, AAC, WMA – Ran into problems before I could test this out although the audio streamed from the Internet worked fine.

Video Support: [MPEG1/2/4,MJPG,H263](1280×720) resolution, H264 (720× 480) resolution – Did not watch any internal videos on it.

Picture Support: JPG, JPEG, BMP, PNG – I viewed some images on the Internet and those were displaying fine.

Language: English (U.S.), English (UK), French (France), Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Portugal), Danish, Norwegian, Russian, Polish, Turkish and Greek, etc. – I only used US English.

Certificate: FCC CE RoHS WiFi – This certification is engraved at the back of the tablet.

Softwares: Browser, Email, Image-Viewer, My video, My Music, Camera, YouTube, Wi-Fi setting, App Market, etc. – This was a major problem since most of the apps are fake/pirated. I was able to install Opera Mini by transferring the .APK file through the micro-SD card and that worked very well. If you buy one of these fake Android tablets on eBay that are usually shipped from China I suggest you install another Internet browser on it because the preinstalled one is of very poor quality. The preinstalled browser and pirated YouTube apps lagged in playing flash videos but they played very well through Opera Mini.

Speaker/MIC: 3.5mm headphone jack, High-quality stereo loud speakers, Built-in microphone – These were all there but when you hold the tablet horizontally to watch videos both of the speakers are on one side which I didn’t like since then there is no left and right speaker.

Battery: Li-Polymer, 1800mAh; Last time above 10 hours; Video play lasts 4 hours – Perhaps last a little less but it is a manageable situation as long as the life of the battery does not deteriorate with usage over time.

Next post -->: Fake Android Market on WM8650 Tablet

Read full: An eBay Buyer’s True Story

Rediscovering Old Home Movies

2010-07-31T19:40:00.000-07:00

Share Your Memories Over The Internet!

Making home movies has become one the most common hobbies nowadays, but just a few years earlier it was considered a luxury to have your own video camera. Compared to today’s nifty flash drive video recorders and DVD handy-cams, these early predecessors were heavy and bulky devices that recorded poorly on VHS cassettes. However, my fascination with video cameras has always remained ceaseless because they allow me to capture the most precious moments of my life.

Being a true home video enthusiast, I have been constantly learning and adapting as technology has gradually evolved in the home movies industry. I do enjoy using the new and improved cameras, but recently I have developed a new facet of my hobby. I had realized that my old home movies were becoming obsolete because I hardly watched VHS tapes anymore, so I decided to get a TV card installed on my computer. The TV card allows me to connect my old camera to my computer and digitally record from VHS tapes. As a result, I now take delight in managing my personal project of transferring my memorable videos on old VHS tapes onto my computer’s hard disk drive. It has taken me a while to learn this process of converting movies to digital format, but upgrading my old home videos is a fun extra-curricular activity that allows me to relive the good times from my past while availing the conveniences of modern technology.

Converting my VHS tape recordings to digital format has benefited me in many ways. Apart from being able to access my old home movies conveniently through my computer, I can now also share age-old memorabilia with friends and family using video-sharing sites such as YouTube. It is so much fun to have a laugh with friends over the internet and read comments on the videos I made with them during our childhood. I have a large collection of home movies that still need to be converted so these days you’ll always find me tweaking with my old VHS camera and computer settings during my spare time.

"Show Me The Money!"

2010-07-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

Getting Paid More Increases Motivation.

Money has been recognized as one of the many factors that affect our motivation. Finance and Psychology are usually treated as two very separate fields of study, but they frequently intermingle in everyday life because money affects a large portion of our behavior and mentality.

Money is a very significant part of modern living. Although the value of money varies for different people, it is generally valued as an object of prestige and survival that can be applied for uses of leisure as well as necessity. Hence it is something that most people either desperately need or wish to possess. The fact that most people switch jobs because of better pay statistically demonstrates just how much money affects a person's choice of work.

In conclusion, it is reasonable to say that money is an effective motivator at work. Money is a means to fulfill our need for survival as well as our want for leisure. Whereas most people wish to also enjoy their work, money acts as a primary stimulus in terms of making people feel rewarded for their services. If your priority in life is to live the way you want then finding a job that gives you financial independence has got to be your first step towards freedom. Of course, nothing beats making money doing something that you love and I'm glad that I am able to use writing as a decent source of income.

Accepting The Present

2010-05-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

Live Life Now!

Over the years, I have realized that life is a collection of moments rather than a grand plan. What we plan rarely happens, and even though we may have done quite well for ourselves, we always tend to have a certain irritation about things not going as we had planned.

People often tend to define certain rules and boundaries of behavior as a framework within which to live their lives. In contradiction, living for the moment is about taking things day by day and being happy with whatever comes your way. Even if you have long-term plans in life, you can live for the moment by breaking your plan into more short-term and attainable goals. Living for the moment teaches you to take everything step by step.

Planning too far ahead often leads to panic and disappointment. It causes anxiety over things you have little control of in your current situation. Instead, try to see what opportunities life has to offer now and don’t be afraid to follow your heart. Life is a gift and I have become a happier person by accepting the present!

A Passion For Writing

2010-05-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

Why I Love To Write!

The act of writing can be described in various ways. For some it is a method of communication, whereas others may think of it as a form of business or creativity. What draws me most towards writing is that it is so diverse in its motives, methods and results. Although it is necessary to follow the proper rules of spelling and grammar, a good writer explores the written word as a form of art where the importance of expression often precedes all else.

Being someone who writes for his own enjoyment, the meaning of success as a writer changes for me. Although I do frequently receive comments from others and take them as constructive criticism, writing is primarily something that I do for myself. This in return elevates my level of enjoyment, because I do not consider writing to be an obligation. Instead, it is an opportunity to explore and express that I take pleasure in very much.

When I tell someone that I am good at writing, or that I write at all, I don’t necessarily have to support my statement with examples of my work. Instead, I tell them how writing brings joy to me. To me, being a good writer is not about earning a lot of money or becoming famous, it is about having a good attitude towards what you do. If someone has become rich and famous through writing but does not enjoy doing it then I would say that they are unsuccessful as a writer. In contrast, I would say that a struggling writer or even a pre-school student who is learning to write the alphabet is a more successful writer if they enjoy what they do. This is why sometimes I don’t even need to tell a person that I am good at writing; just telling them that I write at all is enough to feel honorable and honest about it.

Writing is not just something that I do, it is also a part of who I am. The fact that I take my writing personally often leads to problems with accepting criticism. I take negative comments very much to heart and do wish that people would learn to appreciate rather than criticize. Of course, when trying to apply your writing for academic or professional purposes you do usually have to listen to what others say. I feel that this does help me grow as a writer, but I am always very careful to not lose my own identity in the process of listening to and trying to please others.

One of the attributes of writing that I am most fond of is that it allows me to work from scratch. It is this origination of ideas that appeals to me, which is why any piece of writing is most fascinating to me in its early stages. When I write, I want other people or things to influence me as little as possible. Instead, I try to gather my own thoughts, observations and interpretations about the topic I am writing about and make my work as original as it can be. I can’t say that there is a particular person that has influenced my work. I do appreciate reading other people’s work, but becoming a writer myself is something that I have explored on my own and developed my own passion for.

I really am not choosy when it comes to my work so I can’t say that there is any particular type of writing that is my favorite. I keep my writing as diverse as possible because I want to explore more aspects of it. I feel that writing is a very vast field and should not be narrowed down to any specific type. I have tried many different types of writing in the past such as essays, poetry, copy writing, technical writing, blogging, reviews, content development and script writing. I have also written on various different topic categories including humanities, arts, business, philosophy, psychology, and history. Even after discovering these different types of writing genres I still feel that I need to continue exploring and improving my skills. Writing is a wonderful activity and I enjoy the process of writing just as much as the end result.