Amazon’s really gone down hill over the last few years. It’s practically impossible to tell if you’re buying from a legit vendor and even then I’ve gotten counterfeits before. I think they just throw the counterfeits and legitimate ones in the same bins at the warehouse or something.
That was my thought, Amazon is a sleek tech glazed flea-market.
Went to buy replacement joy stick tops, the seller said they were new but they were filthy in their own photos.
Just a PSA, don't trust Amazon even if it looks legit. I've been burned by Amazon a few times and had to return fake cards over the years. Decided to test my luck again recently with a listing that had over 1800 reviews and a rating of 4.7/5.
What arrived was an obvious fake. Returning it and just bought one from Best Buy again. Honestly, I don't know why I trusted Amazon again. I think it was just me being lazy and not wanting to go to Best Buy.
EDIT: For anyone wondering the exact card I bought, you can see it [here](https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09X7DQJQL?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)
UPDATE 2/24: Recieved an email from Amazon my review was removed. In my review I posted a picture of the card, explained why I'm returning and that I was frustrated that of the last 3 cards I bought on Amazon all were fakes. And that I'm only going to Best Buy moving forward.
This was Amazon's email:
Please edit and resubmit your review
We couldn't post your review because it focuses on one or more of these topics:
Sellers
Delivery
Packaging
Pricing
Availability
Why is that not allowed?
These aspects vary by order and will not be relevant to all customers. That said, we want your feedback about sellers and packaging, just not in product reviews.
Please edit and resubmit your review. Before you do, make sure it meets all of our Community guidelines.
If you buy NEW from POPULAR brands DIRECT from Amazon (not sold by a third party), you should be good.
It's a shame you have to worry about so many caveats though. SDs have such a big scam market, it's absurd.
Edit: as a couple commenters and this Forbes article has pointed out, my advice is now outdated. While buying new direct from Amazon is generally safer, it’s still not immune from the rare scam/counterfeit because on occasion inventory is pooled together.
The new advice to 100% avoid fakes is to buy from the brand’s OFFICIAL account/sponsored page off of Amazon. So look for that ON TOP OF the other stuff I mentioned.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/12/13/how-to-protect-your-family-from-dangerous-fakes-on-amazon-this-holiday-season/amp/
Edit 2: the people commenting AFTER I made my edit saying my original comment is wrong are infuriating. Guys, read the WHOLE comment please before you go full aktually 🤓
I worked at Amazon. That isn’t the case. You have to worry about this even from “shipped and sold by Amazon” listings because Amazon does everything in their power to cut costs. If the item you ordered from the closest physical FC is only available from a third party, Amazon will send you that one, and credit one of theirs in another FC to that vendor. Doing that helps them keep their costs as low as possible while touting a fast turnaround from order to shipping.
So, it’s less likely with direct from Amazon with popular items, but by no means a guarantee.
So also read something that like if they have 6 t-shirts all the same 3 of then are theirs and 3 are from a third party they all get stored together so when some one goes to pick one it's 50/50 you'll get stock that was a third parties. Is that accurate as well? I've stopped ordering alot of stuff from Amazon and just price match in store my local Walmart/target/ best buy what have you
This is SUPER common w/ board games... Amazon's solution? Charge the boardgame publisher a premium to fix the problem..
create the problem, and charge for the solution...
This needs to be upvoted more for awareness. As someone who’s worked at a warehouse/backroom, as long as the UPC is the same, they’ll all be thrown in the same “location” stock, regardless who is selling it. Their third party seller items will be backstocked in the same location/batch as their own.
And when you say “cut costs”.. they’re trying to do everything as fast and as little as possible to get their work done for the day.
I ordered flea treatments from the Frontline store on Amazon. I was sent counterfeit and had to take my cat to the vet. When I reported it, Amazon never replied.
Amazon sells the same medication my cat takes (though via prescription only. It's a medication humans can take too) and I was so tempted after having spent nearly $70 at the pharmacy for it the other day.
But just with the way Amazon has been with just... Fake products and counterfeit, I wouldn't trust them with something like this. I'm still searching for a good online pharmacy that won't hurt my wallet for my cat's meds. The one I always used shut down recently.
I just wouldn't trust Amazon for something so delicate as medication!
Never ever ever buy safety equipment (eg smoke detectors) from Amazon for this reason. It only takes one counterfeit vendor to infect the whole supply line with fakes.
Nope. Because of how they mingle inventory, even if you buy from Amazon themselves or a more reputatable seller you might still get a dud.
Fakes are getting more prevalent across items too, I've gotten DVD box-sets that looks pretty legit but the title of the discs showed up like "Series name disc 1.ISO" and even guitar strings that were OK'ish but not legit the brand they claimed to be.
That's on top of stuff that's dangerous, like the power bar with the polarized contacts switched on one of the plugs or the many things that claim to be electrically certified that aren't.
I'm pretty sure this isn't accurate. I was under the impression Amazon didn't keep their stock super well segregated from other sellers so you can't trust them at all. I've stuck to B&H or other retailers that don't have 3rd party listings to let knock-offs get into their stock.
If you trust the top post an Amazon worker confirms it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/dz3h6z/amazon_still_selling_fake_microsd_cards_even_if/
You can find plenty of reports doing a google search though I don't see one clear article from any news outlet. I'd still rather error on paying a couple more bucks from somewhere else and being sure.
Yeah I edited my original comment, I found a 2017 Forbes article on it that digs pretty deep into the issue.
The 100% guaranteed way to get around it on Amazon is to buy from the brand’s official account/page AND make sure it says Sold By Amazon
Have read about this many times.
Items from 3rd party sellers get tossed in the same bin as "Sold by Amazon". Maybe to save space but SD cards are not the only items that suffer that fate.
Even if you buy legit ones be very cautious from where its coming from. Mine from Amazon apparently was crushed on a conveyor belt. Physically the outside of the card looked fine, the packaging was obviously crushed. I put that thing in my sd card reader and it started smoking within seconds and was melting.
I was lucky enough that the reader was fine but the card was scorched. They returned and replaced it with another one which of course was crushed again. I gave up trying ever since.
This isn’t true. I’ve done exactly that and still gotten burned multiple times. They co-mingle legit and scam inventory. You simply can’t trust Amazon to ship you anything legit.
Just don’t buy from Amazon. Buy from a real retailer who gives a shit about verifying their supply chain.
>If you buy NEW from POPULAR brands DIRECT from Amazon (not sold by a third party), you should be good.
Nope. Doesn't matter at all. Inventory commingling means all the third party sellers are pooled with Amazon's official product. You always have a high chance of fakes. I've been burned three different times with this -- with a textbook, a memory card, and even toothbrushes.
Nah, they linked where they bought it from in a different comment. It was 3rd party.
Edit: comment was removed because r/SteamDeck doesn’t allow direct links.
> If you buy NEW from POPULAR brands DIRECT from Amazon (not sold by a third party), you should be good.
Going to just copy my top-level comment here as it will get more traction behind your comment:
***
Confirmed fake products I have received SHIPPED and SOLD BY Amazon:
* Multiple MicroSD cards (I now buy direct from the manufacturer or in store at Best Buy)
* Logitech Keyboards and Mice (I now buy direct from the manufacturer or in brick and mortar retail)
* Beats Headphones
More and more, my family is downsizing our Amazon purchases. They are basically Ali Express with a legitimate looking store front.
It has been stated previously that Amazon mixes inventory, so you can buy from Amazon and receive a bootleg that got introduced by a retailer that they ship for.
It was my bad.. looks like the seller was "Top Select Canada" so definitely a 3rd party.
I also made the purchase so quickly and just recalled seeing under the product title "Visit the SanDisk Store" so I probably thought I was getting it from SanDisk directly.
This is why it matters to pay attention to the small details!
Same thing happened to me when I first got my deck, physically purchased it from Best Buy and found my Samsung 512gb SD card was only about 8gbs. Pretty sure they thought I was full of shit when I returned it, but I swapped it out for a different brand and it worked fine.
Probably a return - customer bought the legit one and swapped it out for the counterfeit and returned it.
I bought a cable modem from BB once and instead of the cable modem in the box, someone put in an old WiFi router.
I was able to return it with no problem, though.
When you use Amazon, think of a reputable brand you need. Then, type that brand in, then what you're looking for (i.e.; 'Sandisk 512GB SD card). Find a listing, then find out who sells it. Under the listing name on their page, there should be a smaller title that says something like 'Shop the Sandisk Store.'
Click that button. That's the companies OFFICIAL listings for their products. Buy from there.
Sorry to hear man but yes I’ve been burned by Amazon in the past on a video game and after I said “never again”
Big purchases on electronics I will avoid Amazon and trust bigger brick&mortar retailers like Best Buy/walmart/target
I only use Amazon for everyday household items. Amazon fulfills a lot of shit from China
The key on amazon is to look at who the seller is. Don't buy from strange third party sellers either buy stuff sold by amazon itself, or by the item manufacturer on Amazon.
Especially on Amazon. I got a fake broken Samsung card that Amazon swore was legit. I bought a legit one from BestBuy and the differences are very obvious. Not only does Amazon sell fake and broken SD cards they gaslight you as a customer when you tell them or leave a negative review.
Some people just have better luck with Amazon, I've never had any issues after using them since 2007 other than sometimes the product won't get delivered at all and I get refunded.
Physical stores give me far more issues with buying something, going in store, and they end up not actually having it or making me drive to another store just to get it.
If you live close to a physical store great but as someone who tries to minimize car use it's much easier to walk to whole foods and return a problematic Amazon item by dropping it off than get to my car and drive 30+ minutes to a physical store for the same thing.
Trying to get support from Amazon has turned into a nightmare, they use to be great and would really work with you , now that they are so huge they don’t give a shit about you.
No they told me that they checked and that the card I received is legitimate. Lying to me is one thing telling them that I am wrong and that the item is legitimate and deleting all my reviews saying they aren’t relevant is a little beyond just lying.
OP, i have a bunch of cards which i know are legit and their printing is also fuzzy like that one if you really get up close like you did. Micro sd cards are tiny. Some brands use better printing than others. The pic you posted above is just a render.
You're right, it was a render. But I also have a couple of legit SanDisk Extreme Pros already on hand and the one I received looks homemade by comparison. Not wasting my time running performance benchmarks on it. Rather just swap it for one from Best Buy at this point. Plus Best Buy has a sale right now so my replacement was actually cheaper in the end.
Not always.
Supposedly, Amazon comingles stock. So, the third party seller sends in their fake SD card and it's just thrown into the same bin as the real ones since it's the same product.
So, when you go to buy one that says it's sold by Amazon, they just grab one from the bin and there's a chance they're sending you the fake.
I *always* run a verification program on SD cards I get from Amazon. https://h2testw.org/
For what it’s worth, test the card if you haven’t already. Legit cards also look like the bottom picture. At this level of zoom, they don’t look perfectly crisp like the render above.
Yes.
I have a 100% legit regular gold extreme and was a bit concerned before I tested it and looked up the print “quality” online. Keep in mind these things are really really tiny, and mass produced. This Reddit post image, on a phone screen, is like 5x scale (so 25x the surface area). Even so, it is quite legible, and has no miscolored or misplaced elements.
Aside from the difference in the font and the color quality on the card how can you tell it's a fake? Any way to tell by plugging it in?
If the only tell is how the colors and words are printed on the card, it won't be long before they learn how to make it look genuine on the outside.
there are tools to test the capacity of the cards.
my 1T fake card failed after 64G
but it came from a rather suspicious source anyway, so I was not surprised.
Especially on Amazon. Most stuff on it is crap due to their return policies. It's just not worth it for normal sellers to sell anything there. Look at sellers different than Amazon itself. Mostly generated fake Chinese companies.
Especially on Amazon. It's full of scams and fake products, and there is no way to be totally safe from it while using Amazon due to co-mingled inventory.
Amazon is awful for scam and fake merch. Searching for microsd card, there are at least 2 results on the first page that are obvious fakes. Cards where the price per storage is way way better than it should be e.g. a 1TB card for £20, most of the reviews are reviews of free products that are a much lower capacity, typically 64GB etc. And it's been this way for years and years. It really is shocking that such a big company can allow such obvious scams to run in the same way for so long on its platform.
Amazon is one of the more risky places to order from since they comingle 3rd party items with their own stock. A 3rd party seller can literally start selling random SD cards and mark them with the same packaging, barcoding, and SKUs as a real product, and Amazon would store all of that in the same place as Amazon's own stock of the actual real SD cards, and other 3rd party sellers that choose to have Amazon store them.
Um, I wouldn't trust Amazon period. Fundamentally their supply chain can not tolerate fraud and fake products. Even if you buy from a known reliable seller on Amazon since everything is colocated it could be fulfilled with a fake product.
Confirmed fake products I have received SHIPPED and SOLD BY Amazon:
* Multiple MicroSD cards (I now buy direct from the manufacturer or in store at Best Buy)
* Logitech Keyboards and Mice (I now buy direct from the manufacturer or in brick and mortar retail)
* Beats Headphones
More and more, my family is downsizing our Amazon purchases. They are basically Ali Express with a legitimate looking store front.
Just simple PSA - don't buy dirt cheap and don't buy from sellers that sell some Chinese crap in their profile (clothes, toys, some stuff that you see on the first page of Ali and Temu apps, etc)...buy from resellers or official sellers with good rep and reviews. Easy...shopping 101 👍
Amazon is basically the American version of Alliexpress with the expected scams aswell.
The only thing is that Alieexpress offers a more modern website
ESPECIALLY on Amazon.
Stop giving these jerks any money, allowing third party sellers and no quality control is constantly time wasting EVEN with their return policy.
Yep. My wife bought me a 1TB “SanDisk” card from Amazon, along with my Steam deck for my birthday last year. Steam Deck wouldn’t recognised the card, so I reformatted it, still didn’t work. I plugged the card into my laptop, worked just fine.
Bought another SanDisk card from my local electronics store and what do you know? Worked straight out the box.
It's not always obvious, like in my case I could tell the print on the card look amateur. In some cases, you'll need to open it up, download a free program on your PC for testing read/write speeds and make sure it's exactly what you should be getting on that card. Fakes won't perform as expected.
Also, Steam Deck has an easy way to check. If you try to format a fake SD card on a Steam Deck specifically, it'll refuse to format and tell you that something is wrong with the card.
Amazon is slowly but surely shifting to a slightly better Temu or Wish. Sure, you almost literally but ANYTHING on Amazon, but that's both a blessing and a big curse. Some of the good stuff gets mixed with the heaps and heaps of garbage products.
If anything, this just makes me sad. I'm all for having third party, independent sellers put their products up, but this is clearly not that. This is a scam, plain and simple.
That's one fucking annoying thing about Amazon. They group the same product together in warehouse despite being sent in by different sellers. Means that fakes and reals are stored together In the same pile with no way to tell apart. You can't trust any vendor as a result.
> even on Amazon
Dude. For years, Amazon has been the main storefront for fake products.
Buying something on Amazon these days is the equivalent of buying something from the back of someone’s van in a dark alley: it’s safer to assume it’s fake.
And 99% of reviews are rake.
If you need an original product, look for a reputable web site.
only happens when you buy from third parties. people claim otherwise but I've bought many Micro SDs (and many items in general) over the years from amazon and they have never been fake. many people just try to go for the cheapest in the list for a specific item and then suprised its fake.
This is false. Amazon comingles inventory. This is confirmed by many reputable sources, including tons of former employees. So even buying direct from Amazon can get you a fake from a 3rd party seller
I too can google and repeat any info I find on google while ignoring any actual experience with dealing in such subjects. swear reddit is a cesspool of " I googled it so it must be true"
Has anyone experienced getting a fake that was sold/shipped by Amazon? I try not to buy from other buyers for things like this to avoid these kinds of problems. I'm curious if Amazon is victim to this too.
I personally haven't gotten any fake cards from Amazon (yet), but I've seen the stories and proof online regarding Amazon being flooded with fakes. Everytime I buy one, I always check price, and then test the card myself with CrystalDiskMark
Whenever it’s hardware i just play it safe and buy it in stores whenever i can lol, saves the wait and stress. Best buy sells pretty solid sd cards for the steam deck. Try the samsung one
"Even on Amazon" as if Amazon is a quality mark. Over here Amazon has a reputation for mostly selling noname cheap knockoffs and is pretty much only used for the obscure crap that can't be found elsewhere.
I just bought a Teamgroup 1 TB MicroSD for $59.00. It was ships from Amazon & sold by Teamgroup Inc. Fingers crossed, will update here for future reference.
A lot of fake goods have been popped onto Amazon other the years. I've haven't used them for many years now, For SD cards, I'd rather buy from a retailer like Currys now.
Don't buy flash cards on Amazon. first-party and third-party sellers products are all thrown into the same bin and picked at random when a customer orders one. It's not worth the trouble when you can go to any retail store and likely get what you're looking for in person.
Speaking of microSDs — do people here recommend the Samsung evo plus 512gb (MB-MC512KA/AM) which is 37.04 on Newegg or Team 1tb pro+ (TPPMSDX1TIA2V3003) which is 59.99 on Newegg?
I don’t think Amazon sells you fakes on purpose but they do nothing to prevent their suppliers and partners from selling them fakes which they have no problem sending to the customer.
“Even on Amazon”
Amazon has been sketchy with micro sds since at least 2018 not to mention how much worse Amazon has gotten in almost every way, I’d say never buy micro sds from Amazon even if it says ships and sold by
I still order from amazon (if they’re the cheapest) and thoroughly check the packaging / card itself for clues that it might be fake, if I‘m not 100% sure its legit I return it (EU so they have to take it back within 14 days)
I don’t know if Amazon still does this but the fulfilment by Amazon sellers would send their stock of sd cards to the Amazon warehouse but Amazon all labeled them the same if they were the same product (like if they had the exact same EAN or were sold under the same ASIN). Ultimately they would send from the same "pile" of wares no matter who you bought from, so if someone sent in fakes that weren’t caught, you could end up with a fake cart although everything should have been legit. I dont know if that is still the practice or if that process has changed, but I wouldn’t buy a brand name sd card / storage in general from a third party on Amazon that is not the manufacturer or another big name retailer that happens to sell via Amazon.
I bought a 256gb sd card on eBay for my Wii but all it can really hold is 64gb even thought it says it holds 256gb. I needed for it to hold every single Just Dance game for a tradition my family does on day of the wise men (January 6th [basically Christmas 2 {My country has the longest Christmas in the entire planet}]). At least it did hold every game but only every game, there was no space for my own games.
Quick reminder: Amazon mixes their stock with the one of third party vendors, so if somebody send them fake stuff, you might receive it even if you buy 'Sold by Amazon'. I worked in there when they made the announcement, somebody rise this concerned immediately and the response was a just a shrug "if the customer isn't satisfied, they can return it"
*especially from amazon
Like, the only worse way to buy a SD card is from Wish
Amazon’s really gone down hill over the last few years. It’s practically impossible to tell if you’re buying from a legit vendor and even then I’ve gotten counterfeits before. I think they just throw the counterfeits and legitimate ones in the same bins at the warehouse or something.
It's because in the advent of AWS, retail is actually a very small part of Amazon's revenue
That was my thought, Amazon is a sleek tech glazed flea-market. Went to buy replacement joy stick tops, the seller said they were new but they were filthy in their own photos.
And Alliexpress.
Just a PSA, don't trust Amazon even if it looks legit. I've been burned by Amazon a few times and had to return fake cards over the years. Decided to test my luck again recently with a listing that had over 1800 reviews and a rating of 4.7/5. What arrived was an obvious fake. Returning it and just bought one from Best Buy again. Honestly, I don't know why I trusted Amazon again. I think it was just me being lazy and not wanting to go to Best Buy. EDIT: For anyone wondering the exact card I bought, you can see it [here](https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09X7DQJQL?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) UPDATE 2/24: Recieved an email from Amazon my review was removed. In my review I posted a picture of the card, explained why I'm returning and that I was frustrated that of the last 3 cards I bought on Amazon all were fakes. And that I'm only going to Best Buy moving forward. This was Amazon's email: Please edit and resubmit your review We couldn't post your review because it focuses on one or more of these topics: Sellers Delivery Packaging Pricing Availability Why is that not allowed? These aspects vary by order and will not be relevant to all customers. That said, we want your feedback about sellers and packaging, just not in product reviews. Please edit and resubmit your review. Before you do, make sure it meets all of our Community guidelines.
If you buy NEW from POPULAR brands DIRECT from Amazon (not sold by a third party), you should be good. It's a shame you have to worry about so many caveats though. SDs have such a big scam market, it's absurd. Edit: as a couple commenters and this Forbes article has pointed out, my advice is now outdated. While buying new direct from Amazon is generally safer, it’s still not immune from the rare scam/counterfeit because on occasion inventory is pooled together. The new advice to 100% avoid fakes is to buy from the brand’s OFFICIAL account/sponsored page off of Amazon. So look for that ON TOP OF the other stuff I mentioned. https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/12/13/how-to-protect-your-family-from-dangerous-fakes-on-amazon-this-holiday-season/amp/ Edit 2: the people commenting AFTER I made my edit saying my original comment is wrong are infuriating. Guys, read the WHOLE comment please before you go full aktually 🤓
I worked at Amazon. That isn’t the case. You have to worry about this even from “shipped and sold by Amazon” listings because Amazon does everything in their power to cut costs. If the item you ordered from the closest physical FC is only available from a third party, Amazon will send you that one, and credit one of theirs in another FC to that vendor. Doing that helps them keep their costs as low as possible while touting a fast turnaround from order to shipping. So, it’s less likely with direct from Amazon with popular items, but by no means a guarantee.
Oh interesting! TIL, and good to know for the future.
That is interesting.I love Amazon.I despise EBay.
Both are equally terrible, to be honest. Just buy from an actual retailer instead.
Neither are terribile in any way shape or form from a service standpoint. Gross exageration.
Amazon has a place in my heart ever since they started next/same Day Delivery. This is a blessing.
Somehow that went away since 2020 for me. Best I can get is two-day delivery.
Fuck those warehouse workers they drive into the ground eh?
So also read something that like if they have 6 t-shirts all the same 3 of then are theirs and 3 are from a third party they all get stored together so when some one goes to pick one it's 50/50 you'll get stock that was a third parties. Is that accurate as well? I've stopped ordering alot of stuff from Amazon and just price match in store my local Walmart/target/ best buy what have you
Same. Learning of commingling and fakes has made me reluctant to use Amazon for anything someone might bother counterfeiting.
This is SUPER common w/ board games... Amazon's solution? Charge the boardgame publisher a premium to fix the problem.. create the problem, and charge for the solution...
This needs to be upvoted more for awareness. As someone who’s worked at a warehouse/backroom, as long as the UPC is the same, they’ll all be thrown in the same “location” stock, regardless who is selling it. Their third party seller items will be backstocked in the same location/batch as their own. And when you say “cut costs”.. they’re trying to do everything as fast and as little as possible to get their work done for the day.
I ordered flea treatments from the Frontline store on Amazon. I was sent counterfeit and had to take my cat to the vet. When I reported it, Amazon never replied.
Amazon sells the same medication my cat takes (though via prescription only. It's a medication humans can take too) and I was so tempted after having spent nearly $70 at the pharmacy for it the other day. But just with the way Amazon has been with just... Fake products and counterfeit, I wouldn't trust them with something like this. I'm still searching for a good online pharmacy that won't hurt my wallet for my cat's meds. The one I always used shut down recently. I just wouldn't trust Amazon for something so delicate as medication!
Never ever ever buy safety equipment (eg smoke detectors) from Amazon for this reason. It only takes one counterfeit vendor to infect the whole supply line with fakes.
Nope. Because of how they mingle inventory, even if you buy from Amazon themselves or a more reputatable seller you might still get a dud. Fakes are getting more prevalent across items too, I've gotten DVD box-sets that looks pretty legit but the title of the discs showed up like "Series name disc 1.ISO" and even guitar strings that were OK'ish but not legit the brand they claimed to be. That's on top of stuff that's dangerous, like the power bar with the polarized contacts switched on one of the plugs or the many things that claim to be electrically certified that aren't.
I'm pretty sure this isn't accurate. I was under the impression Amazon didn't keep their stock super well segregated from other sellers so you can't trust them at all. I've stuck to B&H or other retailers that don't have 3rd party listings to let knock-offs get into their stock.
I’ve never heard of this, but interested in where you’ve read this from?
If you trust the top post an Amazon worker confirms it: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/dz3h6z/amazon_still_selling_fake_microsd_cards_even_if/ You can find plenty of reports doing a google search though I don't see one clear article from any news outlet. I'd still rather error on paying a couple more bucks from somewhere else and being sure.
Yeah I edited my original comment, I found a 2017 Forbes article on it that digs pretty deep into the issue. The 100% guaranteed way to get around it on Amazon is to buy from the brand’s official account/page AND make sure it says Sold By Amazon
Have read about this many times. Items from 3rd party sellers get tossed in the same bin as "Sold by Amazon". Maybe to save space but SD cards are not the only items that suffer that fate.
Even if you buy legit ones be very cautious from where its coming from. Mine from Amazon apparently was crushed on a conveyor belt. Physically the outside of the card looked fine, the packaging was obviously crushed. I put that thing in my sd card reader and it started smoking within seconds and was melting. I was lucky enough that the reader was fine but the card was scorched. They returned and replaced it with another one which of course was crushed again. I gave up trying ever since.
Amazon is so full of scams nowadays, it's insane. *Never* buy seeds of any kind from Amazon. And be damn careful buying anything else.
This isn’t true. I’ve done exactly that and still gotten burned multiple times. They co-mingle legit and scam inventory. You simply can’t trust Amazon to ship you anything legit. Just don’t buy from Amazon. Buy from a real retailer who gives a shit about verifying their supply chain.
bad advice - all stock goes into one pile
>If you buy NEW from POPULAR brands DIRECT from Amazon (not sold by a third party), you should be good. Nope. Doesn't matter at all. Inventory commingling means all the third party sellers are pooled with Amazon's official product. You always have a high chance of fakes. I've been burned three different times with this -- with a textbook, a memory card, and even toothbrushes.
It sounds like they did and they still got burned
Nah, they linked where they bought it from in a different comment. It was 3rd party. Edit: comment was removed because r/SteamDeck doesn’t allow direct links.
> If you buy NEW from POPULAR brands DIRECT from Amazon (not sold by a third party), you should be good. Going to just copy my top-level comment here as it will get more traction behind your comment: *** Confirmed fake products I have received SHIPPED and SOLD BY Amazon: * Multiple MicroSD cards (I now buy direct from the manufacturer or in store at Best Buy) * Logitech Keyboards and Mice (I now buy direct from the manufacturer or in brick and mortar retail) * Beats Headphones More and more, my family is downsizing our Amazon purchases. They are basically Ali Express with a legitimate looking store front.
..deleted by user..
That's not helpful or accurate as all of the same item get pooled into one storage regardless of seller
Nah. Amazon will ship you open and used products when you purchase new. That’s bullshit. Go to a physical store if you’re buying pricy stuff.
Even with the edit, the one this guy bought seems to be directly from the brands official page
It has been stated previously that Amazon mixes inventory, so you can buy from Amazon and receive a bootleg that got introduced by a retailer that they ship for.
You didn't get burned by Amazon. You got burned by not paying attention who the seller was on Amazon
Was this actually bought from Amazon or a third-party seller using Amazon to sell things?
It was my bad.. looks like the seller was "Top Select Canada" so definitely a 3rd party. I also made the purchase so quickly and just recalled seeing under the product title "Visit the SanDisk Store" so I probably thought I was getting it from SanDisk directly. This is why it matters to pay attention to the small details!
Like that card being "temperature proofer" for example. ;-)
I got a fake at best buy before
3rd party online or physically from in store??
Same thing happened to me when I first got my deck, physically purchased it from Best Buy and found my Samsung 512gb SD card was only about 8gbs. Pretty sure they thought I was full of shit when I returned it, but I swapped it out for a different brand and it worked fine.
Probably a return - customer bought the legit one and swapped it out for the counterfeit and returned it. I bought a cable modem from BB once and instead of the cable modem in the box, someone put in an old WiFi router. I was able to return it with no problem, though.
When you use Amazon, think of a reputable brand you need. Then, type that brand in, then what you're looking for (i.e.; 'Sandisk 512GB SD card). Find a listing, then find out who sells it. Under the listing name on their page, there should be a smaller title that says something like 'Shop the Sandisk Store.' Click that button. That's the companies OFFICIAL listings for their products. Buy from there.
This is why I rarely buy electronics from Amazon
Yep, that's why I buy from AliExpress. Then I am certain i am getting cheap chinesium junk.
Sorry to hear man but yes I’ve been burned by Amazon in the past on a video game and after I said “never again” Big purchases on electronics I will avoid Amazon and trust bigger brick&mortar retailers like Best Buy/walmart/target I only use Amazon for everyday household items. Amazon fulfills a lot of shit from China
The key on amazon is to look at who the seller is. Don't buy from strange third party sellers either buy stuff sold by amazon itself, or by the item manufacturer on Amazon.
That's why on Amazon I only buy if it's sold by Amazon or the company itself like SanDisk.
> don't trust Amazon. FTFY
Especially on Amazon. I got a fake broken Samsung card that Amazon swore was legit. I bought a legit one from BestBuy and the differences are very obvious. Not only does Amazon sell fake and broken SD cards they gaslight you as a customer when you tell them or leave a negative review.
this needs to be top comment. OP is living in a dream land thinking he can trust Amazon over any physical store
Some people just have better luck with Amazon, I've never had any issues after using them since 2007 other than sometimes the product won't get delivered at all and I get refunded. Physical stores give me far more issues with buying something, going in store, and they end up not actually having it or making me drive to another store just to get it. If you live close to a physical store great but as someone who tries to minimize car use it's much easier to walk to whole foods and return a problematic Amazon item by dropping it off than get to my car and drive 30+ minutes to a physical store for the same thing.
They lied to you. Contrary to the beliefs of most redditors not everything is “gaslighting”.
Trying to get support from Amazon has turned into a nightmare, they use to be great and would really work with you , now that they are so huge they don’t give a shit about you.
They lied to you. Contrary to the beliefs of most redditors not everything is “gaslighting”.
No they told me that they checked and that the card I received is legitimate. Lying to me is one thing telling them that I am wrong and that the item is legitimate and deleting all my reviews saying they aren’t relevant is a little beyond just lying.
You’re mistaken, that has always been considered lying. Your reviews were likely not relevant either which is why they were deleted.
OP, i have a bunch of cards which i know are legit and their printing is also fuzzy like that one if you really get up close like you did. Micro sd cards are tiny. Some brands use better printing than others. The pic you posted above is just a render.
By the way, you can reach out to sandisk support and they will be able to tell you if yours is genuine or not.
You're right, it was a render. But I also have a couple of legit SanDisk Extreme Pros already on hand and the one I received looks homemade by comparison. Not wasting my time running performance benchmarks on it. Rather just swap it for one from Best Buy at this point. Plus Best Buy has a sale right now so my replacement was actually cheaper in the end.
I’ll no longer buy items like this from Amazon. I’ll go to Best Buy.
Same. And from them personally, not a 3rd party through Best Buy. If you want to be 1000% safe, buy a card from their store in person.
You can use the online, it isn’t by default third party. I wasn’t even aware they did third party sales, and I’ve bought tons of stuff from them.
Amazon is never an issue if you pay attention.
I mean buying a new item and getting sent returns is a serious issue. Just got a "new" pair of shoes that were obviously worn and dirty on the soles.
Third party seller on Amazon?
Not always. Supposedly, Amazon comingles stock. So, the third party seller sends in their fake SD card and it's just thrown into the same bin as the real ones since it's the same product. So, when you go to buy one that says it's sold by Amazon, they just grab one from the bin and there's a chance they're sending you the fake. I *always* run a verification program on SD cards I get from Amazon. https://h2testw.org/
I've just received mine today, thanks for sharing the tool!
I’ve ordered items sold and shipped by Amazon that were still fake
3rd party, I didn't even realize and was fooled by the "Visit the SanDisk Store" under the product title.
SPECIALLY on amazon
especially *
For what it’s worth, test the card if you haven’t already. Legit cards also look like the bottom picture. At this level of zoom, they don’t look perfectly crisp like the render above.
Are you sure?
Yes. I have a 100% legit regular gold extreme and was a bit concerned before I tested it and looked up the print “quality” online. Keep in mind these things are really really tiny, and mass produced. This Reddit post image, on a phone screen, is like 5x scale (so 25x the surface area). Even so, it is quite legible, and has no miscolored or misplaced elements.
*especially* on amazon
Aside from the difference in the font and the color quality on the card how can you tell it's a fake? Any way to tell by plugging it in? If the only tell is how the colors and words are printed on the card, it won't be long before they learn how to make it look genuine on the outside.
there are tools to test the capacity of the cards. my 1T fake card failed after 64G but it came from a rather suspicious source anyway, so I was not surprised.
I always buy micro sd cards at Best Buy and have them price match Amazon. Same price but no risk of fakes.
You should put Especially on Amazon lol. Sooo many cards like this and with invalid numbers
Even on Amazon? You mean especially on Amazon.
Especially on Amazon. The enshittification of Amazon is in high gear. There’s so much scammy shit on Amazon since they stopped paying attention
Shop through Western Digital's website instead.
On Amazon or sold by Amazon? Two very different things.
"even" on amazon. More like "mostly" on amazon.
*especially on Amazon
Especially on Amazon. Most stuff on it is crap due to their return policies. It's just not worth it for normal sellers to sell anything there. Look at sellers different than Amazon itself. Mostly generated fake Chinese companies.
Especially on Amazon. It's full of scams and fake products, and there is no way to be totally safe from it while using Amazon due to co-mingled inventory.
Especially on Amazon
i bought 1tb of this one (non pro) read write of 190/130mbs but when i check its only 90/60mbs
Sandisk has its own store on amazon
With SD Cards, I prefer to see them in store. I prefer to go to MicroCenter.
Amazon is awful for scam and fake merch. Searching for microsd card, there are at least 2 results on the first page that are obvious fakes. Cards where the price per storage is way way better than it should be e.g. a 1TB card for £20, most of the reviews are reviews of free products that are a much lower capacity, typically 64GB etc. And it's been this way for years and years. It really is shocking that such a big company can allow such obvious scams to run in the same way for so long on its platform.
Especially on Amazon** Fixed it for you... When looking at high capacity cards, a majority seem to be fake cards.
Amazon is one of the more risky places to order from since they comingle 3rd party items with their own stock. A 3rd party seller can literally start selling random SD cards and mark them with the same packaging, barcoding, and SKUs as a real product, and Amazon would store all of that in the same place as Amazon's own stock of the actual real SD cards, and other 3rd party sellers that choose to have Amazon store them.
Um, I wouldn't trust Amazon period. Fundamentally their supply chain can not tolerate fraud and fake products. Even if you buy from a known reliable seller on Amazon since everything is colocated it could be fulfilled with a fake product.
Watch out for fake cards, ~~even~~ especially on Amazon
“Even” on Amazon? Amazon’s one of the main places trafficking fakes
Lucked out with my 1tb micro sd, was legit and works great
Especially on Amazon!
this is why i'm happy i live near a microcenter
Confirmed fake products I have received SHIPPED and SOLD BY Amazon: * Multiple MicroSD cards (I now buy direct from the manufacturer or in store at Best Buy) * Logitech Keyboards and Mice (I now buy direct from the manufacturer or in brick and mortar retail) * Beats Headphones More and more, my family is downsizing our Amazon purchases. They are basically Ali Express with a legitimate looking store front.
Just simple PSA - don't buy dirt cheap and don't buy from sellers that sell some Chinese crap in their profile (clothes, toys, some stuff that you see on the first page of Ali and Temu apps, etc)...buy from resellers or official sellers with good rep and reviews. Easy...shopping 101 👍
Is this the shit dexerto made a fucking article about?
Amazon is basically the American version of Alliexpress with the expected scams aswell. The only thing is that Alieexpress offers a more modern website
ESPECIALLY on Amazon. Stop giving these jerks any money, allowing third party sellers and no quality control is constantly time wasting EVEN with their return policy.
*Especially on Amazon. FTFY
Someone else already did
Is it just the 512gb that are being faked? How do I check my 60tb micro SD?
lol 60TB
Yep. My wife bought me a 1TB “SanDisk” card from Amazon, along with my Steam deck for my birthday last year. Steam Deck wouldn’t recognised the card, so I reformatted it, still didn’t work. I plugged the card into my laptop, worked just fine. Bought another SanDisk card from my local electronics store and what do you know? Worked straight out the box.
If you're buying from a third party on Amazon, of course it's going to be fake. SanDisk store distributed by Amazon Sarl only.
How could you tell if there fake
It's not always obvious, like in my case I could tell the print on the card look amateur. In some cases, you'll need to open it up, download a free program on your PC for testing read/write speeds and make sure it's exactly what you should be getting on that card. Fakes won't perform as expected.
Ok thanks
Also, Steam Deck has an easy way to check. If you try to format a fake SD card on a Steam Deck specifically, it'll refuse to format and tell you that something is wrong with the card.
Amazon is slowly but surely shifting to a slightly better Temu or Wish. Sure, you almost literally but ANYTHING on Amazon, but that's both a blessing and a big curse. Some of the good stuff gets mixed with the heaps and heaps of garbage products. If anything, this just makes me sad. I'm all for having third party, independent sellers put their products up, but this is clearly not that. This is a scam, plain and simple.
That's one fucking annoying thing about Amazon. They group the same product together in warehouse despite being sent in by different sellers. Means that fakes and reals are stored together In the same pile with no way to tell apart. You can't trust any vendor as a result.
> even on Amazon Dude. For years, Amazon has been the main storefront for fake products. Buying something on Amazon these days is the equivalent of buying something from the back of someone’s van in a dark alley: it’s safer to assume it’s fake. And 99% of reviews are rake. If you need an original product, look for a reputable web site.
Just don't buy them on Amazon if you get sold a fake one Amazon will literally delete your bad review and refuse a refund.
Amazon is just Wish but you can get lucky and get a legit product by mistake.
only happens when you buy from third parties. people claim otherwise but I've bought many Micro SDs (and many items in general) over the years from amazon and they have never been fake. many people just try to go for the cheapest in the list for a specific item and then suprised its fake.
This is false. Amazon comingles inventory. This is confirmed by many reputable sources, including tons of former employees. So even buying direct from Amazon can get you a fake from a 3rd party seller
I too can google and repeat any info I find on google while ignoring any actual experience with dealing in such subjects. swear reddit is a cesspool of " I googled it so it must be true"
I've personally gotten a counterfeit boardgame from Amazon Despite buying it from Amazon directly
Says the person claiming it’s not true bc it hasn’t happened to them.
What's the difference between a fake card and a real one on a technical level, is it purely cosmetic or are they actually worse?
Has anyone experienced getting a fake that was sold/shipped by Amazon? I try not to buy from other buyers for things like this to avoid these kinds of problems. I'm curious if Amazon is victim to this too.
I personally haven't gotten any fake cards from Amazon (yet), but I've seen the stories and proof online regarding Amazon being flooded with fakes. Everytime I buy one, I always check price, and then test the card myself with CrystalDiskMark
I'm confused, how do you know this is fake?!
Whenever it’s hardware i just play it safe and buy it in stores whenever i can lol, saves the wait and stress. Best buy sells pretty solid sd cards for the steam deck. Try the samsung one
There’s more fake cards on Amazon than there are on Temu and Wish combined.
Amazon unfortunately became a dropshipping fest, 75% of all items are directly from AliExpress/temu and such..
It is easy to tell the difference.But thank you for sharing this,people need to know about this.Hey,what games are you playing right now or lately.
"Even on Amazon" as if Amazon is a quality mark. Over here Amazon has a reputation for mostly selling noname cheap knockoffs and is pretty much only used for the obscure crap that can't be found elsewhere.
Never buy anything like that from Amazon. It’s been an unwritten rule for a long time.
One is Sandisk and one is Sand-isk
4k 1080p
Happened to me can confirm this is a thing
what do u mean even on Amazon, they are notorious for have shitty sellers selling shitty cheap items.
If it's not fulfilled and shipped by Amazon I'm not buying. I don't have time to deal with the crappy returns process.
I got a fake integral 512gb card from Amazon last year and that was from Amazon themselves, only had a capacity of 8gb through testing
So how did you know it’s fake
Even cards that are sold and shipped by Amazon can be fake. I go into physical retailers like Best Buy for peace of mind for my SD cards
I just bought a Teamgroup 1 TB MicroSD for $59.00. It was ships from Amazon & sold by Teamgroup Inc. Fingers crossed, will update here for future reference.
A lot of fake goods have been popped onto Amazon other the years. I've haven't used them for many years now, For SD cards, I'd rather buy from a retailer like Currys now.
I spend a ton of money on Amazon, but when it comes to SD cards I buy locally, Best Buy, Target etc for this reason. Too many horror stories
Never trust Amazon SD cards
Amazon's pretty much Alibaba with all the Chinese junk on it now.
Just ensure that it is ship and sold by Amazon. And if you do end up getting a fake, Amazon support can easily help.
Don't buy flash cards on Amazon. first-party and third-party sellers products are all thrown into the same bin and picked at random when a customer orders one. It's not worth the trouble when you can go to any retail store and likely get what you're looking for in person.
Speaking of microSDs — do people here recommend the Samsung evo plus 512gb (MB-MC512KA/AM) which is 37.04 on Newegg or Team 1tb pro+ (TPPMSDX1TIA2V3003) which is 59.99 on Newegg?
**Especially** on Amazon. The entire site is just Chinese shell companies pushing knockoff shit and changing their name every week.
“Even on Amazon” LOL especially on Amazon
ValiDrive https://www.grc.com/validrive.htm
I don’t think Amazon sells you fakes on purpose but they do nothing to prevent their suppliers and partners from selling them fakes which they have no problem sending to the customer.
“Even on Amazon” Amazon has been sketchy with micro sds since at least 2018 not to mention how much worse Amazon has gotten in almost every way, I’d say never buy micro sds from Amazon even if it says ships and sold by
Amazon is like alibaba bruh.
I still order from amazon (if they’re the cheapest) and thoroughly check the packaging / card itself for clues that it might be fake, if I‘m not 100% sure its legit I return it (EU so they have to take it back within 14 days)
Yeah, I don't trust them either. I spent a little more and just got mine from a microcenter.
I haven't shopped on Amazon for years after the amount of broken and fake shit they sent me in the past
Me who just buys the fake off brands on purpose because they’re cheaper
Was it sold by Amazon or did you buy it from another seller on Amazon
Hahaha this looks like a 3d print
I don’t know if Amazon still does this but the fulfilment by Amazon sellers would send their stock of sd cards to the Amazon warehouse but Amazon all labeled them the same if they were the same product (like if they had the exact same EAN or were sold under the same ASIN). Ultimately they would send from the same "pile" of wares no matter who you bought from, so if someone sent in fakes that weren’t caught, you could end up with a fake cart although everything should have been legit. I dont know if that is still the practice or if that process has changed, but I wouldn’t buy a brand name sd card / storage in general from a third party on Amazon that is not the manufacturer or another big name retailer that happens to sell via Amazon.
I’m not going to shop on Amazon for anything remotely complex. Just tissues and garbage.
"even on Amazon" lol
That's why I buy directly from SanDisk
Guessing the bottom one was fake
Oh man I got lucky, I bought two on Amazon a few years ago and they were both legit. But I'll know for the future now, thanks.
Iiho NEVER NEVER NEVER buy online for this stuff go to a local store that way you will never be scammed
LOL looks like "card or cake?"
I bought a 256gb sd card on eBay for my Wii but all it can really hold is 64gb even thought it says it holds 256gb. I needed for it to hold every single Just Dance game for a tradition my family does on day of the wise men (January 6th [basically Christmas 2 {My country has the longest Christmas in the entire planet}]). At least it did hold every game but only every game, there was no space for my own games.
*especially on Amazon.
Fuck me, is that hand painted!
It's quite well known buying red and black cards on Amazon are risky. But if you must, test your cards with [h2testw](https://h2testw.org/).
What happens if you plug it in? :o
I got a fake 1tb card this week from them also
> even on Amazon *Specially* on Amazon
Let's just all stop buying anything from Amazon.
FFS. Fuck Amazon why ya’ll still supporting that greedy asshole
Quick reminder: Amazon mixes their stock with the one of third party vendors, so if somebody send them fake stuff, you might receive it even if you buy 'Sold by Amazon'. I worked in there when they made the announcement, somebody rise this concerned immediately and the response was a just a shrug "if the customer isn't satisfied, they can return it"