Avoid fake MP3, MP4 players sold on eBay - “cry of my soul”

Flash MP3 players are in the list of my favorite gadgets. If you like to listen to audioboooks while commuting to work, you’ll understand me. One of the famous sources for them is eBay. Thousands of listings, different stiles and colors, various features and affordable prices! Really, what else you can expect?

You can expect that a lot of these items would be fake MP3 players. You'll bid on 8GB player, but get 1GB. This happened to me and I made simple research to find out what is going on and how to deal with this. Very soon I realized that there is huge amount of people who suffered from the same catch. Fancy description with huge list of features and technical details does not correspond to the products that are offered. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to find out the truth.

As soon as I received MP4 player I connected it to my PC. It was easily recognized as 8GB flash drive. Wow!!! I uploaded some of mp3 files and used and free space for this flash drive was properly reported by Windows. This small player was functioning properly and playing my mp3 files. At least I felt so. Strange things started to happen when I tried to upload more files. I put them in separate folder. When tried to look at content of this folder after reconnection it was empty! All my files gone! I can't even delete this folder. Windows was showing the same amount of used and free space as at the moment when I uploaded my files.

So, what is going on?

In general, these players use hacked versions of firmware that allows them to show fake capacity. Players with 1GB (or even less) of physical flash memory are reporting 8GB. Interesting thing about fooling people with fake capacity reporting is that most users are not recognizing this and leaving positive feedback for their sellers.
If you would like to check what I actually purchased to avoid similar mp4 players, here is eBay item number “ 220116542231”.

What could be done about this?

Try to find reliable reseller with reasonable prices and purchase from them. I found these guys so far. Their prices are close to eBay and low world wide shipping cost ($5 for US and Canada ).
Look at their return policy:
Whether the product is defective, seems defective, or that you change your mind and simply do not like it, you are welcome to send it back to us and we will issue you a FULL REFUND once we have received the product in question. Alternatively, you can choose a replacement of the same product or product of the same value.
Even more! Their affiliate program is serviced by Commission Junction. Commission Junction has very severe requirements to merchants they serve.

Link to them is:
UXcell iPod Accessories - 90% Off Retail! All Factory Direct iPod Accessories - Lowest Price with low shipping. 30 Day Money Back

UXcell is discribed as a Hong Kong based e-commerce platform linked with 100+ factories directly. This advantage make UXcell able to sell products at a factory direct price to any individual consumer. With this online factory direct shopping platform, consumers are able to buy a product without paying the re-seller profit. Simply, that is "no more re-seller profit on consumer cost."
With a recent research, our products all standing at a lowest price in market. More than two thousands MP3 player were sold out every 24hrs.
We are carrying a wide range of selection in media player and all electronics accessories. Furthermore, we offer low-shipping, 12 months warranty and a refund guarantee.

What to do if you already purchased fake MP3/MP4 player?

You can try to contact seller and tell him that item does not correspond to description, provided by seller. Let seller know that you clearly understand that this is not software incompatibility issue and not hardware malfunction. If seller responds with wiliness to resolve this issue and you are happy with his suggestion-my congratulations. I've heard about these things happening.

If this seller doesn't want to resolve this issue peacefully you can file a dispute. Use eBay and PayPal dispute procedure. Don't waste big amount of time between your purchase and dispute filing. There are some time limits when you can do this. PayPal requires starting dispute within 45 days. I'll tell you about my results when PayPal will complete their investigation.

Use eBay feedback system to leave your comments about this seller. I'm highly persuading you to do so even it is possible that you'll get negative feedback from seller in response to your truth about bought item. Help people to find out the truth.

How to avoid this in future!

Order from reputable online store. This store is one of them.

Don't order from unknown online store. Find out more information about them before making a purchase. I'll add more information about unreliable stores as soon as I'll get it.

Make some research before bidding. Check this outlet to find out what kind of player does really exist. As en example, I was bidding on 8GB MP4 player, but nobody was really making them. Maximum capacity for this kind of players was 4GB at the moment. And Samsung (common supplier of flash memory, used in MP3 players of this kind) was offering only 4GB chips as maximum size of memory.

Check feedback for your seller on eBay. Look for negative feedback. This site will help you to retrieve it.
These reviews are also helpful:
    MP4 Player From Hong Kong RIPOFF - How To Check GB Size
    Quick guide to purchasing a MP4 player - what to ask...
    MP4 MP3 Players from Hong Kong; WARNING!
    MP3/MP4 player 'all is not what it seems.....'
Other resources you may be interested in:
    S1mp3.org Forum. Discussion about this mysterious mp3 (or mp4) device
    Dead Player Recovery Guide
    FIRMWARE PROBLEMS

Feel free to leave your comments, tell your story or point to resources that could be useful in resolving fake MP3/MP4 problems.

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