[Michael Piziak]

I was just reading an article about SDHC & SDXC cards, trying to understand the differences and also their compatibilities with each other. I came across a disturbing sentence or two in the article, which is and I quote:


"Counterfeit cards do exist on the market, especially on sites such as eBay. Be cautious if you see a name brand card at a price that's too good to be true."

I can imagine, especially in China, that name brand cards like Sandisk & other more expensive but highly though of brands, when it comes to quality, are being counterfeited & sold to us on the auction sites (like eBay) or market place sites (like facebook market place).


So, if it looks or is priced too good to be true, then perhaps it just is exactly that. Sadly, because many of us are always looking for a bargain when we go shopping...

Read more at: Comprehensive SD Card Guide for Photographers - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com

[Rondec]

Unfortunately, there is a lot of counterfeit stuff out there. I read this article: Why the Heck Is Amazon Selling These Fake 16 Terabyte Portable SSD Drives? – Review Geek talking about Amazon having vendors selling counterfeit hard drives for bargain prices. The only thing is that while they claim to be 16 TB, they actually only hold 64 GB.

(I thought part of the benefit of buying from Amazon is that they investigate this sort of nefarious activity, but it sounds like they are a little slow to identify problems).

As you say, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

[Not a Number]

The eBay sellers seem to be more reputable than what is on Amazon. I recently bought a Sandisk extreme card supposedly from Sandisk themselves. The card I got came in a plastic bag in the case. No retail packaging, witness marks (wear) on the contacts, and a thumb/fingerprint on the label of the card. No warranty card or anything. Sold as new, was it used/refurbished or counterfeit?

So I order a slightly lesser spec SanDisk card from a seller on eBay that I bought before for about the same price and *bang* - retail card packaged, none of the signs of counterfeiting (poor printing, different fonts, lack of high pressure sealing marks on the card etc.). Card checks out with speed and capacity with various test programs.

Related food for thought:
https://petapixel.com/2018/10/02/lessons-from-losing-a-week-of-photos-to-memory-card-failure/

[jeallen01]

FWIW, I've found one or two independent (I think/hope!) sellers in the UK (one of them is on the Isle of Man and the other is in Guernsey, which are, sort of, in the UK!) like 7 Day and Picstop, which do seem from experience to sell genuine branded cards/USB sticks, and which I've found to be reliable.

PS: I've learnt not to trust anything branded Kingston - probably one of the most faked product ranges.

[lesmore49]

I always buy top quality San Disk cards from my local Henry's camera store. They're in factory packaging, never had an issue yet...and prices are reasonable.

[Michael Piziak]

Unfortunately, there is a lot of counterfeit stuff out there. I read this article: Why the Heck Is Amazon Selling These Fake 16 Terabyte Portable SSD Drives? – Review Geek talking about Amazon having vendors selling counterfeit hard drives for bargain prices. The only thing is that while they claim to be 16 TB, they actually only hold 64 GB.

(I thought part of the benefit of buying from Amazon is that they investigate this sort of nefarious activity, but it sounds like they are a little slow to identify problems).

As you say, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I suppose the best thing, now, about ordering through Amazon is they do give return $ back with no hastle. Shucks, I once bought a bean bag and wanted to return it & they told me to just keep it cause it was too bulky to box up (it came as a little cube and blew up into a huge thing once unboxed, lol).... It cost over $100....