Cheaper is not Better

I wanted to get a memory card for my new phone. What I found would be best was a Samsung 32GB microSDHC Class 10 card. Now these were going from $99 to $40 a pop depending on the site.

I decided to shop Amazon and eBay with eBay being my first choice over Amazon - HUGE MISTAKE.

The seller noted it was a 'Genuine Samsung' card that was bulk purchased and would come with a generic adapter card for about $40 w/shipping. Dropped the cash and placed my bid which won. Package came first class and opened it up. Right off the bat, not too happy as didn't look the same and in a zip lock bag???

Too tiny to see, but nothing felt right. Took a pic and saw the lettering was not up to par. Maybe a ripoff, but lets test it first. (Also purchased the 'Genuine' card from Amazon that came in a real blister package later)

I did 3 tests - one on computer and 2 on the phone. Computer was done using H2testw tester which has some good word on the net (and free). The phone test were done by downloads of SD Card Tester and SD Tools (both free as well).

This card has a max Write speed of 13 Mbps and a max Read speed of 24Mbps. This was my benchmark for testing.

Tests for card from eBay (cost $39.95 USD):
H2testw (test full card size) : 8.09Mbps write / 13.8 Mbps read
SD Card Tester (tested at 2006mb): 7.86 Mbps write / 9.75 Mbps read
SD Tools (tests at 190mb): 8.0 Mbps write / 16.1 Mbps Read
Average overall : 7.98 Mbps write / 13.22 Mbps read

Tests for card from Amazon (cost $48.70 USD):
H2testw (test full card size) :10.2 Mbps write / 16.4 Mbps read
SD Card Tester (tested at 2006mb): 10.11 Mbps write / 13.55 read
SD Tools (tests at 190mb): 10.1 Mbps write / 20.7 Mbps read
Average Overall: 10.14 Mbps write / 16.88 Mbps read

I found it interesting that the write speeds were close, but the read speeds were all over the place. Still got better results however with the Amazon version than the eBay one.

Hands down Amazon won and the eBay card went back for a refund. I did received my full refund, but lost out on my return shipping costs ~ about $4.50 USD. Needless to say, buy your computer stuff from a company you can trust. If is says "Bulk Purchase", skip it.

Here are some other shots showing the major differences. It was not only the font type, but the paint used as well. Even the backs are noticeably different.


Notice the big difference as well with the number '10' on these as this is a sure sign of a problem. Not to mention the paint job is bad as well on the open from eBay. Like above, Amazon is on the left while eBay is on the right.

Have you fallen into the hole of purchases that are not what you expected?