Hello,
there were some concerns regarding the Kingston Taiwan cards that people received from ShopTemp!
some people jumped to conclusion and thought those were fake ones... well they're not.
I have asked a series of questions to the ShopTemp manager & product purchaser.
Here are the questions and direct answers:
1. Where do the carts come from ?
The Kingston carts are from Kingston Taiwan ( http://www.kingston.com/taiwan/flashmemory/default.asp )
They are imported from Taiwan to Hong-Kong, then from Hong-Kong to ShenZhen.
2. Why is the serial number not correct?
The cart is imported from Taiwan to Hong-Kong, and then from Hong-Kong to Shenzhen.
Because Kingston is a well-known and recognized brand, importing those cards results in very high import taxes.
The solution that the retailers have found to avoid taxes (the retailer = whoever sells those cards to ShopTemp in the first place) is to remove any original packaging/labelling before importing. When the card is safe and arrives on site on the market, they put the microSD card back into some new packaging. But you still get the real card anyway. Whatever number you may find is not
3. Why does the packaging not look good/original ?
For all the reasons mentionned above.
4. I found the same cards on other sites...
The *exact* same cards, purchased from the same marketplace, same retailers, can be found on many websites. Quoting a few:
0shippingzone.com, gamezway.com, ishopvideogame.com, gameyeeeah.com, extremejeux.com, r4ds-ds.com, r4ds-r4i.com, dealextreme (for the legit ones, we believe they also sell fakes), ....... All those shops sell the carts purchased on the Shenzhen market. These are not fakes, these are actual Kingston Taiwan cards. But we don't know if those shops are completely honest. Read next section.
5. I still think it's fake!
The card retailers perfectly know that there are fake and legit cards, because they sell both. When ShopTemp purchasers buy stock, they are asked to make a choice: do they want to buy legit cards or fake cards?
- 2GB fake Kingston cards' cost price is quite lesser than the official ones (it varies).
- 2GB legit Kingston cards' cost price is over $5 (and they sell it for $8 or $7 when bundled with a flashcart. If a shop sells those for less than $5 or $6, these must be fake. Although shops can get a discount price for bulk purchases, for like 1000pcs at a time).
There is absolutely no doubt that ShopTemp purchases the legit ones. The difference between the fake and the legit ones is more than obvious.
I have requested to see an invoice from the retailers to show definitive proof. They said they will make sure to get an invoice next time they buy stock, and they will also be purchasing 1x fake card just to show you the ridiculously low cost price. I will post the invoice just here to show everyone.
6. Why did it originally say 'Kingston Japan' ?
It is sometimes possible to get stock of japanese Kingston cards, but they can't have that all the time. It's already sold out most of the time.
If someone has a link for legit taiwan cards vs legit japanese cards comparison, I'll post it here so that people can be made aware of the difference.
But the most important anyway is the SDHC class; ShopTemp sells microSDHC class 2 and 4 cards. Again it depends on stock, sometimes retailers run out of class 4 cards. The information found on the product description page is accurate and updated as they get new stock.
7. I definitely received a fake. The transfer rate is awful.
Sadly 0% defect rate is impossible, there can be several reasons why YOUR particular card is not satisfying:
- your card might just be defective, that happens.
- when purchasing large stock from retailers (ShopTemp usually buys 500pcs at a time) retailers will not hesitate to slip in some fake cards to reduce their costs... that's really dishonest from them and particularly annoying for shops which then get complaints from customers.
- the included microSD card readers is not always top quality, to say the least.
If you do receive a fake (again chances of that happening are extremely low), you can obviously contact the support to get a refund or exchange.
So anyway, jumping to conclusions is bad, especially when you are not on site to back up your claims
Better be completely sure before you accuse someone if you don't want to look like an idiot afterwards.
The 3 GBAtemp admins (Shaun, Ace and myself) have worked hard to find a completely reliable partner, they are really serious about it and our partnership includes a very important clause: to make business with GBAtemp the condition is that they must sell 100% legit products. No flashcart fakes, no memory card fakes, etc. .
edit: here is an invoice from this afternoon http://gbatemp.net/up/Img_2287.jpg
with details & rough translations... they bought 1 fake card to show the difference.
Any more questions, feel free to ask and I will pass on the demand.
Thanks!
there were some concerns regarding the Kingston Taiwan cards that people received from ShopTemp!
some people jumped to conclusion and thought those were fake ones... well they're not.
I have asked a series of questions to the ShopTemp manager & product purchaser.
Here are the questions and direct answers:
1. Where do the carts come from ?
The Kingston carts are from Kingston Taiwan ( http://www.kingston.com/taiwan/flashmemory/default.asp )
They are imported from Taiwan to Hong-Kong, then from Hong-Kong to ShenZhen.
2. Why is the serial number not correct?
The cart is imported from Taiwan to Hong-Kong, and then from Hong-Kong to Shenzhen.
Because Kingston is a well-known and recognized brand, importing those cards results in very high import taxes.
The solution that the retailers have found to avoid taxes (the retailer = whoever sells those cards to ShopTemp in the first place) is to remove any original packaging/labelling before importing. When the card is safe and arrives on site on the market, they put the microSD card back into some new packaging. But you still get the real card anyway. Whatever number you may find is not
3. Why does the packaging not look good/original ?
For all the reasons mentionned above.
4. I found the same cards on other sites...
The *exact* same cards, purchased from the same marketplace, same retailers, can be found on many websites. Quoting a few:
0shippingzone.com, gamezway.com, ishopvideogame.com, gameyeeeah.com, extremejeux.com, r4ds-ds.com, r4ds-r4i.com, dealextreme (for the legit ones, we believe they also sell fakes), ....... All those shops sell the carts purchased on the Shenzhen market. These are not fakes, these are actual Kingston Taiwan cards. But we don't know if those shops are completely honest. Read next section.
5. I still think it's fake!
The card retailers perfectly know that there are fake and legit cards, because they sell both. When ShopTemp purchasers buy stock, they are asked to make a choice: do they want to buy legit cards or fake cards?
- 2GB fake Kingston cards' cost price is quite lesser than the official ones (it varies).
- 2GB legit Kingston cards' cost price is over $5 (and they sell it for $8 or $7 when bundled with a flashcart. If a shop sells those for less than $5 or $6, these must be fake. Although shops can get a discount price for bulk purchases, for like 1000pcs at a time).
There is absolutely no doubt that ShopTemp purchases the legit ones. The difference between the fake and the legit ones is more than obvious.
I have requested to see an invoice from the retailers to show definitive proof. They said they will make sure to get an invoice next time they buy stock, and they will also be purchasing 1x fake card just to show you the ridiculously low cost price. I will post the invoice just here to show everyone.
6. Why did it originally say 'Kingston Japan' ?
It is sometimes possible to get stock of japanese Kingston cards, but they can't have that all the time. It's already sold out most of the time.
If someone has a link for legit taiwan cards vs legit japanese cards comparison, I'll post it here so that people can be made aware of the difference.
But the most important anyway is the SDHC class; ShopTemp sells microSDHC class 2 and 4 cards. Again it depends on stock, sometimes retailers run out of class 4 cards. The information found on the product description page is accurate and updated as they get new stock.
7. I definitely received a fake. The transfer rate is awful.
Sadly 0% defect rate is impossible, there can be several reasons why YOUR particular card is not satisfying:
- your card might just be defective, that happens.
- when purchasing large stock from retailers (ShopTemp usually buys 500pcs at a time) retailers will not hesitate to slip in some fake cards to reduce their costs... that's really dishonest from them and particularly annoying for shops which then get complaints from customers.
- the included microSD card readers is not always top quality, to say the least.
If you do receive a fake (again chances of that happening are extremely low), you can obviously contact the support to get a refund or exchange.
So anyway, jumping to conclusions is bad, especially when you are not on site to back up your claims
Better be completely sure before you accuse someone if you don't want to look like an idiot afterwards.
The 3 GBAtemp admins (Shaun, Ace and myself) have worked hard to find a completely reliable partner, they are really serious about it and our partnership includes a very important clause: to make business with GBAtemp the condition is that they must sell 100% legit products. No flashcart fakes, no memory card fakes, etc. .
edit: here is an invoice from this afternoon http://gbatemp.net/up/Img_2287.jpg
with details & rough translations... they bought 1 fake card to show the difference.
Any more questions, feel free to ask and I will pass on the demand.
Thanks!
