Refunded!
This page is devoted to eBay members who purchased a fake mp player, memory card, usb flash drive and received a refund from a fake flash memory seller or who received a warning from eBay not to complete a transaction with an eBay seller.
Why did SOSFakeFlash introduce this page?
We need to encourage buyers to fight for their refunds, to document eBay’s complicity in the sale of fake flash memory items. When they suspend a seller they also use this opportunity to remove all listings and begin sanitizing the internet, cover their tracks.
You will find the background in: eBay Flash Memory Fraud Continues. 8 Years later, eBay Continues Cover Up For Fraudulent Asian Sellers. 8GB 16GB 32GB 64GB 128GB 256GB Advertised Capacity = 4GB Real Capacity Or Less
Only comments for a refund received or an eBay warning are permitted on this page – any other comments will be deleted. If you wish to discuss your fake flash memory seller, please use another post or page.
If you received a refund in your comment:
1. eBay seller id
2. eBay listing item description
3. eBay seller addressing information
4. Paste in correspondence from the seller if you like
5. Your personal observations and comments
If you received a warning from eBay not to complete the transaction:
1. eBay seller id
2. eBay listing item description title you bid on
3. eBay Message you received Not to complete the Transaction
4. Your personal comments and observations
You can help document and fight back, leave evidence. It will encourage other victims and make a public internet record for everyone to see.
Quick hint – put all the information into notepad, then paste in the comment, it is faster!
SOSFakeFlash 
karen said
I also was ripped off by LY7589 But I copied and pasted your article and e-mailed it to ebay. I got a refund immediately! Thank you!
tim said
this was almost a year ago so i can’t remember all the details, but i was frauded by UPCOMINGTREND, where i thought i was getting 16gb flash drive, but it was just a 2gb drive.
i opened up a dispute case in paypal, requested the sellers contact information, and tried contacting them. the paypayl resolution center was tedious but helpful to show that i was trying to do the proper thing in solving the case, but the other party never responded and it took many days……perhaps more than a week if i remember correctly to get responses?
finally, i just tried calling the contact’s number that ebay provided to me over and over again on skype (to china) and they spoke broken english, for a few days, until finally the lady on the other line was probably getting fed up at me calling all the time so she said she’d refund me what i paid for back on to my credit card and that i oculd keep the fake flash drive.
it sounds like things are more in favor of us victims, but at least i got a WIN
Bob said
I bought 2 of what were supposed to be Kingston DataTraveler 150/64G for about $50 from 李伟玲 aka luckystar16899168@gmail.com aka f9w8g4f back in Nov/09 and it took about two months of playing cat and mouse with Paypal to get my refund. They would not however pay for my nuetral 3rd party analysis, or the faxes I had to send. At one point they closed the case and told me I was out of luck, but I complained and they reopened it. So hang in there and good luck if you get ripped off like me.
Olen Phipps said
Just registered complaints with eBay and Paypal about hacked cards from crystalpalace and hahoney in China. Hahoney refunded money, crystalpalace is doing the email dance about “Are you sure, have you formatted, keep me informed, etc,etc?”
There are a bunch of those small time crooks out there and they are stealing tons of money.
Keep working on stopping them.
Olen
Garry said
I was ripped off by ANDY-WJM (who turned into HELLO-9928 towards the end). I got a refund from Ebay but it is no compensation for the hassle I went through. The seller will just start up again with a new ID.
Joseph said
I also was ripped off by “crystalpalace1987” and sent a copy of your article and e-mailed through paypal and got a refund instantly! Thanks so much!
[AFX] said
i was ripped off by only2*you for a 16gb SDHC class 6 card, from eBay.
item ID: 260622397554
item: 16GB Class 6 Secure SD SDHC Memory Card For Camera PDA
THE CARD ITSELF
i don’t know how big the card really is but at first i transferred more then 2GB and it errored out, causing all of the data on the card to be erased. the second time i was able to get 5GB of data over, but then the car errored out again. this time however, the data remained, but there were numerous files that had erroneous characters and were between 1GB-3GB each. there were about 50+ of these files, so this was obviously a fake card. some images displaying the above-mentioned:
not only this, i tested the card speeds with ATTO Disk Benchmark. write speeds were generally 1-2MB/sec while reads were about 6-7MB/sec. another proof that this was a fake or falsely advertised card, as the minimum write speed should of been at least 6MB. i compared this card to my 4GB class 4 SDHC card and the 4GB was much faster than the fake card.
THE SELLER
no communication from the seller at all. sent 3 ebay messages with my findings, as well as an e-mail explaining my findings and how i would pursuit further action. i would also like to note that this seller included a piece of paper stating to leave good feedback and that they would resolve any problems ASAP; this was not the case. i left negative feedback because of this.
ACTIONS TAKEN
i filed a PayPal dispute and the automated crap went though, saying i had to return the item for a full refund. i was extremely angry considering that the victim still has to pay shipping and handling!
i was recommended this website by another eBay user. i went through only2*you’s negative feedback and found that a lot of other people were victim to this scam too. with the direction and assistance from a user who posted here, i was able to get a refund by calling my credit card company. it only took 2 days.
lesson learned for me: i will NEVER buy digital memory from eBay ever, ever again. i will go to my local shop. in fact, that’s what i ended up doing: grabbed an 8GB SDHC class 6 card for the price of a 4GB – a steal for me!
InspectorTech said
Thanks [AFX] !
Your pics are really good. It brings back a lot of memorys for me.
The file system corruption. LOL. A lot of eBay buyer feedback calls this “Chinese”. Yep, they think the file system is being written in chinese characters instead of their language. The truth is, it is corruption of the FAT table.
Great stuff! Everybody should look at what your computer saw!!!
Agree with you. Don’t buy on eBay, better to pay fair prices from a local seller. You can always talk to a local seller if you have a problem. Real people. Besides, shouldn’t we support our local retailers in the first place? Help our local economies?
eBay = cry! eBay = grief!
Wish more people were like you [AFX]!
Get your refund, then warn other people who bought from your sinky fake memory eBay seller!
[AFX]’s picts are some of the best I have seen for file corruption. Look and learn people.
eBay Private Auctions. Fraud. Flash Memory. 199 eBay Sellers Involved. « Techchips said
[…] can learn more about the secrets of getting a refund by reading the new page at SOSFakeFlash Refunded! Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)eBay Black List Sellers – Fake Memory Published […]
Sean C. Davis said
I just got a full refund today by eBay after Andy-WJM (Hello-9928) never sent me the items I bought from him. Since one was a supposedly a 32 gig flash player, it’s almost certain that it was going to be hacked flash.
It took me somewhere around 2 weeks.
Gareth said
ebay can suck my dick!
Update Summer 2010 « Flash Fake Memory Central – Information – FlashChipDirector said
[…] […]
KittyFireFlash said
@Gareth,
Venting is good for the soul, but this page is for people who received refunds. To tell their stories, how they got them by being persistent and refusing to GIVE UP!
The key is to say No! to the fraud.
Who was your seller? You can post on the report a fake page if you want to reveal to others.
If you are burning mad, action speaks louder than words. Fight the seller , contact other buyers and warn them.
As weird as this may sound, the harshest critics of eBay at this site are old long time members on eBay.
We know what eBay once was. A magical place to find all sorts of great stuff, things almost impossible to find elsewhere.
Things started to go downhill when eBay was determined to enter the chinese market.
Read https://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/ebay-fake-flash-sellers-of-mp-players-usb-flash-drives-memory-cards-about-their-ids/
Like so many companies they sold their “soul”. High eBay executives who tried to preserve the integrity of eBay were vapourized. Sound familiar? Deja vu?
It’s an echo and mirrow of what is happening in our global community.
You really don’t want eBay, Gareth attending to your “crown jewels”…..
If you are angry Gareth, channel that anger as we do – warn fellow buyers and squeeze eBay’s “dick” until they cry with pain. The pain they have inflicted on so many members who trusted in them! Their pain is lost profit and having to refund members who go after them.
SOSFakeFlash has over 2.5 years of experience and there is one common thread.
Show your teeth, Gareth and do something positive. Action! Venting is good for your personal well being but it does not address the issue.
If you were frauded by a fake flash memory seller on eBay read
and chose a job description that suits you.
Rachel said
1. eBay seller id:
ec_station (using email of ec_station@yahoo.com.hk and contact name Ka Yee Wong)
2. eBay listing item description title you bid on
300440149498 – 16GB 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Memory Stick Jump Drive Pen
3. eBay Message you received Not to complete the Transaction
MC999 eBay Listing Removed: (403382739)
Dear ,
We’re writing to let you know that we removed the listing for the following item that you bid on or won:
300440149498 – 16GB 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Memory Stick Jump Drive Pen
Most items listed on eBay are legitimate, and there are many things we do to protect our members from buying items that aren’t. One thing we do is remove items reported to us as allegedly infringing through the eBay VeRO program.
In this case, we removed the listing because the copyright or trademark owner of this product reported that they believe the item may not be authentic.
What to do next:
If you won the item and haven’t paid for it yet, don’t pay for it.
If the seller offers you the item outside of eBay, we strongly encourage you *not* to accept the offer. These types of transactions are extremely risky and are not covered by eBay buyer protection programs.
If you’ve already paid for the item through eBay and want to get your money back:
— You can open a case in our Resolution Center. You have to wait 7 days from the day you made your payment before you can open a case.
— To access the Resolution Center, go to:
http://resolutioncenter.ebay.com
— Under “I bought an item,” select “I haven’t received it yet.”
— We’ll walk you through the process for getting a refund. Because we removed the listing, you won’t be able to look up the seller’s contact information.
If you paid but didn’t go through eBay, here are some things you can do:
— If you paid using Western Union (800-325-6000) or MoneyGram (800-926-9400), contact the company directly.
— If you paid by check, contact your bank to stop payment.
— If you paid by credit card, contact your credit card company to dispute the payment.
We want to make sure you get your money back safely and quickly.
Learn more about how we’re working to prevent the sale of counterfeit items:
http://pages.ebay.com/againstcounterfeits/
Thanks,
eBay
4. Your personal comments and observations
I had paid for the drive before receiving this message. I received it a week later. After verifying it was a fake, I contacted ebay as instructed and opened a case. One week after opening the case, ebay sent me a message asking if it had been resolved. I responded it had not and within hours had a refund.
Curt Scott said
My ID is Spectrelayer.
My “ITEMS”: MP3 player sold by PricelessAuction.
I made a complaint to eBay, PayPal & the Federal Trade Commission.
After threatening to sue PayPal in small claims court & posting the reference number the FTC e-mailed back to me about my complaint: Paypal issued a credit to my account for the purchase price. This is the 2nd win in less than 90 days.
I published an account of the strategy here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110571487905
Zig said
http://www.flash-memory-drives.com
Watch these guys! A wee bit cheap and a five day sale but look at the shipping times and contact info – beware!
William said
Ok so Paypal refunded us $26 for 1 out of the 6 cards we purchased,Here is the letter they sent when asked why we were not refunded for all of them
To continue with the investigation of your complaint, we must request
documentation to support your claim that the item is not authentic. Please
obtain a document from an unbiased, third-party, such as a dealer,
appraiser, or an organization that is qualified in the area of the item in
question (other than yourself), which clearly identifies the item as not
authentic. The document must specifically state how the item received
differs from an authentic item and must include a detailed explanation of
how the person evaluating the item determined that it is not authentic. If
possible, the document should include a serial number, and must be on
letterhead that includes the name, address, and phone number of the
business or organization so that PayPal may contact them if necessary.
The documents should be faxed to PayPal at (402) 537-5760 (please note this
is a United States phone number, if you are faxing from outside the United
States, you will generally need to dial 00 1 before the number). Please
include a cover sheet with your fax that includes the email address
registered on your PayPal account and the ID number of your claim
(PP-001-056-870-814), so we may attach the documents to your claim as
quickly as possible.
We must receive your fax by September 10, 2010 in order to proceed with the
investigation of your claim. If we do not receive your fax by September 10,
2010, your claim will be canceled. We are unable to grant extensions to
this time period. Please note that PayPal is unable to reimburse you for
any costs or fees that may be incurred in obtaining the requested
documents. Any documents you provide may also be supplied to the seller in
your dispute if necessary.
Thank you for your cooperation and patience. We regret any inconvenience
this request may cause.
Dean said
We are writing to let you know that the listing for the following item you bid on has been removed:
200512439656 – New 16GB TF Memory Card 16G Micro SD SDHC MicroSDHC TF
We strongly recommend that you do not complete this purchase. Purchases of items listed on eBay but then completed outside of eBay are extremely risky. They are not covered by eBay buyer protection programs and are highly susceptible to fraud.
For more information on offers to buy or sell outside of eBay, please go to:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/rfe-spam-non-ebay-sale.html
***If You Have Already Paid***
If you have already paid for this item but have not received it, you should act quickly to get your money back.
– Contact your bank to stop payment if you paid by check.
– Contact your credit card company if you paid by credit card.
– If you paid by Western Union or MoneyGram, contact the company directly (Western Union 800-325-6000 or MoneyGram 800-926-9400).
– If you paid with PayPal, you may be eligible for up to C$2,000 coverage at no cost.
1. Log in to your PayPal account.
2. Click the “Resolution Center” tab at the top of the page.
3. Click the “Report a Problem” link.
4. Select “Item Dispute” and click continue. Follow the directions to open a dispute and escalate to a claim.
PayPal claims must be filed within 45 days of the close of the listing. It can take 30 days or more to complete the investigation and resolve the dispute.
Our goal is to keep eBay safe so you can buy confidently. It is rare that something goes wrong with a transaction on eBay. Whenever these events do occur, we try to help as much as possible to resolve the issue.
This is an Automated Response, so please do not reply to this message. If you still have questions, please click the “Contact Us” link at the left of the eBay Help pages.
Thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,
eBay Trust & Safety
H19352
Colin said
Same applies — bought an Kingston Datatraveler 310/256GB on ebay. After purchase, eBay email’s me “eBay has ended an item you were bidding on for breaching of one or more of our policies”, and tells me not to complete the transaction as the item has been removed.
This approach does not work well for a “buy it now” item.
Contacted seller: fangfrank_1 email: yuleiyulei888@163.com
and received the run-around from them (Hello friend, Item has been shipped, don’t worry. 25-30 days)
Eventually recieved items, and sure enough — FAKE!
Ran the “H2testw 1.4” test, and this is the output:
Warning: Only 10000 of 255968 MByte tested.
The media is likely to be defective.
0 KByte OK (0 sectors)
19 MByte DATA LOST (38912 sectors)
Details:19 MByte overwritten (38912 sectors)
0 KByte slightly changed (< 8 bit/sector, 0 sectors)
0 KByte corrupted (0 sectors)
19 MByte aliased memory (38912 sectors)
First error at offset: 0x0000000000000000
Expected: 0x0000000000000000
Found: 0x0000000127420000
H2testw version 1.3
Ran the same test on a know good product, and the test functions fine.
Reported all this in details to PayPal, using their dispute resolution centre, and things are looking promising, but it is in their hands.
Recommendation — ALWAYS use PayPal
KittyFireFlash said
Hmmm.
Not a lot of comments here. 😕 Does that mean, eBay is not refunding buyers? If you were refunded, please leave a comment here.
TC said
I received a refund immediately from the seller when I agreed that I would revise my feedback and change it to a positive.
Now, since I have my money now, should I revise the feedback or should I be a dick and leave them with the negative.
Could they possibly take my money back or change the positive they left me to a negative on eBay?
Thanks.
The_Flash said
Revising negative feedback and changing it to positive feedback is considered to be *VERY* bad form around here (and rightly so!) – the reason why is because it allows more of your fellow buyers to be defrauded, the same as you were.
In my humble opinion, it’s revising it that would be the unpleasant option, because it would very likely directly cost others hard-earned money and irreplacable data.
red said
TC,
You’re not being a dick.
You use whatever ‘legal’ means you have to get your money back from these thieves. These sellers have no ethics or morals. They knowingly sell this crap. They are criminals committing fraud.
So, my ‘vote’ is No, don’t revise it! As The_Flash said it only aids the seller in making more victims. The refund does not cancel out the fact that they did try to cheat you and sold you a fake. You could add feedback followup indicating that you did get a refund and they tried to extort you!
No, they can’t take your money back (without your authorization).
No, they can’t change the positive they left you to a negative. This is the official word from ebay themselves: “You can’t revise positive Feedback. However, you can leave a follow-up comment go to your original Feedback.”
Found this by searching ebay’s help for ‘modify feedback’.
KittyFireFlash said
Addresses. We NEED address information on sellers you verify! Please do your best to send in any information you have. It is important. We are working on detecting the counterfeit rings. You help is needed!
Wes said
If you received a warning from eBay not to complete the transaction:
1. eBay seller id: xxxwonder
2. eBay listing item description title you bid on: New 32GB TF Micro SD SDHC Flash Memory Card 32G MicroSD
3. eBay Message you received Not to complete the Transaction
Dear <user ID removed) (email address removed),
We are writing to let you know that the listing for the following item you bid on has been removed:
250752660212 – New 32GB TF Micro SD SDHC Flash Memory Card 32G MicroSD
We strongly recommend that you do not complete this purchase. Purchases of items listed on eBay but then completed outside of eBay are extremely risky. They are not covered by eBay buyer protection programs and are highly susceptible to fraud.
For more information on offers to buy or sell outside of eBay, please go to:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/rfe-spam-non-ebay-sale.html
***If You Have Already Paid***
If you have already paid for this item but have not received it, you should act quickly to get your money back.
– Contact your bank to stop payment if you paid by check.
– Contact your credit card company if you paid by credit card.
– If you paid by Western Union or MoneyGram, contact the company directly (Western Union 800-325-6000 or MoneyGram 800-926-9400).
– If you paid with PayPal, you may be eligible for up to C$2,000 coverage at no cost.
1. Log in to your PayPal account.
2. Click the "Resolution Center" tab at the top of the page.
3. Click the "Report a Problem" link.
4. Select "Item Dispute" and click continue. Follow the directions to open a dispute and escalate to a claim.
PayPal claims must be filed within 45 days of the close of the listing. It can take 30 days or more to complete the investigation and resolve the dispute.
Our goal is to keep eBay safe so you can buy confidently. It is rare that something goes wrong with a transaction on eBay, but these events do occur from time to time. When they do occur, we try to help as much as possible to resolve the issue.
This is an Automated Response, so please do not reply to this message. If you still have questions, please click the "Help" link at the top of any eBay page and then click the "Contact Us" link on the left.
Thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,
eBay Trust & Safety
4. Your personal comments and observations
Began to have corrupted video and pictures. Filed dispute with Paypal today. Ran H2testw program and found my card is a dud. Left followup feedback on Ebay for this purchase and then discovered this site. Now I can't update my feedback because I have already left one follow-up. Hopefully I get a refund.
TechChips said
Not many comments recently….
😕
Does this mean ebay is not refunding?
difdoor9701 said
This is all ebay great. I buy a lot of the fake drives from China. I sell them on Ebay. I then discover I am selling fakes (256GB Flash Drives). I immediately open my Paypal and refund every person who bought one. (Ebay and Paypal did not contact me. I just did the right thing.) I did not ask for changes in my feedback and there were no disputes raised against me. I did try to get my money back. My seller is a criminal. Guess how that went? Paypal let me file disputes etc. My e-mail is similar to Williams where all I need to do is get someone to authenticate my claim. The stores I go to like BestBuy say, “We will tell you it is fake, but it against our policy to put it in writing to protect BestBuy.” The funny thing is none of my customers knew they had fakes because of formatting issues in the real item.
KittyFireFlash said
Thank you for your honesty, difdoor9701. Please read: How An eBay Seller Accidentally Fell Into The Trap Of Selling Fake 32GB Micro Memory Cards On eBay But Discovered In Time! A Personal Story. eBay Buyer Suspicions, Internet Research Did The Rest
Yes you have done the “Right Thing” by refunding your buyers. You are also demonstrating the true “eBay Spirit”. Your Financial loss will hurt, but you are wiser. It will hurt, but don’t forget that some of the founders of SOSFakeFlash are eBay sellers like you – they accidentally sold fake flash memory on eBay. They also refunded all buyers and sent them emails to explain and apologize.
Who was your supplier? Do not hesitate to list the supplier here, address, and email.
If you funded your purchase with a credit card, please contact them. Supply the evidence and details. Most are more than willing to help. Skip trying to get assistance from the USA and Canadian BestBuy retail outlets. This company is not likely to stick out it’s neck to rescue frauded buyers from Wholesalers or even eBay. They are too concerned about issues with Brand Names and also potential law suits.
Contact Kingston Technologies. Get an email confirmation from them that the goods you purchased are counterfeits – fakes. Provide this email along with testing results to your credit card. Feel free to add additional links to articles from the FrankenFlash project sites to support your claims and evidence. Most Credit Card companies will allow you one claim of fraud per year. They can do a reversal of the transaction. eBay and PayPal HATE THIS. People who have been frauded, LOVE THIS!
Why, difdoor9701?
Because credit card companies are more interested in the well being and satisfaction of their customers, then eBay or PayPal ever will be! They fight actively against fraud and protect their customers. This includes you. You might be an eBay seller but you are also a buyer. You bought in good faith from your supplier. You did not expect to be frauded or to end up frauding eBay members as a result of purchasing counterfeit Kingston products.
Please fight back, difdoor9701.
For the sake of your customers, for the sake of yourself as an eBay seller. In refunding buyers you have demonstated integrity.
Now you are in the same boat as the rest of us. You must fight for a refund and add your voice against fake flash memory.
Good Luck. Don’t give up. Don’t give in.
SOSFakeFlash is proud of you.