Expensive lesson, but well learned

[csemegi]

I paid two sellers in China a combined $230 (Canadian Dollars, incl. bank fees for foreign exchange) for shipping and the BuyItNow price for 15 micro SD cards, class 10.

Not one worked.

1. First, they go on for literally two days to fill the card with data.

2. halfway through the computer gives up with "unexpected error."

3. I tried doing the fill-up of cards with data not at once, but in five seven or eight steps, each time feeding it 7 GB. To this, the card filled up; when checked, there was the appropriate amount of space missing (by clicking on "computer" in Windows 7 which shows a pie-chart of each storage space); but there were no data on the card other than in the first and the last folder (out of literally dozens).

4. I then shut off the computer and when I turned it on, it asked me if I want to check for file system errors. I said yes. After twenty minutes, the computer said, "This drive (the SD card drive) has errors which Windows can't fix".

5. I formatted the drive. The SD card. Then I went through the exact same steps as 2. and 3., but because I turned off the computer and let it rest between each 7GB, it took only a few hours to fill the drive. 

6. When I checked the data, then other than the first folder, there was no data whatsoever on the SD card.

7. For this I paid over $200.

8. Good-bye, eBay.

[amethyst1415]

This is not eBay's fault. You have to protect yourself as a buyer. The fact that this seller had as many negative feedbacks this month alone as they did should have told you not to buy from them.

[Anonymous]

Suggest you buy it at your local store (Canada).

[dmil8030]

Hello 'csemegi',

I'm sure you've read through this response to your previous post on this subject:

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Buyer-Central/Same-problems-as-five-years-ago-inaccurate-description-I-a...

I thought it was good advice.  How long ago did you buy these things?  Someone is bound to come

along and say you should have done some 'homework research' about these items from China

before buying, - and that would be good advice too.  It's really rotten that you lost so much money.

Sometimes it is really best to buy things locally, where you can march the item back to the store

and explain that for the money, you feel it ought to perform better.  If you are sweet about it, often times

the clerk will promptly hand you a replacement with profuse apologies.

The fault is not with ebay, not really, although increasingly I am feeling jaded about ebay's continued

encouragement of the petty criminals in that country to go on using this venue.  What a buyer needs to

know is how to seek recompense.  If an item takes to long to arrive for this to be practical, then in light of

the money involved, best to buy closer to home.

You've already seen the 'what to do' link:

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/buy/item-not-received.html

In future, I would say don't dismiss ebay entirely, --- just don't buy from China.   Or at least don't spend

a sum larger than what you would be willing to throw away.  For most people that's under 10 bucks.

I wish you all the best.

[bloodyred445]

Totally agree, don't buy expensive items  or electronics from China. They are usually cheap built or fake. Pay a bit more and buy local, at least you can return it.

[froogal_electronic_parts_and_overstock]

---

@bloodyred445 wrote:

Totally agree, don't buy expensive items  or electronics from China. They are usually cheap built or fake. Pay a bit more and buy local, at least you can return it.

---

I believe I was the one with the advice in the other thread about flash memory. I totally disagree with this above statement. 

The reason why scammers like the flash memory seller happen to be in China is because they are made in China, so it's pretty easy to prey on a  person's naivetee about China and costs etc. 

But... you can easily be scammed locally at a flea market here, online, online local ads, or even  some stores. Where I am, I can always find someone selling these flash drives or SD cards in a local online market. There are easily many % times more scammers on these local sites as compared to ebay. Between fake memory, broken electronics, empty boxes, payment scams and more, I would suggest that the percentage of local scammers is much higher. 

At one time, you could only buy most things from a department store, or retailer, and IMHO, they were the scammers here. Computers used to cost thousands of dollars when they only cost a few hundred to make. Never mind accessories that they charge though the nose for. Want a 1$ printer cable ? $30 please.

Online sales changed all that. While local retailers still charge a crazy amount for a $1 cable, or $5 charger (I saw a camera battery for $70 that I pay $3.50 for), online sales have forced local seller to become more competitive.

This 'few dollars more' would be much more if it wasn't for online sellers.

As for buying from China and their cheap built or fake......this could not be further from the truth. China has the best manufacturing in the world.

I have purchased literally thousands of items from China and can literally count on one hand the amount of non deliveries or poor product that was sent. I have saved 10's of thousands of dollars compared to buying locally.

While it may seem that there are a lot of these scammers on ebay, there really aren't. People rarely come to a forum like this to rain praise. Usually it's to complain or find a solution to a problem.

You do lose the ability to easily take an item back to a local store, if you buy online, but you pay for that. You used to pay a lot, but the gap is closing. Again this is due to more people buying online.

When you buy an item in store or online, you have to do your homework and know what you are buying. I almost purchased "$3000" speakers from the back of a van in a parking lot. Luckily I had to run and found out the next day those $3000 speakers were worth maybe $100. 

Do your homework, make sure you know what you are buying and then buy.

[sylvster3]

I would also check them for viruses, as many 'items' such as this from 'certain countries' will do this. I would do a THOUROUGH security check on my system. If it has a chip in it, it could be hacked.

[sylvster3]

I would do a serious security check on any device you connected these to. The incidence of viruses/malware in this manner is massive. I would be more worried about that than the cash at the moment.