| The continued popularity of USB memory sticks and | | | | through the hassle of breaking open a sample just to |
| flash drives for promotional and marketing activities | | | | check that the internal memory is as specified. |
| has spawned a parallel market in the supply of cheap | | | | - Simple repackaging and re-labelling the memory |
| and often fake products. Understandably procurement | | | | sticks to make them look like they have more memory |
| managers and buyers are constantly looking at ways | | | | than they actually do. |
| to drive down their costs and it's tempting when you're | | | | The best way to avoid becoming a victim of these |
| offered memory sticks at a significant discount to | | | | scams is to buy from a trusted and reputable supplier |
| order them. After all the pictures of the memory sticks | | | | and ideally a local supplier that will take ownership of |
| you'll be shown to support the order will look pretty | | | | any post delivery problems or issues you might have. |
| much the same as other quotes you'll no doubt have | | | | Whilst it's incredibly tempting to buy direct from some |
| obtained from other suppliers so how do you know if | | | | of the "factories" advertising themselves on the |
| what you're being offered is genuine? | | | | Internet think long and hard about it before you commit |
| Firstly, lets be clear on what some of the typical | | | | to an order. How for example will you deal with any |
| scams are: | | | | problems once you have taken delivery of them? |
| - Use of "re-cycled" and Grade B flash memory chips. | | | | Typically once a "factory" has shipped they will not |
| These are flash memory chips that have been | | | | take the product back and your chances of |
| salvaged from other products or perhaps failed a full | | | | recovering your money and taking action against them |
| QA process. They are likely to be to correct memory | | | | are slim to non-existent! |
| size but they will have a much higher failure rate and | | | | Also many of the supposed "factories" offering |
| will typically perform poorly, e.g. the read/write speeds | | | | discounted prices are not really factories or |
| will be slow. | | | | manufacturers at all. Whilst they may have fancy web |
| - Masking" smaller capacity flash chips to make them | | | | sites with lots of images of production staff diligently |
| look bigger. This is where the external flash disk and | | | | sitting at desks manufacturing and assembling memory |
| packaging is marked up to look like it's a 1GB stick, the | | | | sticks these are typically just "stock photos" and the |
| memory stick when connected to a PC will also | | | | factories will either be agents, middlemen or fraudsters. |
| suggest it has 1GB of storage but the actual capacity | | | | The only way to be truly sure is to visit your supplier |
| is say 256MB or 512MB. Extremely difficult to spot. | | | | on site, check their factories and working conditions, |
| - Using cheaper memory components rather than the | | | | check that they are complying with the current RoHS |
| specified brands. If you want a memory stick with a | | | | regulations and that they meet all the latest WEEE and |
| specified high-grade chip such as Intel or Samsung | | | | REACH Compliance Regulations. Failing this just go |
| then you'll pay a premium for these but you'll also trust | | | | with a local supplier of branded memory sticks that |
| your supplier that these used. Once your memory | | | | has already undertaken all of this due diligence. |
| sticks are delivered you don't want to have to go | | | | |