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lazer155

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 5, 2010
150
0
I got a recommendation from someone on the forum here, in one of my threads, to buy a new lcd+digitizer for my iphone 4s from this place (my digitizer is cracked, I dropped it):

http://www.etradesupply.com/iphone-4s-lcd-screen-and-digitizer-assembly-with-frame.html

However going back through my thread, I see that his post was deleted and my quote of his post says "removed spam link from quote". The etrade link is gone. If a moderator removed the link, labeling it as spam, does that mean I should not trust that website/should not buy my lcd from them? Has anyone dealt with etradesupply before?

This is my original thread where I asked how to repair it, I quoted him in post #12: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1429282/

If the etradesupply place is a bad place to buy from, where do you guys think I should by the screen from besides ifixit.com?
 
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killerrobot

macrumors 68020
Jun 7, 2007
2,239
3
127.0.0.1
It seems like like a legit site. The reviewer was mad because of shipping from China and said he didn't know it was in Hong Kong before he ordered. All that info (including contact) is at the bottom of the homepage.

If you order, I'd make sure to pay with a credit card so in case it never does arrive you can just call your CC company and charge back the amount. Also be weary of return shipping if the part doesn't work or arrives DOA because I'm sure you'll have to pay the return shipping fee.

If you can find it any where else in the USA (I'm assuming you're in the states) for a similar price it might be worth the extra money buying it there and avoid any potential shipping fiasco.

EDIT: There seems to be quite a few for sell on Amazon for half the price as the ETradeSupply. However, their ratings aren't so hot either due to quality control issues.
 
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lazer155

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 5, 2010
150
0
It seems like like a legit site. The reviewer was mad because of shipping from China and said he didn't know it was in Hong Kong before he ordered. All that info (including contact) is at the bottom of the homepage.

If you order, I'd make sure to pay with a credit card so in case it never does arrive you can just call your CC company and charge back the amount. Also be weary of return shipping if the part doesn't work or arrives DOA because I'm sure you'll have to pay the return shipping fee.

If you can find it any where else in the USA (I'm assuming you're in the states) for a similar price it might be worth the extra money buying it there and avoid any potential shipping fiasco.

EDIT: There seems to be quite a few for sell on Amazon for half the price as the ETradeSupply. However, their ratings aren't so hot either due to quality control issues.

Yeah I'm in the states. I was worried about the etrade place not having the best customer support for returns due to poor quality. I wound up finding this site: http://www.etechparts.com/

I emailed them and they were really quick about getting back to me regarding them having the black iPhone 4s screens backordered. They won't have any until tuesday or wednesday next week, but I will be ordering there once they do. It was kind of interesting because they had 3 different quality LCD assemblies to choose from. None of the other sites had that (there really weren't that many sites with 4s LCDs, most seem to have iPhone 4 LCDs only). There's a 90 day warranty on the parts so if it is DOA, then the guy said he would gladly replace it. It was the most responsive site I have found so far to customer questions plus it's in Kansas so shipping should be quick. :)

I did see the ones on Amazon but, like you said, I was trying to avoid them because of the quality control issues the reviews mentioned.
 

ETS Int

Suspended
Jan 15, 2013
1
0
Hey guys, just came across your post here. In the future if you want to check the legitimacy of our site, please have a look at our youtube page, there's enough there to convince anyone we are who we say we are. I won't post the link cause i'm not sure if it's allowed, but just search etradesupply in youtube.

Our customer service is really good, though not perfect. We are in China so anytime you send anything we're probably sleeping, but we will get back to you the next day.

About prices, we QC all our parts twice before sending them out. And if it says OEM it's OEM. So always be suspicious if you see parts somewhere that are really cheap, they may be fake. All our parts are guaranteed as well.

We're currently working on opening up a warehouse in Dallas, and once this is operational, we will be able to provide a lot of parts for immediate shipping.
Check our website for updates about that.

Cheers
 

Jodles

macrumors regular
Dec 5, 2008
172
3
I've had two orders with them for parts for my iPhone 4, one included a battery which is a bit more tricky to ship, but they handled it with no problems whatsoever.

All parts had been packaged very well and it arrived surprisingly quickly (seeing as I'm on the other side of the globe!).

Support is quite quick too, as I was confused about some parts being *very* similar. Got a helpful response within a day.
 

flameproof

macrumors 6502a
Jan 14, 2011
615
18
They obviously sell counterfeits. I doubt you can buy original parts from Apple.

Counterfeit parts face following risks:

• Sub standard
• Confiscation by customs since the counterfeit parts are illegal in most countries.
 

Jodles

macrumors regular
Dec 5, 2008
172
3
They obviously sell counterfeits. I doubt you can buy original parts from Apple.

Counterfeit parts face following risks:

• Sub standard
• Confiscation by customs since the counterfeit parts are illegal in most countries.

Not sure how they obtain the parts, but everything I received and was labelled OEM was *identical* to the existing parts. And Norway's customs is really tough, but it got through fine and quickly.
 

LorenK

macrumors 6502
Dec 26, 2007
391
153
Illinois
They obviously sell counterfeits. I doubt you can buy original parts from Apple.

Counterfeit parts face following risks:

• Sub standard
• Confiscation by customs since the counterfeit parts are illegal in most countries.

And you know that how? Based on what I read here, Apple subcontracts for a number of its subassemblies in its devices, so the parts can be made by the OEM and sold as genuine because Apple subcontracted the parts to the manufacturer in the first place. Further, Apple does not generally sell internal parts itself with few exceptions, and certainly not subassemblies, so buying from a third party is the only alternative if you desire to repair an Apple product.

I would also note that there is a distinction between these internal subassemblies and "parts" that can be kept out as counterfeit. I think that what you're referring to is "Apple-certified" and from what I read, these are not Apple certified, merely subassemblies that fit Apple products. A risk to the buyer, but that's the market Apple has created by making repair a difficult task.

It would be nice if Apple did not view its products as essentially disposable and offered replacement parts for the internal subassemblies, but it doesn't and the only way to repair their products is to go to these alternative sources. If Apple certified their parts sourcing that would make things easier, but it hasn't, so we are all left with tracking down these parts from various sources which may or may not be reliable.
 

flameproof

macrumors 6502a
Jan 14, 2011
615
18
.....Apple subcontracts for a number of its subassemblies in its devices, so the parts can be made by the OEM and sold as genuine because Apple subcontracted the parts to the manufacturer in the first place....

Wrong. When you manufacture to whoever, not just Apple, you sign a NDA - None Disclosure Agreement. That is a standard procedure.

This prevents them certainly from selling to other parties. What they sell are copyright infringing COPIES that come from somewhere - but very unlikely from the same supplier.

Why? Just by common sense. The secondary market for parts is much smaller then the OEM supply into the full product. iPhone 5 is being produced 100,000 a day. Now, by common sense, if you make 100,000 of whatever a day for Apple - would you risk that relationship to sell 1000 a month to some obscure sources and face the risk being kicked out? And don't think Apple isn't checking the source of those parts that float around.

I think that what you're referring to is "Apple-certified" and from what I read, these are not Apple certified, merely subassemblies that fit Apple products.

Correct. It's not said that they MUST be of a lesser quality or that you can't live with that.

I recently bought a Lumia 800 LCD which looks optically the same. But it disintegrated after one day and needed some double sided tape to fix it. At 20% cost compare to the original part I don't mind to throw in a piece of tape.

Not sure how they obtain the parts, but everything I received and was labelled OEM was *identical* to the existing parts. And Norway's customs is really tough, but it got through fine and quickly.

The EU (I know, NO is not EU) has laws preventing parallel imports. You CAN import an Apple subparts legally as long as it doesn't show any marking (logos) that infringe Apples copyrights on the part or its packing. And if it does, things often slip through.
 
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