October Enhancements

In our post on the 18th, we outlined a couple of improvements that we made regarding the website.

We've added another, very helpful, enhancement that I think you are going to like. Do you have a Twitter account? If so, you may have noticed the account login widget they have. We've installed one on the home page at ListInventory.com that helps to streamline the login process.

When you click the down arrow on the login button, the login widget will appear allowing you to login directly from the front page.

If you have ideas for improvements to the ListInventory.com website or would like to be featured in our monthly newsletter please feel free to send us an email at help@listinventory.com.

Post your reviews!!

Reviews
We've added a cool review system on the listinventory.com website.

Check out the site and leave a review. We love to hear from our customers.
Who knows, your review may be used in one of our upcoming newsletters.

Growth
Do you have your inventory listed at listinventory.com? In the last six months, the listinventory.com membership as well as the listed inventory has more than doubled! All of this has happened, even on an entirely free website. The web traffic to the site has more than tripled. People are searching for things listed on listinventory.com. Don't miss out on this opportunity to be seen. Our newsletter subscriber list is also very large, so people know we are here.

Even more improvements

Every day, at ListInventory, we strive to make your experience more enjoyable. We've added even more features to enhance your ability to list your excess inventory with us.

The import of Excel workbooks is finally here. This enhancement allows you to upload straight from Excel and not have to save your inventory files as tab-delimited or CSV formats. The import supports Excel versions 2007 and below. However, it does not import multiple worksheets from the workbook; it handles only one worksheet per workbook. We will add multiple worksheet features at a later date.

We do, however, need a copy of your Excel file to be able to set the column configuration in our database so the system understands where each column of information is in your file. So, if you intend to upload Excel workbooks, please email a copy to help@listinventory.com and let us know that you want to upload Excel files.

We also added the capability to import DBF files. Yes, I know, DBF is an antiquated format, but there are still many computer programs out there that save their results in DBF format and we don't want to leave anyone out when it comes to being able to upload their inventory.

Another very convenient enhancement is that there are now two checkboxes on the Account page above the Upload button. The first of these two checkboxes allow you to append the data in the uploaded file to your currently store inventory. This is handy when you have a very large file and want to send it up as two or more files. Upload the first file normally, do not check the append checkbox. Then, on any subsequent files, you would check the append checkbox so your data would not get erased when the second file is imported. We will also be adding multiple file upload capability at a future date so you'll be able to upload all your files at once!

The second, and this is very cool, allow you to UPDATE the quantities for items already in your stored listing with the quantities in the uploaded file. It will also add items that are not currently listed. This is handy when you have an inventory that you keep close watch on and update the quantities on your end. Then, when you want to update the quantities you have listed at listinventory.com, you upload your file with the update checkbox checked and your listed inventory will match the inventory you keep locally. It also allows you to upload only the changes you want to make to your inventory, which makes for a much smaller upload and quicker response.

Look for more info to be posted in our November newsletter. If you are not a member of ListInventory.com and would like to list your inventory or if you'd just like to receive the newsletter, go to http://www.listinventory.com and register.

If you have any suggestions, please post them here in the comments or contact us directly at help@listinventory.com

List Inventory is free and now with Cross Ref and Procurement History

We at List Inventory have been working on our website and now have cross reference and procurement history. We are working on uploading from excel and other formats to help on upload problems. If you would like to see anything more added features please contact us.

Counterfeit Electronic Components

When we hear the word counterfeit we usually think of money. However, although currency was one of the first and most counterfeited items, there are many other items being counterfeited today. Everything — medicines, auto parts, computer peripherals, electronic components, designer handbags, high end watches, and anything of value — is now being counterfeited.
Most of these counterfeits are produced using inferior material and
workmanship. Some can be dangerous, like cell phone batteries that explode or medicines that can kill. In 2008, counterfeit consumer goods were estimated to be a 250 billion dollar market, approximately 5 to 7 percent of world trade. Most of the counterfeits come from emerging countries. Leading the pack with an estimated 90 percent of the total is China. Counterfeit parts are fast becoming a serious problem for the electronics component industry. It is estimated that over 20% of all electronic components from connectors to high end circuit boards are now being counterfeited in small shops in the USA and Asia. The majority of counterfeit parts are from China. China’s counterfeit parts make up majority of all Asian parts getting into military electronics and aviation. About 15% of all parts sold are considered counterfeit. The most popular method of counterfeiting seems to be sorting through scrap material to find similar components and then refinishing them. The world’s electronic scrap is collected and sent to a few Asian countries, China being one of them. There are warehouses full of workers who remove parts from circuit boards and sort them first by package type then they continue sorting them next by manufacturer and sometimes all the way down to the part number. Keep in mind that these workers are not using proper ESD precautions, nor were the parts protected from the elements on their journey to China. So even if they are the same part number the chances of them working properly are slim. Another popular counterfeiting method is the change part number or manufacturers name.
Starting with a similar part and then marking it to the customer’s order. An order for a Motorola part comes in but the counterfeiter only has Philips parts so he’ll resurface and remark the Philips component with the Motorola part number and logo and sell it as a new Motorola part. The parts may work for some applications, but often there are slight differences between manufacturers of similar parts which can cause problems that may result in fatal consequences.
Using electronic component x-ray tests for
Shows Broken connections with X-RAYS 1
quality and can tell if products are counterfeit or faulty as you can see the broken connections in the x-rayed chips above.
Conclusion
The threat of counterfeit components has never been greater. Counterfeiting is too profitable and difficult to stop. The high tech supply chain has never been more vulnerable, and the costs of counterfeit have never been so high. Every time legitimate supply chains adopt a new approach to stop fakes, the criminal will adapt and defeat them. Markings, labels, testing - all of these are just temporary defenses against highly motivated and well financed criminal syndicates.
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