What can I replace an Ableconn PCIe 2.0 to SATA III card with?

[Chris Moore]

My worry is that sources like Ebay (and even Amazon, increasingly) have a serious problem with counterfeit tech gear, as well as broken gear. What sources do you recommend for this?

eBay and Amazon both have very strong buyer protection / return policies. I have gotten refunds several times for items that were not received as advertised. Most recently, I purchased a lot of ten hard drives that were supposed to be Seagate but the seller shipped me HGST drives instead. I don't particularly have anything against HGST, but if that was what I had wanted, I would have ordered it. I was able to send them back and got refunded for the entire cost of the transaction. The seller even had to pay for the return shipping. There have been a few items I ordered from China that were not satisfactory, but very few over all.

 

[jgreco]

That's some brilliant savings right there! I had Ebay in mind when I asked my question (since most people seem to buy their LSI HBA cards there), but you obviously have more reliable sources. Do these kinds of places sell to the general public?

Not in any way an endorsement, but, rather as example, take

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Solarflare...rt-10G-Ethernet-10GbE-PCIe-w-SFP/113540380624

which is the aforementioned Solarflare cards. This is sold by

https://www.ebay.com/str/epc-smallparts

which is Executive Personal Computers, a computer recycling place that's been around since 1984, and was bought out by CSI Leasing. They source gear from a variety of places, including off-lease stuff.

So here's the thing. If you buy technology on eBay from a non-specialist company, you get what you get. If a seller is selling data center tech items alongside homemade art projects, that might be a warning sign. Has the seller tested the stuff? What's the history? It's perfectly possible that an IT manager gifted gear to an enterprising employee to get rid of it rather than paying a recycler to take it. Companies fail and stuff is auctioned off all the time as well. People involved in those kinds of deals aren't terrible people to be buying from, but it can be hard to tell. The worst ones you want to watch out for are the ones in Asia. I have a general rule against buying tech direct from Asia, or to a lesser extent from California companies that are not CLEARLY in the recycling biz, because there are a lot of CA sellers who are just Asian agents. I am convinced that there are (and have examples of) a lot of knockoffs out there. My working theory is that some of it are rejects that come off the actual assembly lines for the companies in question, while others are deliberate clones. Evidence of handling. For rack gear, does it have unusual scratching? (rack rash scuffing is fine). Are the SFP+ cages crushed? Are card-level components handled in an ESD-safe manner? You also want to avoid anyone who doesn't seem to understand what the item is. Example: the idiot selling an LSI 9270CV-8i without the supercap? Obviously does not understand that it cannot be called a CV model. Look at this chump. 9270CV-8i without the supercap and just taking pictures of it on .. what is that, marble floor? YIKES. I don't care if they have 100% feedback.

So look at seller reviews. Look at seller's items, and volume. See if they appear competent and professional. Play a little detective and see if you can put together what the backstory is. I do research for a variety of reasons, including to determine how likely I am to get away with lowball offers. Which I do. Frequently. With at least a 50% success rate, I think. Offering a seller who has a stack of stuff that's not in high demand 75% of their asking price for half a dozen (or more) items has a surprisingly high acceptance rate.