LM308 are most of the ebay chips fake?

[nicksorenson]

I recently stumbled across a Tar (Jerms) Rat clone and am sold on the LM308 chip after comparing to an OP07 in a Rat RI.

But... are the ones on ebay Fake? Here's what's in the Tar and I really like it!

[willienillie]

I haven't searched on Ebay in quite a while, but I would guess that most of the LM308s are probably fake.  My advice would be to avoid Ebay sellers located in or near China, also Amazon, Alibaba, AliExpress.  Small Bear has some 308s, and they don't sell fake parts.

[GGBB]

I have no idea. But 308s aren't that scarce, so I'm not sure why "most" ebay chips would be assumed to be fake. Note that 208s and 108s are the same chip at tighter specs - you may find them for cheaper than 308s.

[willienillie]

so I'm not sure why "most" ebay chips would be assumed to be fake.

Because the fakers like to flood outlets like Ebay with large numbers of listings, they tend to sell cheap so volume is their only chance at a decent profit.  I wouldn't say that most sellers are selling fakes, but maybe most listings are fakes, and could be all from the same source using multiple accounts.  But again, I haven't searched for them any time recently.  There are SO many fake JRC4558s out there these days, and the real ones are still in production and inexpensive, so I would assume it's even worse for something like the LM308.  On Ebay, I wouldn't touch anything that lists the item location of Shenzhen, China.  I've never used Amazon or Ali-anything, but I've seen plenty of people here with fake JRC4558s that came from those sources.

[Psychophonic]

How do you spot a fake? I have a couple of these chips, so I'm curious.

[willienillie]

I don't know, other than if it doesn't work correctly or sound right.  The fake JRC4558s are easy to spot because the markings are wrong, but that's one specific product from one specific brand.  LM308s were made by lots of companies over the years, and of course came with a variety of markings.  That's why I would just stick to a trusted supplier for something like that, or if I had to risk it on Ebay, I would look for a seller that had a number of legit-looking items listed, and whose prices weren't "too good to be true."

[jonny.reckless]

I have had issues with NE5532, NE5534, LM13700, J201, OP07, LM833 and others from several eBay sellers in China. I'm sure there are a lot of sellers with genuine parts, but these days I stick to Tayda, Mouser and Digikey for all my semiconductors. I've been burnt too many times with bad parts and wasted hours debugging. I don't mind buying passives and connectors from eBay.

[vigilante397]

Don't knock fake LM308s though, they still sound alright in a Rat

[GGBB]

so I'm not sure why "most" ebay chips would be assumed to be fake.

Because the fakers like to flood outlets like Ebay with large numbers of listings, they tend to sell cheap so volume is their only chance at a decent profit.  I wouldn't say that most sellers are selling fakes, but maybe most listings are fakes, and could be all from the same source using multiple accounts.  But again, I haven't searched for them any time recently.  There are SO many fake JRC4558s out there these days, and the real ones are still in production and inexpensive, so I would assume it's even worse for something like the LM308.  On Ebay, I wouldn't touch anything that lists the item location of Shenzhen, China.  I've never used Amazon or Ali-anything, but I've seen plenty of people here with fake JRC4558s that came from those sources.

I realize there are fakes of some things out there and ebay is a primary source for them, but - and no offense intended here - the above reads a bit like a conspiracy theory. "Flood outlets," "large numbers," "haven't searched," "SO many fake," "would assume," "never used," "plenty of people." Never hurts to be careful though - as recommended - buy from legit sources. Then again, there have to be at least some "legit" sources that are using the paranoia around fakes to justify inflated prices. People have said more than once that legit sources intentionally use ebay accounts to sell fakes so that they can charge inflated prices for genuine product. Maybe not all legit sources do this, but probably all fakers also sell genuine product. It's all a scam that depends heavily on the public believing that genuine product and trustworthy dealers are few and far between. Supply and demand wins every time. 

[bushidov]

How do you spot a fake? I have a couple of these chips, so I'm curious.

https://youtu.be/Up4E7AFgJ5E
This video has a good test.

[willienillie]

People have said more than once that legit sources intentionally use ebay accounts to sell fakes so that they can charge inflated prices for genuine product.

Now that sounds like a conspiracy theory.

I don't think anyone needs fear of fakes to drive up prices on out-of-production items.

One rather shocking moment I had, mentioned in a thread here a few months ago, is when I did a Google images search for JRC4558, and at least for the first several pages the vast majority of the images that came up were of fakes.  And again, that's an item that's still in production and easy to find for about 45 cents.

I did end up looking at Ebay last night after posting and it seems legit-looking LM308 listings are asking around 6 or 7 dollars.  Scroll down a bit and you can get 5 or 10 of them for a couple bucks from Shenzhen, China.  No thanks.