eBay Laser Pointer Scam Exposed

The same scam is based on the type of light given by the laser pointer, the way in which power is measured, changes in laser pointer and ignorant sellers and / or dishonest.

Type of light

These lasers are advertised as green lasers and should give the green light and only green light. Which as always is not the case. Virtually all of presumably high-power green laser pointers on ebay emit a combination of green light with a light of wavelength 532 nm and infrared light with wavelength of 808nm and 1064nm.

All original, high power green laser pointers have a built in filter that prevents them from emitting infrared light. The laser pointers on eBay are missing these filters which have been removed or deliberately manufactured with out. Removing the infrared filter from a laser pointer increases its power and makes it much more dangerous.

Take a 240mW laser pointer commonly found on eBay as an example. This laser pointer is likely to have only 40mW of green light with the remaining 200mW of light being infrared light. Customers pay for laser pointers at 240 nm of green light and only get laser pointers with 40mW of light. Effectively cheating them of 84% of their money.

The other problem with missing infrared filters is the lasers are very dangerous. The infrared light beam extends as a torch with respect to green light that is in a narrow beam. The green light being visible can be avoided, but the infrared light is invisible because it can not be avoided. Most of the safety glazing which protect from light green are completely transparent to infrared light. This means that a person wearing safety glasses and the use of one of these lasers is less likely to avoid the beam and much more likely to suffer damage to the eyes.

Measuring Power

The power of most laser pointers will peak in the first seconds and then stabilized at a level well below the peak. Reputable sellers will give the average power as the power advertised. The other Ebay sellers use the peak power as the power advertised. This is very misleading, because it deceives people into thinking that the laser is much more powerful than it really is.

Changes

These laser pointers are only designed to handle power from about 5 mW to 10 mW. The sellers modify the laser pointers by increasing the power from the batteries to the laser diode so that the diode emits a laser beam more powerful. The problem with this that the diode is not built to handle the higher power and will have a much shorter life cycle and can burn. Many ebay lasers lose power or burn out completely within hours or even minutes. The objective in laser pointer the acrylic coatings are also not designed for power and probably damaged with reduced performance or fail completely.

These eBay sellers are not experts in laser and usually have little or no understanding of laser pointers they sell. This means they are not able to provide expert advice or recommendations and the level of support and service they provide is minimal. Their general response to customers when there are problems with laser pointers is to ship them back for replacement. Given that the cost of the laser is no longer so the cost of sending it, the majority of customers to reduce leakage at that point.

Possible remedies

Laser pointers with powers over 5mW are classified as dangerous goods are not allowed on eBay. If you have been cheated by one of these vendors, you can threaten to report them to eBay and may have their account suspended or even closed.

If you paid with PayPal, you can also open a dispute for goods not as described. The dispute can not be decided in your favor, but most sellers are willing at this stage to issue a refund. If you paid by credit card, you can start a new charge with your credit card company in a similar way, with a greater chance of success than PayPal.

The last option is to bluff. They argued that eBay will contact the police and the government department in charge of consumer affairs in their country if you do not issue a refund. Considering that they are selling an item prohibited by eBay and illegal to sell (legal to possess) in a number of countries, this bluff is very effective.

The article is courtesy of Dragonlasers - No 1 lasers, laser pointer and green laser online store ...