LightInTheBox Selling Counterfeit Transcend MicroSD Cards? (Photos)

LDBW on 20/01/2018 - 21:00
Last edited 22/01/2018 - 22:52

Update 22/01/18 22:22PM
Refund has been confirmed.

Update 22/01/18
LITB's rep stepped in the case which incredibly accelerated the entire refund process. Now they have processed the refund and I will need to be patient during next few days for the money to come back. It's a bit shame that people like me had to use social media to 'push' the merchant so they will pay attention to the customers. When the rep told me they had stopped cooperating with the supplier weeks ago when they heard the earlier report, I actually tend to believe this was the fact. However, I am not convinced to give them a another chance, at least for an important goods like a microSD card. Although they claimed they have terminated the business with that dishonest supplier, it is more important that how was the problematic supplier chosen at first place? I am not sure if I have expressed clear enough - it was a microSD card this time, but who can guarantee it will not be something else next time?
Too much time has been wasted in the past few days.

I bought 5x Transend microSD card off LITB in Dec 2017. Took one out today and noticed the extremely slow transferring speed.
At first I thought it probably was caused by the file system I have formatted (which I was doubting as I sell electronics and have used many different brands and types). So I tried formatting to FAT/FAT32/exFAT/NTFS but nothing has changed.

Same Serial Number for the five different cards which doesn't looks quite right to me:
https://imgur.com/a/DmoZe

Transend official validation page:
https://imgur.com/a/OUfiE

Quick speed test:
https://imgur.com/a/PqU8g

Actual transfer speed:
https://imgur.com/a/6sdab

Found an older report about selling fake cards by LITB here

I highly suspect these are counterfeit, can someone just confirm it for me please?

Electrical & Electronics

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Comments

  • bobbified on 20/01/2018 - 21:41
    +6

    Same Serial Number for the five different cards

    That's a dead giveaway that they're fake!

    No doubt about it! File that claim/report!

    Second time around for this seller - It's not going to be pretty for them.

  • Quantumcat on 20/01/2018 - 21:57
    +1

    Test it with H2testw. Here is a guide
    Then you will know for sure instead of speculating.

    • DBW on 20/01/2018 - 23:07
      +1

      Thanks, now testing in progress.
      Randomly picked one and the writing speed stabilised at 7.56MByte/s (AFAIK this is still under the minimum speed as Class-10 meant for 10MB/s at least). I will test them out and post results once it's done.

      It's still in the middle of the testing however I already see some issues here

      • Quantumcat on 21/01/2018 - 00:14

        Not looking good!!

        • DBW on 21/01/2018 - 00:17

          See my update below, I am 99.99% sure these are fake products. I was actually stunned, and then amused.

  • lgacb08 on 20/01/2018 - 21:58
    +1

    definitely. did you purchase in one transaction? If so then they haven't been very careful with their screening as it can be detected very easily.

    • DBW on 20/01/2018 - 22:23

      Nope. These were purchased separately as I needed to apply the coupon code. In fact, cards were not shipped with retail package at all. It was just packed like this

  • blitz on 20/01/2018 - 22:07

    What was the outcome of using the "Transcend official validation page"? The image doesn't seem to show. I assume it validates (i.e. the OEM retains the original card with that serial number, so the website validates any and every card with that number).

    • DBW on 20/01/2018 - 22:11

      The screenshot was the outcome after I pressed 'Submit' button. Looks like it's telling me the Serial number was incorrect?

  • paul11 on 20/01/2018 - 22:23
    +1

    These Chinese ecom websites like LITB, Gearbest, Aliexpress prices are very enticing. But I rarely buy from them, because of the reasons you just mentioned i.e. fake products. I bet 90% of people don't even bother to do the authenticity check you did. Amazon US is far better in this regard, great prices and authentic/genuine products. Although the prices are not always as low as these Chinese sites, because Amazon does not sell fake products.

  • JimmyF on 20/01/2018 - 22:42
    +3

    Same Serial Number for the five different cards

    Ummm serial numbers are unique identifier, so yes screams FAKE

  • teacherer on 20/01/2018 - 22:53

    Dodgyyy
    I wonder if the usb and sd card I have coming are legit

    • Clear on 20/01/2018 - 23:08

      All my Samsung cards have turned up legit.

      • DBW on 20/01/2018 - 23:24
        +1

        Yes, I bought some Sandisk and Samsung cards and they turned up to be genuine. Not sure why they are selling fake Transcend cards. It's still in the middle of the testing however I already see some issues here

        • Clear on 20/01/2018 - 23:32

          Dodgy supplier mixing up fakes with real ones perhaps? Packaging on fakes are often so identical that the untrained eye can miss it.

      • MeesusEff on 21/01/2018 - 05:25

        How do you tell if it's legit? Is there a website where we can check serials? Mine recently came in the mail now I'm worried..

  • DBW on 21/01/2018 - 00:15
    +5

    Update:
    What a Joke!?

    "24.9 GByte DATA LOST (52295975 sectors)"

    image link

    Warning: Only 31991 of 31992 MByte tested.
    The media is likely to be defective.
    6.3 GByte OK (13221593 sectors)
    24.9 GByte DATA LOST (52295975 sectors)
    Details:0 KByte overwritten (0 sectors)
    0 KByte slightly changed (< 8 bit/sector, 0 sectors)
    24.9 GByte corrupted (52295975 sectors)
    0 KByte aliased memory (0 sectors)
    First error at offset: 0x00000000003b2800
    Expected: 0x00000000003b2800
    Found: 0x00008000003b2840
    H2testw version 1.3
    Writing speed: 7.58 MByte/s
    Reading speed: 11.1 MByte/s
    H2testw v1.4

    Seriously, I have never seen a worse situation than this one
    Guess I should continue further testing for the rest of four cards just to make sure I will have firm evidence handy when speaking to the customer service.

  • techhead on 21/01/2018 - 07:24
    +1

    Wow that's incredibly slow transfer rates. Bought 4 Kogan 32GB SD cards and even tbose got a miserable 13 MB/s sustained transfer. (Which is very slow but they were $13) the data loss on yours is pretty much a dead giveawy. Push for a refund, if they don't fess up, push it through Paypal.
    Bought two items from Lightinthebox and both were hassles, G1W camera was not axvertised capacitor version. Also had bung software, could not turn off the 3Min video segments nor upgrade it. Xiaomi speaker never showed up, getting a refund was painful.

  • tassieeagle on 21/01/2018 - 08:24

    Will be interesting to hear the reps response.

  • DBW on 21/01/2018 - 08:51
    +2

    Update (21/01/18 08:21AM ACDT):

    Got an initial response from the LITB, seems this is where it gets foxy. I have a feeling I will have to lodge a refund request through PayPal.

    Dear Customer,

    Thank you for contacting us.

    Please be noted that all of our branded products selling online are genuine and with official authorization. As a loyal and honest company for over 10 years, we have a strict product control procedure before shipping. We resolutely resist any fake products be sold to our customers. So please don't be worried about our products.

    While we'd like to help recheck if you are assure enough it's a not genuine, we kindly request you to provide us with below information:

    1. The pictures of the product, package and packing list you received.
    2. The pictures to show the difference from genuine product. Please describe more details as much as you can.

    As soon as we received your pictures, we will contact our related department for a further check. . It may take a couple of days to get a response. We will inform you the moment we receive an update.

    We are looking forward to your early reply.

    Sincerely,
    Oneal
    lightinthebox.com Customer Service

    I have provided the photo of the package (OEM and brand-less generic package) but the comparison to a genuine product? That makes me looked like a fool and not to mention their statement "all of our branded products selling online are genuine and with official authorization" was already proved not true in the earlier post.

    • Clear on 21/01/2018 - 10:30

      Contact the rep here on OzBargain. Will probably get it resolved before PayPal's 30 day window.

      • DBW on 21/01/2018 - 11:18

        Thanks, just PM'ed the rep

  • No Username on 21/01/2018 - 08:53

    Get a refund and buy these:
    https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SD-Card-SanDisk-32GB-64GB-128GB-…

    I'm guessing you were using them for your 3DS, looking at the cias file extention. If so the the linked SD cards offers grate speed transfers. Around 20-40 mbps using a 20 cent zapals sd card reader on usb 2.0 with around 8 usb ports in use at the time.

    • cheapisgood on 21/01/2018 - 12:04

      depends what you are planning on using the SD cards for. That one you linked, the write speeds are pretty meh.

      • Quantumcat on 22/01/2018 - 08:54

        If it's for 3DS you don't need a really fast card, as any reading and writing is limited by the console's speed, which isn't amazing

  • Ocker on 21/01/2018 - 09:19

    There are so many counterfeit products being sold on EBay these days that you have no guarantee of getting the real thing via them either.

    Negative feedback comments for this EBay seller about transfer speeds, and late delivery raises red flags for me.

  • DBW on 22/01/2018 - 08:31
    +3

    Update (22/01/18 7:51AM):

    All five microSD cards confirmed to be counterfeit

    The actual storage size is only 8GB and is a Class 6 grade product.

    H2testw restuls
    Card #1
    Card #2
    Card #3
    Card #4
    Card #5

    Followed up with LITB's customer service. Awaiting response.

    • dust on 22/01/2018 - 10:09

      Yikes. Thanks for update! (Will be interesting to hear LITB's response too.)

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