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

I've purchased from Amazon.com itself, not inamorato, and so far the cards appear to be genuine and function perfectly.

What did you pay for yours? Amazon (itself) currently has the Ultra II 2.0GB for $79.99 which is what I just ordered. I saw others for $64.95 but felt uneasy with such a low price. I figure the extra couple of bucks is good "purchasing insurance." - Stu

It really is difficult to tell... I'm also a newb myself, but have tried to follow these rules when purchasing ANYTHING:

1. If it seems too good to be true, that's because it's not true
2. Don't buy from the cheapest seller - usually you're getting what your paying for, which is something missing, either in service, parts, or authenticity.
3. Pay what you think is the fair market price, which is something usually in the "middle." This will become evident after you've researched a product.
4. Buy from reputable dealers. Many good vendors have been listed here; take the time to read these threads.
5. Don't be impatient and rush into purchases - again, TAKE THE TIME TO READ THESE THREADS.
6. Caveat Emptor - always, "Buyer Beware."

I'm sure everyone at one time or another has gotten good deals which run contrary to what I've said, and that's great. But those are usually exceptions, and rare, especially in the face of all the scam artists out there now. - Stu

tlc wrote:
how does a newb to digital tell if its fake? this disgusts me. i'm so sick of people ripping people off......

the fakes are looking increasingly professional. I benchmarked mine, I used HDBench which is what Sandisk used, but there are others such as SiSoft Sandra. I bought mine from Ebay, seller "lowest_total_price" with a feedback rating of 3415 (98.9% +ve)

His Ebay account has been closed in the last couple of days - good. Many people who will have bought a fake card, won't know any better.

Anyway, my fake 2Gb card cost me a total of 97p - $ 1.70

Are you perhaps off by a decimal point? You say you paid $1.70 for a 2GB flash card?

yes. Paypal found in my favour and refunded all but $ 1.70 of my money. The trader on Ebay has been closed down and I've kept the card.

Can't beat that deal, even if it only gets you 1GB! Just so long as it doesn't decide to give up the ghost at a critical moment.

not the same end of story for me
because i was refunded by paypal, i reveived an email from ebay saying i have to pay the card
i think i've done a mistake, i went to ebay and checked the item as "payed"
i for sure will NOT pay the card again, so i received a warning from ebay
now i'm trying to explain that paypal refunded me for a reason !
seller's account is still well alive http://feedback.ebay.f​r …iewFeedback&use​rid=ugoole

...

andrewc wrote:
Thankfully paypal have seen in my favour and given me my money back

and I've kept the card...

my claim is going through but paypal refused to do anything until i sent the card back to the buyer and provided proof of postage.

how did you manage to get them to refund without doing so? did the buyer refund at the first stage of the complaints process or did they excalate it to a claim?

you should send them an empty box just for sending you a fake one in the first place!!!

I started off with a dispute, then following no reply, escalated it to a claim.

This is a summary of my claim, read from bottom up...

strange, i started a dispute and the seller refused to deal with it and escalated it to a claim and paypal told me i must send it back with proof of postage in order to receive my refund.

the £1 odd it cost to return it doesnt particularly bother me, but this is a counterfeit item all this scumbag will do is get another ebay account and sell it again.

hopefully it'll get squashed in the post so that they cant sell it as new.

Are there fake cards from other brands? I have 2GB CF and 1 GB SD Elite Pro from Kingston, I bought them from eBay, from an US seller, they look perfect, had also all the items as beign genuine (manual, sealed clear plastic package, etc.)

Both works perfect, also compared to a normal SD from Sandisk (the blue one) the Kingston SD is much much faster, I have no buffer problems with it in the S2, it never lets the buffer to fill... like the blue Sandisk does, when shotting at continuous high speed

But as you said, I'm not sure now...

Also, how can I test the speed?

THX

In the UK, buy from 7dayshop...genuine and good prices!

remember---- to buy cheap is to buy twice

just to give the final update on my personal case.

paypal finally decided in my favour and i got my refund at long last and i took the money i spent and added a little of my own to get an extremeIII 1GB instead from Kerso who i knew was a reputable dealer from previous dealings.

the final insult however is the same day i got my refund the seller (whom i thought had his account suspended) sends me a payment reminder to say that i havent yet paid him for the item. i'm hoping ebay and paypal are not stupid enough that they will let him place a non-paying bidder claim on me but its something i'll have to keep my eye on. the reply the seller got to the email in question contains rather a lot of expletives and a note that if he failed to cease his harassment i'll be taking it up with the british constabulary.

so thats me done with this issue now, hopefully this thread has helped others so far by making them aware of whats going on and also given some advice to people who fell foul of the scam on how to sort it. i'm sure the others involved in similiar situations will continue to add to it with any additional information they uncover.

An update on mine: the seller opened an unpaid item dispute and somehow won it, even though she never replied to my claim. I got an unpaid item strike against me on eBay.