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Beware - E-bay selling fake items

I purchased a 64gb memory card from ebay last week. I had purchased one from an other seller which was genuine but they had sold out. I always test an SD card I purchase online and this card was shown to be a fake. It was showing as a 64gb SD card in windows but only had a capacity of 29gbs. This is a fair amount of memory so it would not become apparent until down the line for some people and there is the potential for damage to their phone etc...

E-bay have a strange policy in that they ask you to try to resolve with the seller first. I can understand that with non-fake items but what happens is you get a refund straight away, as I did and they continue to list the item as they are. They make up some excuse about their supplier, apologise, refund and ask you not to leave bad feedback. The others who have not tested their cards may take a year or more to discover the issue or simply think their card has failed! I really think E-bay should do more. 

Just posting this as a warning to people. You can get great value on SD cards when you find the right supplier. There is a great small programme that you can download called H2testW. As SD cards are so much better value online I would recommend you test any one you buy using this. 

Comments

  • E-bay simply don't care. They don't want to ban sellers if they can help it as there goes their little bit of profit. They even remove negative feedback if asked just to make the seller more appealing to buyers. 
  • I found a good seller but they ran out. It is a bit of trial and error finding a good one, but I always test the cards I buy online. I think Amazon are no better. 
  • But the issue with these cards is that they look genuine and they could do damage, so it is worth being aware as on the face of it, if you had bought the card I bought and put it in your phone, you would be none the wiser for a decent period of time.
  • Been selling fake perfume and cosmetic creams for years doing a lot more damage to peoples skin than a fake memory card.

    I think what people are tying to say Muttley is Ebay is know for selling fake goods and turning a blind to it. Fake memory cards are just one of the items.
  • edited October 2019
    And what I am trying to say is you can get genuine ones and providing a way to test the fake ones. As you say, they are known for it and I think that is out of order for a company of their size. It doesn't affect me to any great extent, but I am concerned for people it may as a faulty fake SD card could damage their equipment. 
  • Amazon and eBay both get away with it. Not just low value items either, high end items from China are all over selling platforms.

    If the price is too good to be true then its probably a fake.
  • I found a good seller but they ran out. It is a bit of trial and error finding a good one, but I always test the cards I buy online. I think Amazon are no better
    PopIcon said:
    Amazon and eBay both get away with it. Not just low value items either, high end items from China are all over selling platforms.

    If the price is too good to be true then its probably a fake.
    Just curious.... Do you mean the products sold by Amazon or by individual sellers on Amazon?
  • edited October 2019
    Individual sellers but sellers use the respectability of the Amazon name so Amazon and E-bay should do more to protect it.
  • Drop shippers. Half of em don't even see the goods, they just advertise them and get em send direct
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  • ...a lot of the stuff coming in from the East, through Alibaba and AliExpress can be really good quality, if the in between person does their research, but all they want is an easy, quick pound note, so do no research
  • Individual sellers but sellers use the respectability of the Amazon name so Amazon and E-bay should do more to protect it.
    Thanks. Yes of course they should do more. They should be responsible for what they let the sellers sell on their website. For example, if you buy a product at a department store (say Marks & Spencer?) and it turns out to be fake, surely you can go to the department store for compensation?

    In China we have similar platforms to Amazon and eBay. Because of the same situation ie. the website turning a blind eye to regulations on product quality and sellers credibility, buyers are usually much more careful when buying items from individual sellers than directly from the platform itself. I'd be much more surprised if Amazon itself sold fake products.
  • Slightly off topic but generally speaking Amazon are way more helpful to buyers than ebay. Recently the missus' phone developed a fault, Amazon said return to Xiaomi for a repair under warranty which I did, they told me the screen had been lifted and wanted £71 to repair (it was sent in great condition and well packaged). I refused so they wouldn't even fix the original fault and I had to pay £14 just to get the phone back. None of my family will be buying Xiaomi anymore so a good way to lose custom. Anyway Amazon has said return it to them for a full refund and credited a tenner as a goodwill gesture which they didn't have to do.

  • My issue is the ebay policy of advising to resolve with the seller first. Good advice on most issues but not if seller is suspected of selling fakes. The seller just looks at the message, oh b*gger we have somebody who tests it, just refund immediately with an excuse. Ebay doesn't have to do anything and the seller just continues to cheat people via their site.  
  • edited October 2019
  • The only way to force them to change their policy is to stop buying off their site. Until they start losing business they just won’t care.
  • Ebay heavily favours the purchaser, youl get your money back for sure. 
  • edited October 2019
    Yes, but my point with things like SD cards is many purchasers won't know the card is faulty for some time. Maybe they never will as if it fails in a year or so, they will just think it is a genuine card that has failed. But the card is telling the device it has more memory that it actually has and that can cause problems for the device.   
  • Talal said:
    Slightly off topic but generally speaking Amazon are way more helpful to buyers than ebay. Recently the missus' phone developed a fault, Amazon said return to Xiaomi for a repair under warranty which I did, they told me the screen had been lifted and wanted £71 to repair (it was sent in great condition and well packaged). I refused so they wouldn't even fix the original fault and I had to pay £14 just to get the phone back. None of my family will be buying Xiaomi anymore so a good way to lose custom. Anyway Amazon has said return it to them for a full refund and credited a tenner as a goodwill gesture which they didn't have to do.

    That's a real shame Talal as I love XiaoMi phones and have been using them for years, they're known for excellent customer service here.
  • edited October 2019
    A couple of years ago I found someone on eBay selling t-shirts with a design of mine that I'd posted here on Charlton Life (and here only). Beware, not all Stig designs on eBay are originals :wink:
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  • shine166 said:
    Ebay heavily favours the purchaser, youl get your money back for sure. 
    This 100%.

    Ebay actually can't survive without buyers. Hence as Shine says, they will almost certainly refund the buyer in a dispute. 

    Good on one hand - as it ensures you either get what you pay for or your money back - but can lead to good, honest sellers being shafted by dishonest buyers.
  • Talal said:
    Slightly off topic but generally speaking Amazon are way more helpful to buyers than ebay. Recently the missus' phone developed a fault, Amazon said return to Xiaomi for a repair under warranty which I did, they told me the screen had been lifted and wanted £71 to repair (it was sent in great condition and well packaged). I refused so they wouldn't even fix the original fault and I had to pay £14 just to get the phone back. None of my family will be buying Xiaomi anymore so a good way to lose custom. Anyway Amazon has said return it to them for a full refund and credited a tenner as a goodwill gesture which they didn't have to do.

    That's a real shame Talal as I love XiaoMi phones and have been using them for years, they're known for excellent customer service here.
    Maybe I was just unlucky. I thought that given the dispute over the damage they'd at least return the phone free of charge but nope.
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