Have you ever purchased computer equipment from the Dollar Store before?

Yeah, I understand your sentiment. Not all dollar stores are created equal though. The quality of the stores can vary greatly. I have several dollar stores in my immediate area alone. The one where I purchased the microphone offers products for more than one dollar too. I think that it goes up to five dollars. Anyway, some of the items that this dollar store carries are better than what you could find at Wal-Mart for a fraction of the price. Almost everything sold in North America is completely or partially manufactured in China or the developing world. What you have described about your dollar store is how I feel about Wal-Mart or some other department stores. Oftentimes I have purchased items from those stores just to have them fall apart or fail quickly. I usually shop online or at specialty stores for main items and only venture into department stores for small items now. Surprisingly, I check Home Depot first before going to department stores because sometimes they have the exact same products without the specific labeling for much cheaper (i.e. $25 poorly made thin steel bike locks in department stores != $10 thicker and better made u-locks @ Home Depot). I have a few trusted dollar stores as well that I check before I step foot in a department store. The PC microphone that I purchased was manufactured in China for a Canadian company. It works perfectly fine for what I need it for and was much cheaper than similar Chinese products being sold at Computer Stores. I'll post back here if it breaks down. So far, so good. :)