I think it is clear that I couldn’t think of a snappy title.
I ordered a second battery for my camera from an amazon marketplace seller a few weeks ago. When I received the package and extracted the battery I was struck by how light it was, and very soon after that by how slightly off the build quality seemed to be.
I took the old battery out of my camera to compare. Sure enough it’s about twice as heavy and seems more solid in build. It also has a serial number scratched onto it (in proper font, not literally ‘carved’) in a small square. And to the best of my ability to recognise correctly spelled words all the words are spelled correctly on the sticker.
The new battery has no number scratched on. And the word ‘EXCKUSIVE’ on the sticker. Old one New one
Well I reacted by giving the seller some bad feedback, and then got on with my life and forgot about it.
Not long after I’ve been emailed by the seller, very apologetically they have offered a refund or a replacement. They have now sent a replacement in the post and I am going to send this one back…
In order to send it back I have fished out the packet. Now… Am I being somehow thick by wondering if the fact that the package says ‘genuine canon product’ and has a canon hologram’ means it is definitely not a fake? Could a faker also fake the words ‘genuine’ and a hologram?
As it happens I’m not so sure it’s a fake, rather that it’s simply a less well made and lighter genuine but cheap canon battery.
About eight years ago, several of my buddies went to play football in Australia with an all-star team. When they got back, they all had fake IDs. Instead of having a state specific hologram of their respective, neighboring states (nobody ever gets a fake ID of their state, that would be even more stupid than getting a fake ID in the first place), they all had holograms that said, “Certified as Genuine”.
I can’t find the link now, but there was an article I saw awhile back showing counterfeit batteries and memory cards. The box art faked the OEM but differed in several key details, and had holograms and everything.
While it is easy enough to fake the hologram and other stuff, I don’t also rule out the possibility of it being genuine and crappy. There is a particular frozen Chinese food that I like because a) it is the only one without rice in it, b) it is actually quite spicy (most store-bought “ethnic” foods are as bland as cottage cheese) and c) it is more than enough for a meal for me and only 230 calories!
As you can imagine, the one time I found a funky-looking piece of blue plastic in my food, I called the manufacturer to let them know. Now, you have to realise that I am not the kind of person to file superfluous lawsuits, nor am I the one who complains until I get free stuff. I called to let them know about the quality of the product – because I like the stuff and wanted to be sure the next time I was in the mood for it, I wouldn’t chocke to death on blue plastic.
Anyways, so I called and the girl was really great about being honest with me. It seems this particular company uses 2 manufacturing facilities – one that they own and is kept under the best standards and one that they hire out for this product. The one that they hire out is supposed to be held to the same standards as they hold in their facility, but admittedly is not inspected as often. She told me how to tell whether or not my product comes from the company-owned facility and sent me a metric assload of coupons, which was awesome. I still buy their product, but I look for the tell-tale sticker now
Sorry, my mistake. But the same problem occurs on Amazon Marketplace nearly as frequently. Unless you are very comfortable with the seller, I’d stay away from them for things like batteries and memory cards.
from places like 
