The other day, we saw an online retailer advertising a brand new, genuine P2950 Unistrut Trolley for a ridiculously low price.
Any time you see prices too good to be true, we have these words of caution--buyer beware. Now we aren't saying every listing advertising Unistrut parts at rock bottom prices is a scam, but you should exercise caution before committing your hard earned money on what may be a fake part. We were curious and figured buying a bargain basement P2950 might make for a good Tech Talk post. We clicked "add to cart" and checked out. Today our trolley arrived and what we found was a bit of a shock.....
This is what a genuine Unistrut P2950-EG should look like......a perfectly square 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" piece of electro-galvanized steel to inhibit corrosion. A "real P2950 has 4 wheels too (more on that in a moment). With a genuine part, you should also see Unistrut" and the part number "P2950" stamped into the metal. If you have the real item in new condition, one can expect it to look like this:
Earlier in this post, we used the phrase "buyer beware"......here's why......check out what we received:
The presence of significant rust and unevenly spaced wheels offers clues about the manufacturer of this trolley
We turned the trolley over and found two wheels missing! You should also take note of the shape of the base element--it is far from square.
With the wheels removed, you can clearly see the lack of precision here. The edges are not square and the hole on the left is an oval rather than perfectly round. Before we ever put this part in our shopping cart, we had a pretty good idea about the quality of our purchase. We bought the part to make a point--know who you are buying from--and demand Genuine Unistrut Parts. And in case you are looking for a Unistrut P2950 Trolley, we have plenty in stock so give us a call or send us an e-mail to get your order started!
