I am always on the lookout for good deals on camera equipment and accessories. Unfortunately, this post is not to inform you of a great deal I found, and is rather a notice to everyone that you should be careful who you buy from on
Ebay. Sometimes looking at the merchant's ratings is not enough, as I learned first hand over the past week. I found a very good deal on what I thought was a brand new, sealed,
16GB SanDisk Extreme IV compact flash card for my camera, but it turned out to be a fake counterfeit version. The deal looked solid; A merchant in Markaham Ontario Canada (a 5 hour drive from here), a 98% positive rating with over 130 sales (negative sales were unrelated to electronic equipment), labeled as Brand New and Sealed, Free Shipping, and Accepts PayPal. So I figured, "Why not? I could always use another CF card!" and I put in the winning bid. One week later I received my item in the mail, and the first thing I noticed was that the packaging was not sealed as was indicated in the listing.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4UH2f8c30_g-N6OxQMCfiDREWT7YaqlzDYyG0b6yuBzV7LODpDV2sxk-7AVpMQ6jVzU70a5YO99csV9t7sPykjgur24V14RKb9ad8BluIGC1ViL6PpaPp0RxmQCdrEfp9r61UAFUA0p2d/s400/box.jpg)
But after opening it up I saw what appeared to be a SanDisk Extreme IV 16GB CF card, at least that's what the hologram stickers on it said it was.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ3B4Mv1_m7C524ftUlzxZu64u3o1kN4YrDR-Ibr71EWOzfD1JiI4Cqf6zYcXCRK0rgkqvDjKuxedmkDKXyPZ3ClPtD3vNSIw3IwtxS9BOyMxUHTv_DnJFuBRB0ELLJRggAmC21daZ5oWJ/s400/Fake+SanDisk+16gb.jpg)
So the first thing I did was pop it into my computer and that is when I saw that this in fact was only a 8GB card,
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9jR0yeTiEfV2WKsabZ-VTtq60Wu3hZTAnHNMzioqh-UGOuT7wlrN6fj_DSet-rHACK5p8iD3_TNk2TUSR6oRmXLmAZcnDmqWnRMaok2v65WITNp8DVYnoOvO-uhxUIBYkubrBOoUUFdS0/s400/Disk+Properties.jpg)
and on top of that it even had a photo already on it taken with a
Sony A350 DSLR.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9i9iT37UrGBS8GudoXAXGqvEA9oX9X0nOXo2IOrbijW4y-8H0NSbEcra6QccmkvSCJ0DsUzqju2b-zs6mboa3ViXVBWA4LcTOrFmCGg9BqTs9MJzsa2uGuOHdT5B3PkivlWqELp8hAYnw/s400/DSC01563.JPG)
Therefore #1: This was not a NEW card as labeled in the listing, and more importantly #2: this is a fraudulent counterfeit 8GB card dressed up to look like a 16GB SanDisk Extreme IV. It would have been a convincing fake had they at least used an equivalent 16GB card, however there are several other ways to identify a counterfeit SanDisk card from a genuine one. Firstly, if you look at the corners of the metal plating on both the front and back of the card, a genuine SanDisk has rounded edges on all four corners, counterfeits do not.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4muFmF5ox6a745hXWZcqwqy7lcYrCQsqZnSNHKtKlM33CC6jBfzBAVjc_sNQUuRNi5bbySgBEqOPOWZam1AXlbceWZUOcOw8WXcCTFRP-Fe2AKKz1ASRvSybu1WbPLe1TkTS2YwTkWzq2/s400/fake+vs+real.jpg)
Secondly, genuine SanDisk products have one line of white color serial number 'BH07xxxxx Made In China' on the bottom edge or 2 lines of 'BE05xxxxx' and 'China' on the side edge. Counterfeits may have no serial number, another variant of serial number, and may be produced in a different country. If it says anything other than Made in China, it is 100% that it is a fake. The card I received did say Made In China, however the serial number pattern does not match.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVynblDTAW_sFVR-sTXsc50BZyj3NrMaLJyih7YnxHqBgepf0zLR3hgbhLEKVmKkIv7eGveCscwWV7UrzhC2S0IIkQlfkqWNRwycnm4DQF33wXFVt11h0W6xgAUAVisSz1YGR-8c7uPxX/s400/Serials.jpg)
Thirdly, genuine SanDisk products arrive in a heat pressed, fully sealed plastic blister container that needs to be cut open with a pair of scissors to access all the items inside. Counterfeits such as mine are not sealed. Genuine Extreme IV's arrive with a full size CD with 'RescuePro Deluxe 4.0' software, while this counterfeit version arrived with a mini-CD RescuePro 4.0.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-rutyX8fYEUvOEL0Qgei1muKMAGDG9AAMKOpQtjqJfQHvKPAjfrgvvS0bTyk5jdTZEBHbMs7AYvfXkXMdnx-4ghwguugXUu_rnTbPhFEbihBuGdvHTyuGFmal5taKCtIhotX7hvxaIJ6p/s400/Disk+and+Shell.jpg)
So what's the difference? Who cares? For starters, I care, I care a lot! I require genuine SanDisk products because I know SanDisk has a reputable and reliable history of providing compact flash cards that will not fail. Their cards have been tested to withstand rugged use without failure, while these cheap knock-offs have no such history and are just a time bomb waiting to go off. Loosing data while out on a shoot for a client, or even for myself, is NOT an option. I therefore only use top quality compact flash cards to ensure this never happens, because I know first hand how unreliable cheap flash media can be. Counterfeits also do not even come close to producing the speed a genuine SanDisk Extreme IV is rated to provide. The counterfeit I received only gives me 16.9mb/s while a genuine Extreme IV should provide 40mb/s.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbOTlTYe9qPLnbOncfecXF1QHCI1JH-5V4MVRalPFiIyK18xJUpAo1TflInI9FcOZ_juV9IqtPoX94xl2xjv0OMyFMcRx1wspHDJQJPkH5_kB3FXhKelrKpgS8ccXpJsQIjsTeEZ9N-vI6/s400/CF+Speed.jpg)
In the end, because I paid with
PayPal I was able to get my money back. However, I had to go through all the headaches associated with calling and dealing with PayPal, and obtaining proof from SanDisk that this was in fact not a genuine SanDisk product to satisfy PayPal's requirements.