604. Got a 'fake' USB stick from ebay

If it sounds too good to be true...

I bought two 128 Gb usb sticks from ebay for $12 each. Typical prices are $60 and over PER drive. Obviously, the drives were fake, which is a well-known phenomenon: http://www.ebay.com.au/gds/Fake-USB-DRIVES-From-China-HK-/10000000007355216/g.html

(why did I still buy them? Part greed, part curiosity)

Once I received the sticks I installed f3 on debian, and ran the f3write/f3read test.

Both drives failed:

SECTORS      ok/corrupted/changed/overwritten
Validating file 1.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 2.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 3.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 4.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 5.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 6.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 7.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 8.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 9.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 10.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 11.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 12.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 13.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 14.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 15.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
Validating file 16.h2w ...  588128/  1509024/      0/      0
Validating file 17.h2w ...       0/  2097152/      0/      0
Validating file 18.h2w ...       0/  2097152/      0/      0
Validating file 19.h2w ...       0/  2097152/      0/      0
[..]
Validating file 115.h2w ...       0/  2097152/      0/      0
Validating file 116.h2w ...       0/  2097152/      0/      0
Validating file 117.h2w ...       0/  2097152/      0/      0
Validating file 118.h2w ...   45696/   314496/      0/      0

  Data OK: 15.30 GB (32091104 sectors)
Data LOST: 101.87 GB (213635872 sectors)
               Corrupted: 101.87 GB (213635872 sectors)
        Slightly changed: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
             Overwritten: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
Average reading speed: 14.37 MB/s

At this point I figured I might as well pop the drive open as it wasn't glued (just remove the clip and insert a screw driver gently in the hole at the back).

IDE, 5019SN-GT, D5P590-000FZ, 1433T8H4

 I googled the stuff written on the chip, but didn't find any exact matches.

I then logged into my ebay account, and filed a return with the reason being fake/counterfeit. I was advised to wait five days for the seller to reply, which I did, after which I clicked on the button on the ebay website that asked ebay to step in to resolve the case. After a few minutes I received an email letting me know they'll initiate a refund, and after ca 30 minutes I received an email from paypal informing me of the same. No need to return the two 16 Gb sticks.

I've obviously posted a negative review of the seller which lets the reader know about the fake sized USBs.

Interesting experience.

I don't have any complaints about ebay -- things moved fast and the resolution was fair and in my favour. I reckon that the seller makes a profit from most buyers not realising that their drive isn't as big as the OS reports it to be, and don't discover it until the off-chance that they fill it with data. A that point they'll probably attribute it to the drive being broken, rather than the seller being outright fraudulent.