WARNING! Shamazon 256GB SD cards under $30 are a FRAUD!

[Hypilein]

I guess burglars feel the same way...


Err ... well if you knew it was a scam then you wouldn't take the bait? Q.E.D right?

His argument is that when you buy fraudulent items on one of these arabic bazars/chinese markets you don't actually buy the product. You buy the memory of buying something on your holiday, the bartering. They serve you mince tea, tell you all of these (probably not 100% true) stories. It's the experience you pay for. You only buy, because you may feel obliged afterwards even though you are (hopefully) aware that you are being scammed.

Obviously in an online marketplace this doesn't exist and you just get a shit product for too much money.

 

[pellicle]

...
Obviously in an online marketplace this doesn't exist and you just get a shit product for too much money.

The bottom line, even when one haggled for what will be rubbish in a Chinese market (bin there done that too, the memories may or may not be worth it to you). Still as I said there must be some element of you thinking it wasn't a scam or you wouldn't even haggle for it....

 

[Christop82]

I have learned to always buy SD cards from big box stores. Otherwise they may be fake.

 

[DwrCymru]

I can sympathise with seeing a bargain, one that looks too good to be true. I saw advertised a SanDisk Ultra SDHC 32 GB UHS-1 Class 10 memory card for the ridiculous price of £2.84 with FREE postage. I checked the reviews, the company selling this item was praised for their quick service and there was nothing to sugest that the card was nothing but what they were selling. I ordered it, received it a few days later, I checked it for full capacity and it was indeed a genuine 32 GB SD card. I'm still using it 2.5 years later, have formatted it, deleted file from it, just used it. Here is a screen shot of my order listing:

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[vm666]

That's an old swindle which started with USB memory keys.
Software tools have been written to check USB keys, e.g. BurnInTest - Detecting fake and oversize USB drive capacity
Fake external disk drives have also been seen: Fake Chinese 500 GB external drive is one clever paperweight (literally)

Just curious: why do you need such a big SD card? I find safer to use several 16 or 32 GB cards. At least, if one of them crashes, I did not lose everything.

 

[DwrCymru]

It's a choice the buyer makes, they shouldn't be berated because they made a bad decision and then decided to warn the community of the mistake they made. There are some great deals out there, if the cost is minimal, like mine was, then the risk is also so small it does not matter, millions of people spend £2.00 in the hope they will become millionaires, no one ever says they were taken for a ride. Folks are entitled to do what they want, they get stung or they don't, but it's not wrong to warn others of doing the same mistake that they did.

 

[DaveEP]

Just curious: why do you need such a big SD card? I find safer to use several 16 or 32 GB cards. At least, if one of them crashes, I did not lose everything.

Well, of course it's all relative. I don't know how long you've been shooting digital, but when I started we were using 64MB and 128MB cards (Meg, not Gig!). Eventually I got some 256MB and 512MB. When 1GB cards started appearing people were saying that they'd NEVER use a card that big because they didn't want to lose everything and would rather shoot with multiple 256MB cards instead.

Lots of people said they'd never move past 512MB because it was easy to back those up to CDs but 1GB cards wouldn't fit.

The same thing happened all over again as 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB cards appeared.

Of course, file sizes have increased from the original 1MP & 2MP cameras being used back then.

I happily shoot with 64GB and 128GB Transcend cards. I've got lots of 16/32GB cards I rarely use now.

 

[SVQuant]

Well, of course it's all relative. I don't know how long you've been shooting digital, but when I started we were using 64MB and 128MB cards (Meg, not Gig!). Eventually I got some 256MB and 512MB.

The first digital camera I used was a Sony Mavica which used 3.5" floppies! 1.44MB!

 

[blumoon722]

I just got a Minolta Dimage V at a thrift shop for $.50 (50 cents)
It has a 2MB-5 SmartMedia card.
The Dimage manual says the card will hold 16 pics on fine and 40 on standard.
I thought the card was pretty worthless until I checked Ebay and saw they were selling for around $50.00 !!

 

[DaveEP]

The first digital camera I used was a Sony Mavica which used 3.5" floppies! 1.44MB!

I remember it well! I used one but never actually owned one!

 

[Weebee]

LOL, I still have my Sony FD-91 and a box of floppy discs. The thing cost me as much as my Nikon D7100. I just can't part with it. I'll take it out on shoots just to see the looks from people.

 

[vm666]

Well, of course it's all relative. I don't know how long you've been shooting digital, but when I started we were using 64MB and 128MB cards (Meg, not Gig!).

For a while, my digital pictures were taken by a Minox 35 GT or an Olympus OM-4, and a Nikon LS-50 scanner... My first real digital camera was a E10, which had a CF and and SM slot. So I remember the 128 MB cards (the maximum size for SmartMedia, I believe).
If I remember well, we were more limited on a 128 MB card at that epic time than on a 32 GB card now (especially if you saved in TIFF format)

Of course, file sizes have increased from the original 1MP & 2MP cameras being used back then.

I can put nearly 1400 pictures (16 Mp, fine JPEG and RAW) on a 32 GB card. That's the equivalent of 38 rolls of film from the old days. I admit that the way to use our cameras changed when we switched from analog to digital photography but I think this is sufficient for me.

I suppose that videos need more space?

 

[KBeezie]

Some of those I would be like... why bother when you can get a Sandisk Extreme Pro for under 20$ (16GB though, but it's an Extreme Pro U3 all the same). (and I'm talking about B&H pricing here).

 

[jdcope]

This site needs an emoticon that conveys "embarrassed that I was such a sucker..."

Seriously, I thought Shamazon could be trusted to handle quality merchandise. The negative reviews go back over six months! (And the positive reviews look "shillish," with lots of misspelled words and "Chinglish" grammar.) Why haven't they acted against this supplier by now?

The truth is, you're no better on Shamazon than you are on evilBay. Caveat emptor.

Sorry to hear you got scammed. But Amazon is light years beyond ebay. The difference is never buy from third party sellers.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

LOL, I still have my Sony FD-91 and a box of floppy discs. The thing cost me as much as my Nikon D7100. I just can't part with it. I'll take it out on shoots just to see the looks from people.

Still got my first digi, too - a Coolpix 990. Mostly use it with the fisheye lens these days...

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[DaveEP]

I suppose that videos need more space?

As would using things like 6K photo or shooting a lot of time lapse, especially in raw.

Using smaller cards over and over would theoretically wear them out quicker than using a larger card fewer times (OK - I admit I've NEVER worn a card out!)

There's also the argument that someone could go out for the day, a week or a month with two 128GB/256GB cards in a GH5 / EM-1-II in backup mode (writes to both cards at the same time) and not chance losing / breaking them by changing them out in the field. It's not how I would choose to shoot, since I like to backup every day, but at least you 'could' shoot like this.

I can see arguments both ways and don't have an overriding feeling one way or the ether. They both work. I know someone who still shoots on 4GB cards and won't even consider anything else. Of course they are now moaning how hard they are to find!

 

[Z-Shooter]

I try in earnest to live by these words......
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweet taste of the lowest price is forgotten.

 

[four56]

I've had good experiences with Amazon customer support when returning and reporting items that were counterfeit or have never arrived. I'm sorry you went through this.
Definitely use their online chat support, have your order number ready.