When shopping for SD cards online you need to be very careful of a popular SD card scam. There are lots of fake cards out there as well as cards which lie about the storage capacity.
Unfortunately eBay is packed full of dishonest sellers and there are so many of them I would recommend shopping elsewhere. Despite reporting these listings eBay does nothing because they think it is acceptable to describe an item with misleading titles.
There are two types of sd card scam to be aware of :
- Cards that claim to be a trusted brand (SanDisk, Samsung etc) but are actually fakes with fake printing and fake packaging. They can look very convincing!
- Cards that claim to have a higher capacity than they report when plugged into your computer. These will let you write data to them but will simply overwrite previous data. You may not notice until you try reading data at a later date.
Here is an obvious example. The item title reads :
64GB Class 10 Micro SD SDHC mini Memory Card TF Flash – UK Seller
and the image looks like :
This is clearly an advert for a microSD card with a data capacity of 64GB with a speed rating of Class 10. It’s styled to look like a Samsung EVO card. If you searched eBay and found this item you would expect to get a 64GB Class 10 card on which you could store 64GB of data.
But next comes the description …
ITEMS DESCRIPTION
Please Read before you make the order:
Cards will vary in capacity and speed as they are factory formatted in bulk and so real capacity will vary from 8GB to 64 GB. It is recommended that you format your card before use to ensure that the correct capacity size is used on your device / devices, otherwise data stored when it has exceeded its capacity could be lost or become corrupted. We also advice that you backup any data stored on the card.
We will not accept responsibility for any data lost.
Package Included:
1 X 64GB MICRO SD CARD
1 x Free UK Shipping
Once again it lists what you will receive when you buy this item. “1 X 64GB MICRO SD CARD”. But the description says the card may be 8GB. The speed rating could be anything.
An SD card is either 64GB or it isn’t. If you buy a car with a 2 litre engine you expect it to have a 2 litre engine. Not 1 litre. Not 1.6 litre.
The “Factory formatting” excuse is complete garbage. Every honest SD card seller on the planet can tell you what the capacity of their cards is so why not this guy? I’ll tell you why. My guess is that he purchased a crate of random cards from a factory in China and has no idea what they are. He then expects you to take the risk.
Some might say that it doesn’t matter because it is cheap but why buy from someone selling a product of such poor quality that they don’t know what they are selling? Why would you waste your money? Why would you risk your data to save a few pounds? If you would be happy with a slow 8GB card then just buy a slow 8GB card from an honest seller.
Yes a genuine 64GB card will be more expensive but it will actually be a 64GB class 10 card. Why order a Faberge egg and accept a potato?
This item is incredibly misleading, unethical and dishonest. It is a disgrace to the Union Flag it abuses.
You should avoid eBay items where the title does not match the description like the plague. Given eBay does nothing to tackle this issue I would recommend on buying SD cards from Amazon that are sold by “Amazon” rather than a third-party.
Some of the product links in this post are affiliate links. I receive a small commission based on purchases made via these links. The price you pay is the same.