schuylercat
TPF Noob!
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2007
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- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
Anyone buy memory cards on Ebay? We all know there's a ton of fakes out there. I did some research, found a vendor with 99.6% good feedback, and bought 5 cards - 3-2GB SanDisk Extreme III's and 2-4GB SanDisk Extreme III's. They had all the right fonts, markings and even serial numbers. They looked perfect. When I asked them about the cards, the seller responded "We don't never selling any junk here! We have rating 99.6% positive." Good deal!
Not so much.
5 cards, and every one of them is a fake. Serial numbers? They look EXACTLY like SanDisks, but they're fake. Printing? Reeeeeealy good, even the holograms, but not perfect. Cladding? Wrong shape (that wasn't in the threads I had read - it's actually the easiest way to tell).
And when you go to SanDisk's web site, the advice they give? Wait...what advice? They have nothing - NOTHING - about counterfeit cards on their site. Not a single word.
Some bloggers noted "...buy them on Amazon - far more trusted sellers there." Not so much, again. Adorama and B&H are on Amazon, and I would buy anything from them, but so is "MEMFORCHEAP!!!" and a few other suspects.
Sigh.
It was estimated by some folks in the watchdog group that contacted me that roughly 90% of the SD, CF, and Memory Stick cards sold on Ebay are probably counterfeit. The only thing about them that is real is the "MADE IN CHINA" stamp on the edge. The scumbags I bought from sell over a hundred or so per day...and that's just one seller. There are a hundred sellers there, maybe more.
So I am entering into battle with the seller, and Ebay says "gee, we didn't know" (there have been several thousand reports of this, but oddly, they didn't know!) and the bottom line, once again, is this: ever since Photography magazine had ads in the back for camera sales (Canon EOS 3 for only $775, brand new? Really?), there have been unscrupulous dealers out there; once you get away from Adorama and B&H and a few others you're on your own; and this is like boxing: never, EVER, let your gaurd down, even after the bell rings. This is MY fault, not Ebay's, not SanDisk's, not yours. Mine.
I cannot imagine there hasn't been a post here about this. I don't get to log in often...I must have missed it.
On the other side, the folks at Dateline NBC are interested in my pathetic little story. I'll keep you posted.
Here are a few threads about it:
http://reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-Sony-M...Gate-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001236041
and this, about the dirtbags I bought from:
http://edepotxpresscam.blogspot.com
And meanwhile, Office Depot, Staples, Circuit City, Best Buy, and other retailers have mail in rebate specials on CF cards all the time - brings the price of a 4gb SanDisk Extreme III card down to $42 or so. Not a bad deal. I'm watching the papers now...
Cheers all.
Not so much.
5 cards, and every one of them is a fake. Serial numbers? They look EXACTLY like SanDisks, but they're fake. Printing? Reeeeeealy good, even the holograms, but not perfect. Cladding? Wrong shape (that wasn't in the threads I had read - it's actually the easiest way to tell).
And when you go to SanDisk's web site, the advice they give? Wait...what advice? They have nothing - NOTHING - about counterfeit cards on their site. Not a single word.
Some bloggers noted "...buy them on Amazon - far more trusted sellers there." Not so much, again. Adorama and B&H are on Amazon, and I would buy anything from them, but so is "MEMFORCHEAP!!!" and a few other suspects.
Sigh.
It was estimated by some folks in the watchdog group that contacted me that roughly 90% of the SD, CF, and Memory Stick cards sold on Ebay are probably counterfeit. The only thing about them that is real is the "MADE IN CHINA" stamp on the edge. The scumbags I bought from sell over a hundred or so per day...and that's just one seller. There are a hundred sellers there, maybe more.
So I am entering into battle with the seller, and Ebay says "gee, we didn't know" (there have been several thousand reports of this, but oddly, they didn't know!) and the bottom line, once again, is this: ever since Photography magazine had ads in the back for camera sales (Canon EOS 3 for only $775, brand new? Really?), there have been unscrupulous dealers out there; once you get away from Adorama and B&H and a few others you're on your own; and this is like boxing: never, EVER, let your gaurd down, even after the bell rings. This is MY fault, not Ebay's, not SanDisk's, not yours. Mine.
I cannot imagine there hasn't been a post here about this. I don't get to log in often...I must have missed it.
On the other side, the folks at Dateline NBC are interested in my pathetic little story. I'll keep you posted.
Here are a few threads about it:
http://reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-Sony-M...Gate-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001236041
and this, about the dirtbags I bought from:
http://edepotxpresscam.blogspot.com
And meanwhile, Office Depot, Staples, Circuit City, Best Buy, and other retailers have mail in rebate specials on CF cards all the time - brings the price of a 4gb SanDisk Extreme III card down to $42 or so. Not a bad deal. I'm watching the papers now...
Cheers all.
