The Open Box Scam on Amazon (batteries and sd cards)

[apdirection]

I had two open-box scams happen to me on Amazon recently. I purchased an A7iii, and wanted to buy a spare battery and a Sony SF-G128 sd card. These were two separate orders, open-box from Amazon (not a third party seller).

 

First, the battery came in the NPFZ100 box. When I removed the battery from the box, it was actually the battery for the previous generation A7/A6xxx models (NPFW50). What I think happened was someone bought the A7iii battery, filed a return with Amazon, then put their old battery in the box and no one at Amazon verified the battery matched the packaging.

 

The next item I received was the SF-G128 card. Immediately I noticed that the sticker was peeling off of the card, and the printing on the back of the card was more worn than any SD card I have ever owned. When trying to record to both memory cards, I received an error that they weren't the same speeds. I returned this card and bought one brand new and it worked with no problem. I also noticed the contact points on the new card looked significantly different than the first card I received. Here, I'm pretty sure someone ordered the SF-G128, peeled off the sticker and put it on an old SD card, and just returned that to Amazon. 

 

There isn't much penalty here as Amazon will always accept the return, but I wanted to make people aware. If you're trying to get a battery or SD card last minute before a big trip, it might be worth buying new rather than risking this with a used item off Amazon.