cheap SD/CF cards @ mymemory.co.uk - genuine?

Sandisk 32GB Extreme SD Card (SDHC) 45MB/s - Class 10 for £25.99.

The nearest I could find at Jessops (the best known UK Photography chain) was the slower 30MB/s version for £88.76.

Sounds a bit fishy, no?

Has anyone bought any cards from mymemory? If so have you had any problems?

Thanks

Russell

Sounds about right, I've rarely seen bargains at Jessops. If you're worried about the firm, try 7dayshop.com instead at £27.99. I use them a lot.

Many thanks Denis, interesting site.

I just find it hard to believe there can be such a percentage difference in price. It'd be like mymemory or 7dayshop selling a £3000 Canon 5D Mkiii for only £1000. Just doesn't make sense. Either Jessops heavily mark up their memory cards for a massive profit or the online firms sell dodgy stock. Can't get my head around it.

I purchased once on eBay a Sandisk CF card at a low price only to find that it was a counterfeit. The seller gave me an immediate refund once he understood that it is a criminal offense to sell fake material.

If you purchase it, google for "fake Sandisk SD" or CF and you will learn how to distinguish a counterfeit card.

Cheers!

Thanks for yr advice & sharing yr experience, SkyDreamer.

A pain you have to go through the purchasing procedure and be in receipt of the item to discover if a card's genuine or not, though.

This mymemory site, for instance, has been high up in the Google search results for at least 2 or 3 years but does that confer any legitimacy on its products? I mean clearly it must be quite a well-known and used site but could it continue trading if a lot of its products were dodgy? Are online sites subject to the stringent consumer rules a high street store might be? I very much doubt it. So what do we do - take the gamble or play safe and fork out a lot more money at well known shops?

Russell Fielding said:

Thanks for yr advice & sharing yr experience, SkyDreamer.

A pain you have to go through the purchasing procedure and be in receipt of the item to discover if a card's genuine or not, though.

This mymemory site, for instance, has been high up in the Google search results for at least 2 or 3 years but does that confer any legitimacy on its products? I mean clearly it must be quite a well-known and used site but could it continue trading if a lot of its products were dodgy? Are online sites subject to the stringent consumer rules a high street store might be? I very much doubt it. So what do we do - take the gamble or play safe and fork out a lot more money at well known shops?

Click to expand...

You are welcome. I never go for the very expensive well-known shops. Usually I shop from Amazon.de: excellent customer service and honest prices, sometimes very competitive.

As a general rule before sending my money to an unknown online store I usually google around to look for previous customers feedback. Doing so I avoided in the past some insidious scams, such as the infamous London online photo shop "established since 40 years ago" and "family run", but whose address corresponds to something else. By the way there are many fake online photo shops around, pay attention. I suspect even that some online shops steal only a low percentage of customers, to give the impression that the issue are limited to a few lunatics.

Back to your memory card: my advice is google for "mymemory.com customer opinion" or something like that, and you will understand if they are serious or not.
Cheers!

Cheers!

I have purchased various memory cards from MyMemory for use in digital cameras, Sony eReader and a SatNav and have never had any problems. Their prices are excellent and being on their mailing list they also send emails of special offers.

At the moment I am awaiting delivery of a 'SanDisk 16GB Extreme SD Card (SDHC) 45MB/s - Class 10' which is now on back order, they are expecting new stock on 31st May.

MyMemory are listed on SanDisk's European retailers list:-

http://www.sandisk.com/sandisk-support/find-a-retailer

Select - Europe/United Kingdom and you will find them listed on page 8.

Thanks SkyDreamer

Amazon.de is better than other Amazons?

I did what you recommended and got mixed reviews for mymemory. Mostly positive to be honest but with one saying they received a fake Kingston memory card. Others talking about slow delivery, VAT issues if you live in certain countries etc. But mostly positive. How much can we really trust either though? How many people would actually bother to check if they had a fake memory card? As long as it worked to a certain degree the vast majority wouldn't care or wouldn't even notice if it really lived up to that 45 or 30 mb/s rating.

Thanks Harryo

Interesting that mymemory is on SanDisk's retailers list. Do you think that alone makes them trustworthy? Would SanDisk ever check up on them to make sure they were selling the proper products? If people complained do you think SanDisk would take them off their list?

I'm still puzzled (if they are genuine) how they can offer them at less than a third of the Jessops' price. Does it suggest that on an "£80" card Jessops are making £55-60 profit? That's an insane mark-up. That same card might 'only' make mymemory £5-10 profit. (I don't know the cost price to the retailers.) I'm assuming Jessops and the 'onliners' will be able to buy at similar cost price. Nah can't get my head around it. You could understand if mymemory sell for £25, then Jessops, well, anything up to £40 or £50 sounds 'right'. But £80odd, 3 times as much??? From the biggest UK photo firm? They're ok but not high-end by any means. Just a chain.

Russell Fielding said:

Thanks Harryo

Interesting that mymemory is on SanDisk's retailers list. Do you think that alone makes them trustworthy? Would SanDisk ever check up on them to make sure they were selling the proper products? If people complained do you think SanDisk would take them off their list?

Click to expand...

I would have thought that any retailer appearing on the SanDisk's retailers list must meet some sort of standard. Would it be a feasible task for a manufacturer to try and monitor the many outlets selling their products across the world, surely it would be up to the customer to contact them if they had any doubts about any product they had purchased.

Personally I have never purchased a memory card from a photographic shop as some of the prices they sell at are the top retail price, you mentioned for instance Jessop's pricing on the 32GB card I can purchase the same card from another well known UK photographic dealer for £47.99.

As regards pricing I have found that photographic dealers charge the highest price although one must bear in mind that if they are selling a camera at a good discount they are going to try and get some of that discount back through getting you to purchase accessories for the camera.

If you can get the SDHC card from a shop who deals in computers they are usually second cheapest whilst the shops who deal in nothing but memory are the cheapest of the lot.

The SanDisk card shown on the MyMemory site is the latest card with a read/write speed of 45MB/s while the other card has a speed of 30MB/s, at the moment the 45MB/s card is not listed on the SanDisk site although that site will be updated in the future to show the card.

Once I have received my 'Sandisk 16GB Extreme SD Card (SDHC) 45MB/s - Class 10' card which is on back order, supposed to be in stock tomorrow on receipt of it I will update my posting on here.

Sandisk Cards are some of the most copied cards, so its very important from where you purchase them. Firstly NEVER purchase from EBAY, there are many, many fakes. They will look and feel the same however will corrupt your data or fail during an important shoot, also some of the transfer speeds with these fake cards is way below the listed speeds.

I only buy from B&H here in New York as they are a authorized seller and only sell genuine cards, also they frequently have some fantastic sales where you can find them for real cheap... e.g. 128 GB SDXC for 134$ recently.

I do not trust Amazon because if you buy thru other resellers, they also slip in fakes, I have seen many reviews where the buyers had called Sandisk and confirmed that the serial # are fakes.

So make sure you buy from someone you can returnn when you find its a Fake, Call Sandisk with serian number if in doubt.

Russell Fielding said:

Thanks Harryo

Interesting that mymemory is on SanDisk's retailers list. Do you think that alone makes them trustworthy? Would SanDisk ever check up on them to make sure they were selling the proper products? If people complained do you think SanDisk would take them off their list?

I'm still puzzled (if they are genuine) how they can offer them at less than a third of the Jessops' price. Does it suggest that on an "£80" card Jessops are making £55-60 profit? That's an insane mark-up. That same card might 'only' make mymemory £5-10 profit. (I don't know the cost price to the retailers.) I'm assuming Jessops and the 'onliners' will be able to buy at similar cost price. Nah can't get my head around it. You could understand if mymemory sell for £25, then Jessops, well, anything up to £40 or £50 sounds 'right'. But £80odd, 3 times as much??? From the biggest UK photo firm? They're ok but not high-end by any means. Just a chain.

Click to expand...

Jessops may (or may not) be cheap when it comes to cameras, but remember, it's the "loss leader" effect. Get you through the door with a cheap offer, then load up the price on the accessories. So, Yes - they probably are making "an insane mark-up" as you put it. Like a previous poster, I have never bpught a memory card from a camera retailer, even on line.

In the past I have bought Sandisk CF and SD cards from both MyMemory and 7Day Shop. In both cases the items have been supplied in full retail packaging, I have never had any problems, and there is no evidence that they are anything but the genuine article.

Note that the UK government ave recently announced that they intend to close the VAT loophole that allows these Channel Islands based companies to undercut retailers on the mainland, so it may be a case of buy now and save while you have the chance.

--

Russell Fielding said:

To err is Human. To really foul things up you need a computer.

Click to expand...

I buy sometimes different sdhc cards (Sandisk, Transcend, Panasonic...) on mymemory.co.uk via Amazon France. The delivery is very fast, in a week or 10 days by the french La Poste (+ free shipping).

I have no problem with these cards, I don't know that the cards sold by mymemory.co.uk are genuine or not - but all work fine (shooting to full disk, saving the photos, reformatting the disk...).

Hope that helps.
Francois.

I understand this loophole was closed at the beginning of this year. 7-Day shop prices include vat for UK purchases, and they are still competitive with most things. They were even more competitive last year, but the nice Chancellor stopped all that fun.

MisterBG said:

Note that the UK government ave recently announced that they intend to close the VAT loophole that allows these Channel Islands based companies to undercut retailers on the mainland, so it may be a case of buy now and save while you have the chance.

--

Click to expand...

Russell Fielding said:

Thanks Harryo

Interesting that mymemory is on SanDisk's retailers list. Do you think that alone makes them trustworthy? Would SanDisk ever check up on them to make sure they were selling the proper products? If people complained do you think SanDisk would take them off their list?

Click to expand...

I have been in contact with SanDisk support in relation to the 32GB SD card recently received from MyMemory and they verified that it is a genuine card and it has been registered with them and is covered until 2022.

As mentioned previously over the years I have purchased a number of items from MyMemory and have total confidence in them and the products they offer for sale.

You ask whether "If people complained do you think SanDisk would take them off their list?" If my experience of SanDisk's support is anything to go by they would certainly investigate and take appropriate action in the event of a complaint being upheld.

Russell Fielding said:

I'm still puzzled (if they are genuine) how they can offer them at less than a third of the Jessops' price. Does it suggest that on an "£80" card Jessops are making £55-60 profit? That's an insane mark-up. That same card might 'only' make mymemory £5-10 profit. (I don't know the cost price to the retailers.) I'm assuming Jessops and the 'onliners' will be able to buy at similar cost price. Nah can't get my head around it. You could understand if mymemory sell for £25, then Jessops, well, anything up to £40 or £50 sounds 'right'. But £80odd, 3 times as much??? From the biggest UK photo firm? They're ok but not high-end by any means. Just a chain.

Click to expand...

Online stores such as 'MyMemory' and 7dayshop.com are specialists in their field of selling memory and do not have the high overheads that many high street camera stores have, I will continue to purchase my memory cards from MyMemory and enjoy the savings.

I already have another 16GB SanDisk card on its way and will register it on the SanDisk website, it would be interesting to know how many people do not bother registering their cards and miss out on the lifetime guarantee.

These two on-line stores mentioned are too big to risk their reputation selling a few 'dodgy' cards. Be wary of the new 'pop-up' sites offering mega-deals, but even then some of these are genuine. Even 7-Daymymemory.com had to start somewhere. Apart from a few offers, Jessops never were known for bargains..they've got a chain of high st stores to maintain after all. It's the modern way that you visit these high st stores to look and try products, but then go on-line to buy.

Harryo said:

Russell Fielding said:

Thanks Harryo

Interesting that mymemory is on SanDisk's retailers list. Do you think that alone makes them trustworthy? Would SanDisk ever check up on them to make sure they were selling the proper products? If people complained do you think SanDisk would take them off their list?

Click to expand...

I have been in contact with SanDisk support in relation to the 32GB SD card recently received from MyMemory and they verified that it is a genuine card and it has been registered with them and is covered until 2022.

As mentioned previously over the years I have purchased a number of items from MyMemory and have total confidence in them and the products they offer for sale.

You ask whether "If people complained do you think SanDisk would take them off their list?" If my experience of SanDisk's support is anything to go by they would certainly investigate and take appropriate action in the event of a complaint being upheld.

Harryo said:

I'm still puzzled (if they are genuine) how they can offer them at less than a third of the Jessops' price. Does it suggest that on an "£80" card Jessops are making £55-60 profit? That's an insane mark-up. That same card might 'only' make mymemory £5-10 profit. (I don't know the cost price to the retailers.) I'm assuming Jessops and the 'onliners' will be able to buy at similar cost price. Nah can't get my head around it. You could understand if mymemory sell for £25, then Jessops, well, anything up to £40 or £50 sounds 'right'. But £80odd, 3 times as much??? From the biggest UK photo firm? They're ok but not high-end by any means. Just a chain.

Click to expand...

Online stores such as 'MyMemory' and 7dayshop.com are specialists in their field of selling memory and do not have the high overheads that many high street camera stores have, I will continue to purchase my memory cards from MyMemory and enjoy the savings.

I already have another 16GB SanDisk card on its way and will register it on the SanDisk website, it would be interesting to know how many people do not bother registering their cards and miss out on the lifetime guarantee.

Click to expand...

I have bought many different memory cards and other digital storage items from MyMemory over the years.

All items have been 100% genuine - the prices are keen and tbh their customer service is excellent also.

--
Tim
http://www.flickr.com/photos/touringman

Thanks guys, I might just take a gamble on one then

Russell Fielding said:

Thanks guys, I might just take a gamble on one then

Click to expand...

If you go for the SanDisk dont forget to register it on their website, it has a 10-year guarantee.

I had my 32GB SanDisk Extreme registered on the website a couple of days ago and I have another 16GB SanDisk Extreme on its way from MyMemory, will also register that one when it arrives.

I didn't see this post - and there's no reason for me to watch sites in the UK since I'm in California!

But, I usually check out places on resellerratings.com if they sound shady. Typically, if there's a bad merchant, people are more than happy to flock to the site to report bad dealings. I checked mymemory.co.uk, and there's only one (positive) review of it.
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/MyMemory

Looks like they're legitimate, and good to deal with.