warning! fake memory cards on ebay

[kg555]

Hi fellow divers,

Just wanted to warn everybody who had plans to buy memory cards for the cameras on Ebay that most of the cards sold on Ebay are fakes. I just went through 50 day long process of retrieving my money from Ebay seller webd. I believe that all the cards sold by this Ebay seller are fakes, and I have official proof for the one I bought.

Unfortunately, Ebay won't do anything as far as removing fake listings. So even though I got my money back, webd is still selling 100s of the counterfeit cards per day.

I hope that will help somebody.

 

[mistressmotorsports]

Are they fakes in that they are not the brand being represented, or don't have the rated storage, or are just not even real cards? Definitely wouldn't surprise me to see counterfeit cards around with all the counterfeit everything else available.

 

[Mo2vation]

Hi fellow divers,

Just wanted to warn everybody who had plans to buy memory cards for the cameras on Ebay that most of the cards sold on Ebay are fakes. I just went through 50 day long process of retrieving my money from Ebay seller webd. I believe that all the cards sold by this Ebay seller are fakes, and I have official proof for the one I bought.

Unfortunately, Ebay won't do anything as far as removing fake listings. So even though I got my money back, webd is still selling 100s of the counterfeit cards per day.

I hope that will help somebody.

The only proof you have (from the content of your post) is that you purchased a fake card from one of the thousands of sellers on eBay.

Its simply not true that most of the cards on eBay are fake. I have purchased at least a half-dozen cards off of eBay (and been involved in many thousands of other transactions) without issue. I can tell you with great confidence that while there are some categories on eBay that are at greater risk than others, eBay is by and large a very safe place to shop and conduct business.

There are a lot less fake cards on eBay than there are fake clothing, fake purses or fake toys.

While I feel bad for you and your experience, lets offer some perspective.

Be aware when purchasing a card that looks too good to be true. Cards are a commodity item, and I commonly find prices as good or better than eBay at NewEgg, Tiger Direct and other legit retailers.

---
Ken

 

[kg555]

mistressmotorsports,

The card looked very similar to the original. it didn't have the serial number. The performance might have been worse that the original Sandisk 1gb Ultra II SD card, but I can't prove that.

One thing I can prove is that Sandisk provided me with evidence that the card is fake and that they won't cover it under lifetime warranty, because they ahve not manufactured.

To Mo2vation,

I'm not here to post my 50 day story with all the details, rather to warn people in photography forum who might be frequent buyers of such items as memory cards. There is no way to guarantee that the card one buys from Ebay is legit, rather when one buys it from the mentioned Newegg.com it is guaranteed. I bought my card at Newegg.com afterall. I like Ebay, but not for memory cards (see reasoning above).

I was not so smart about fake cards 1 month ago when I purchased mine, so I post that here only to warn others.

If somebody doubts my statements about proof, I can forward email from Sandisk.

 

[Jamdiver]

mistressmotorsports,

The card looked very similar to the original. it didn't have the serial number. The performance might have been worse that the original Sandisk 1gb Ultra II SD card, but I can't prove that.

One thing I can prove is that Sandisk provided me with evidence that the card is fake and that they won't cover it under lifetime warranty, because they ahve not manufactured.

To Mo2vation,

I'm not here to post my 50 day story with all the details, rather to warn people in photography forum who might be frequent buyers of such items as memory cards. There is no way to guarantee that the card one buys from Ebay is legit, rather when one buys it from the mentioned Newegg.com it is guaranteed. I bought my card at Newegg.com afterall. I like Ebay, but not for memory cards (see reasoning above).

I was not so smart about fake cards 1 month ago when I purchased mine, so I post that here only to warn others.

If somebody doubts my statements about proof, I can forward email from Sandisk.

So I guess that the lesson gleaned from this is only buy memory cards from reputable online e-tailers, especially as they're so affordable now??

 

[Warren_L]

Maybe it's just me, but with the price of flash memory cards coming down so much, why not just buy from newegg or other reputable businesses? I just picked up a bunch of 4GB card for under $100 each. Maybe you'll save a few bucks on ebay, but as you seem to think, it's pretty risky, so if it is that risky, why bother with ebay at all for this?

 

[diversteve]

Or in your case, just go to Fry's Electronics in Fremont. Their prices are almost as good as anybody online and you get to see it and take it home with you.

 

[pakman]

I second/ third the newegg recommendation... when I was in the states, their prices were extremely competitive and sometimes better than some of those ebayers. And even if they were slightly more expensive at newegg, the few xtra dollars are worth the peace of mind and the excellent shipping service they provide.

But in response to the original OP, sorry for your bad experience you've had but as Mo2vation said, you can't just make a blanket statement about all ebay shops because of one incident... Currently I'm in Hong Kong and as others have said, with high capacity flash memory soooo cheap, I think the usual Asian knockoff artists aren't even wasting their time trying to make/sell fake sandisk extremes or whatever!!!

 

[DesertEagle]

NewEgg is good. I usually use B&H in New York. If I order in the morning, I usually get it here in Boston the next day.

FYI MicroCenter has good no-name 60x 1GB SD cards for $14.99. I picked up a 1GB USB flash drive at their store for the same price.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=242479