-!!BEWARE!!- of fake memory cards on ebay

[RianFlynn]

I found another one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...DME:B:AAQ:US:1

[Dave_G]

hahahahahah

4gb Ultra II for $15

Bargain!!!1

[Dave_G]

Originally Posted by superdiver

What part is fake? Do they just not work, or what makes them "fake"?

They're basically a super cheap brand of CF badged and packaged up to look like an Ultra II. They'll work but probably not for long, and won't have the nifty transfer speeds the SanDisk cards have

[andrewc]

I've got one of these. Very cheap, is 2Gb, works OK but not at correct speed. I think many buyers who receive one are fooled by the pretty good packaging. I'm embroiled in a paypal dispute as well.

[peeps27]

Me too!! I ordered 2 from same supplier before I read the adverse comments on his site and the web. EBay have not exactly been fast in coming forward and resolving this issue.

[kheops]

ugoole sends fake cards as well
http://stores.ebay.fr/WholeSale-Center
+++

[Torpedo]

Is it just the Ultras I've got ot be weary of? I'm after some memory and may go for Kingston instead.

[DavidW]

Originally Posted by kheops

ugoole sends fake cards as well
http://stores.ebay.fr/WholeSale-Center
+++

This looks wrong - genuine Sandisk doesn't have the sticky label on the rear side in my experience. The front looks a little wrong, too - the red background looks too close to the top of the R after the Sandisk logo.

This is all wrong - the hologram label is not Sandisk, and the serial number isn't in Sandisk format. You would have thought they'd have the sense to photograph genuine Sandisk products even if they were selling fakes.


Why do people have to counterfeit these items? There's nothing wrong with selling them as what they are - cheap memory cards. What they are not is Sandisk - the prices are ridiculously low. The shipping charges are high, too - higher than the item costs, presumably to discourage returns.

The problem is that small camera shops, who are probably struggling, are going to be tempted to buy cards wholesale from these eBay sellers, which could easily finish up with fake cards being sold retail. The best thing to do is to buy memory cards from large, reputable dealers at the going price for the card. Prices of genuine memory have dropped significantly in the past 12-18 months.



David

[peeps27]

Hi Dave

I have been conned as well but been told they will give me a full refund. Was it Mr Shuai Xu from Shanghai, aka qsbuk?

[kheops]

thanks for pointing this out David
now the question is : why this seller is still active ?
i thought ebay was far more strict with these sellers
i was naive

[Ciqala]

another follow up, i filed a dispute with paypal and the seller immediately escalated it to a claim meaning he wasnt going to deal with it.

now paypal say i have to pay to send the item back using recorded delivery out of my own pocket and i may possibly get a refund (depends if he has money in his account or not).

i think its disgusting, not only has it cost me money to resolve but the seller isnt penalised in any way and hasnt lost a penny, he even gets his counterfeit item back to sell to another poor unsuspecting soul.

[DavidW]

Before you send back the counterfeit item, take high resolution photographs of the item. The EF 50mm f/1.4 is probably fine for this - manually focus to the closest end, then move the camera towards and away from the item to get proper focus. Don't forget to stop down a reasonably long way to get sufficient depth of field.

This is what I did using the same technique with an EF 24-70mm f/2.8L and a Speedlite 580EX (bounced off the white ceiling). The focal length was 40mm for the shot of the card in its case, and 70mm for the other two shots. ISO 400 was used at f/11, M mode at 1/250s (the flash sync speed of the camera).



David

[Juan Zas]

Ooops !!

My apolagies .... gentlemans !!! I did not really believe it !
But the Martybug link seems to be clear.

Thanks for the info and for correct my wrong stament.

Until now I did bought two from HK and both have serial numbers !! So, I am very lucky

[erdavis]

I'm glad I read this. Thanks

[kev350d]

Hi all, i stumbled across this thread when i received an email off a fellow ebayer informing me he had noticed that i had recently purchased a sandiskII 2gb. It turned out that his warning was 100% accurate abd i had indeed been ripped off as many more have.

Here is the sellers response after i contacted paypal:

If you are not happy with the item Please return to
W Pang
Commercial House
xxx Honeypot Lane
Stanmore
HA7 xxx
Please enclose you purchased details and telling that you want to replacement or refund.

I received many more of these so have come to think they are automated.

Then this one arrived from pay pal:

Transaction Date: 20 Jun 2006
Transaction Amount: -31.41 GBP
Your Transaction ID: xxxxxxxxxx
Seller's Transaction ID: xxxxxxxxx
Case Number: PP-xxxxxxxxxx
Seller's Name: Tsz Wing Chow
Seller's Email: ideaxxx@hotmail.com



We have determined that you may be eligible for a refund on this PayPal
transaction. To qualify for a refund, just return the item to the seller in
its original condition. (You are responsible for postage and packing costs
for the returned merchandise.) The amount you will be eligible to receive
is determined by the terms of our buyer protection policies, and we may be
unable to make a full recovery of your payment from the seller. Please
review the buyer protection policies in our User Agreement before returning
the item to the seller.

xx Aubert Court
Avenell Road
Holloway
London
N5 xxx
United Kingdom

Please log in and provide tracking information for the item you are
returning within 10 calendar days. The seller will also receive the
tracking information for this item. Once the delivery is verified by
PayPal, the refund will be issued to you. If you do not provide this
information to PayPal, the investigation will end and the claim will be
cancelled..........
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Im wondering why he has given two return locations , he has since removed all his cf cards from ebay but ive noticed someone else also from London has since started the same listing .


And the similar item:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SanDisk-2GB-UL...QQcmdZViewItem

If you read the line about calling their customer service department it looks very similar to ideaopportunity 's script on his sales. Ebay and trading standards should really start taking action on these sellers.