Are ALL my SD cards knockoffs???

[Chuck Hatcher]

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I know, caveat emptor.

 

I take full responsibility for not being a smarter consumer, but the situation has really gotten out of hand. Maybe someone else will benefit from my mistakes.

 

Most recently, a few weeks ago, I went looking for SD cards. I had read good things about SanDisk Extreme III cards, so I went shopping. On eBay. From a seller with excellent feedback. I bought four 2GB cards which were delivered quickly. The packaging looked good to me. Shiny SanDisk boxes, instructions, RescuePRO software mini-CD, and even a little SanDisk logo keychain pouch. All of which, I now know, are fake.

 

The cards formatted in my M8 and seemed to work OK, if a little slow, at first. Then one day I got the "SD Card Full" error on an empty card. I didn't think too much about it but switched to a different card. Then, while taking family photos at a birthday party, I noticed some pictures would not display on the LCD. They would preview normally after the shot, but when recalled only the file name would show. Neither could C1 load them. One loaded but had a purple stripe across the middle. So, I thought, let's see what the RescuePRO software does. While trying to install it I was prompted for a serial number, which I did not have. Hmmm. Time to Google. Uh oh, now I get it. They didn't bother faking software serial numbers. Probably an oversight.

 

Long story short, it happens all the time. SanDisk wants me to send them pictures of the cards, probably just to make me think they care. The seller offered to refund my money if I return the cards. Why, so he can sell them to someone else? Sure, maybe he was unaware he was selling fake cards. Maybe I'm the first to complain. But he has sold a ton of cards... Does eBay care? They got their commission on the sale.

 

All of which got me to thinking... What about the last cards I bought? They were SanDisk Ultra II's, purchased online from Shentech (SHENTECH Computer - Educated Customer is Our Best Customer, found via PriceGrabber). No real problems with the cards, but maybe they are a tad slow. Guess what? FAKE! When I contacted Shentech to ask if they knew they were selling counterfeits, all they would say is to send them back for a refund. That isn't good enough for me. If the penalty for fraud is only to have to give a refund, something is badly out of whack.

 

SanDisk is losing more than just sales, their reputation is suffering, too. Many times I have heard people say they like one brand of card better than another because of performance, or reliability, or whatever. Maybe the SanDisk card they based their opinion on really wasn't? And for bargain hunters, buying SanDisk, or Kingston, or Sony cards based on best price is now so likely to yield fake product that it is safer to buy less famous brands that nobody bothers to copy.

 

I realize I may be a little slow to catch on. I really didn't know knockoffs were as widespread or sophisticated as they are. I didn't even know SanDIsk was a $3 billion company. It makes me wonder what else I own that isn't what it appears to be.

[stephengilbert]

I bought two Sandisk Extreme cards on ebay in November, from a seller with 100% positive feedback. The cards were packaged in plastic clamshells, had the proper paperwork, and hologram labels.

 

A few days after I received them, I got an email from another ebay user who told me he'd bought cards from the same seller which he later discovered were counterfeit. Based on an internet search and a call to Sandisk, I discovered how to tell the fake cards from the real ones: the real ones have a cutout at the bottom, and have a serial number and "Made in China" printed on the card.

 

My seller also offered to refund my money if I returned the cards. I refused, considering the cards to be evidence of a crime. Paypal diddled around for a month or so and I finally had a credit issued by my credit card company. One site I saw claimed that 90% or more of the SD cards sold on ebay are fake. They may work, but they're not the brand advertised.

 

Steve Gilbert

[spylaw4]

I would agree that most eBay Sandisk cards are almost certainly fake. This does not mean that they don't work. Out of the four that I have bought, one is only 1/2 the advertised capacity and the others fail the fake test but work fine. Kingston is less popular and harder to locate so although there may be fakes around you have a better chance of getting the real thing.

[audidudi]

Check out the following link: eBay Guides - FAKE SanDisk Ultra Secure Digital Cards Exposed

[woodda]

Why buy fakes when Mymeory.co.uk deos scandisk 2gb extreme 111 for £15. Cannot understand it. Sorry for being harsh but am at a loss I would understand if it was £40+

[prk60091]

on my d2 i only use san disk ultra II - maximum speed for the camera - lowest price...

one of my cards died. . . . san disk replaced it two years after purchase - i will never buy another type of disk (fyi bought it from jandr.com)

[Chuck Hatcher]

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Why buy fakes when...

 

Of course I wouldn't buy fakes. Unless of course I did not know they were fakes!

 

If you have a source you trust with good pricing, no problem. But when you are choosing a source from hundreds you don't know, it's a risk. I did not deduce from Shentech.com's website I would be defrauded, but I was. Are mymemory.co.uk's cards genuine? If they are, it just goes to show that you can't judge legitimacy by price.

[marknorton]

Another recommended seller is 7dayshop.com - Online shopping made easy !.

[Chuck Hatcher]

I just bought some genuine SanDisk Extreme III 2GB SD cards to replace the fakes. The packaging, to my eye, was almost identical. The boxes were pretty much twins. The plastic clamshells inside the boxes for the real cards were sealed shut and had to be cut open, unlike the fakes which snapped open. The screen printing on the "real" carrying pouches was white vs. red. The real software was version 3.2 and had a serial number on the sleeve, the fakes were 3.0 and did not. The real cards were marked on the back with 2.0GB, SanDisk, a serial number, and "Made in China". The fakes were blank on the back side. One unexpected detail about the real cards is that all four had the same "serial number". The real cards also came with CaptureOne LE activation codes.

 

But the best news is that the "real" cards format in the M8 in about 11 seconds, much faster than any I have had previously.

[george_b]

Another recommended seller is 7dayshop.com - Online shopping made easy !.

 

That's where I get mine, and a really quick service. I had one which would not format, they have a no quibble replacement service. Plus of course I'll shop there again.

George

[topoxforddoc]

Why not buy transcend SD cards? Guy Mancuso did quite a bit of testing on his DMR a couple of years back. Many of us who shoot with a DMR bought transcend cards. They are cheaper than Sandisk Ultra II, but have a performance more like the extreme III cards. They're readily available GBP 22 for a 2GB card in the UK and there aren't many fraudulent ones about as it's not such a famous name.

 

Charlie

[dfarkas]

From my perspective (an authorized Sandisk retailer), this is just awful. From an end user perspective, I'd be pretty mad if this had happened to me.

 

I knew there were counterfit Sandisk cards out there (worldwide). We had a customer buy one while on a trip in China. It worked for a few days, then became corrupt. We attempted to recover the data when she came home, but it was gone. When I showed her a genuine card next to her "I can't believe what a good deal I got" 1GB card, the differences were pretty clear: different colors, fonts, character spacing, markings, etc. She felt bad and so did I.

 

But, I had no idea that this was happening through US online retailers. Bad for the consumer, bad for Sandisk, bad for independent photo retailers like us. I guess the good news is I can now see how some online operations can sell the "same" card at less than my dealer cost from Sandisk. I'm sure this is small consolation to the countless victims of fraud.

 

I'd be curious what legal/criminal action could be taken? Can any lawyers out there provide some insight?

 

David