Faux electronics fiascos

Till not too long ago, at the very least to the perfect of my consciousness and recollection, I’ve solely been fooled into three purchases of counterfeit tech gadgets, all of which I’ve documented in previous weblog posts:

1. Arms-on overview: Is a premium digital audio participant well worth the worth? (Particularly notice the point out inside it of my acquisition of two fake-capacity 400GB microSD playing cards)
2. Reminiscence playing cards: Specs and (extra) deceptions, and
3. USB activation dongles: Counterfeit woes

Within the first and third circumstances, I ought to, on reflection, have identified higher, because the gadgets I purchased have been considerably decrease priced than equivalents from extra “legit” vendor sources. The second case was the seeming results of somebody returning to Amazon a falsely labeled subpar substitute for one thing they’d purchased, and Amazon not catching the switcheroo and reselling it as legit on the “Warehouse” space of their web site. In all three circumstances, fortunately, I acquired my a reimbursement.

Mercari’s earlier observe file

This fourth time, sadly, I wasn’t so fortunate. And the deception was, if something. extra spectacular (amongst different, less-positive adjectives) than earlier than. Mercari, for these of you not already accustomed to it, is a Japan-based purchaser/vendor middleman on-line service in the identical vein as eBay or (for audio gear) Reverb. It’s typically thought of to be extra “seller-friendly” than eBay; how a lot so will turn out to be clear shortly. My first (current) buy there, which went easily and efficiently, was of a headphone amplifier. I subsequently picked up an identical equalizer from the identical producer (Schiit Audio) through one other vendor, together with two Raspberry Pi AI Cameras and a special-edition Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses set, the latter which can be showcased in one other writeup (a pseudo-teardown, to be exact) this month. All went high quality.

The sixth Macari-coordinated transaction? Not so high quality. Maybe, on reflection, the prior observe file lulled me right into a false sense of complacency. Extra doubtless, I simply “wished to consider” an excessive amount of, referencing the memorable X-Information poster- and character-delivered quote:

I’d been watching the for-sale postings of a vendor with username “Skii” (apparently brief for “skiitheflipper”) for some time. This individual recurrently listed claimed-legitimate and factory-sealed 2nd-generation Apple AirPods on the market, and Mercari dutifully let me know every time “Skii” lowered his gross sales worth on the actual set I used to be watching. After they hit $93, I used to be severely tempted. And when Mercari did a one-day free-shipping promotion, I bit. The whole worth, together with gross sales tax and a $3.54 “purchaser safety payment” (cue foreshadow snort), was $100.88.

A pause right here for some background: first off, on condition that I already had each a major and backup set of first-generation AirPods Professionals, why was I all for a second-generation set the primary place, significantly with the AirPods Professional 3 rumored to reach later this 12 months? On the regular $249 worth, I wasn’t. Even on the pretty widespread $189-or-thereabouts promotion worth, I didn’t pull the set off. However why the curiosity at all? The AirPods Professional 2, compared to the first-generation forebears I already owned, have claimed superior energetic noise cancellation, for instance, together with dynamically adaptive “transparency” mode and longer battery life. Newer gen-2-only enhancements embrace the Listening to Help function, which I don’t require (at the very least I don’t assume so! What did you say?) however nonetheless wished to strive. And the additional temptation of probably upcoming Reside Language Translation pushed me over the sting…as soon as the value tag dipped beneath $100, that’s.

About that worth…lots of you’re doubtless proper now considering one thing alongside the traces of “Have been you actually so silly as to assume that one thing bought at a roughly 2/3 low cost to MSRP was legit?”. Really, I wasn’t. Though, hey, who is aware of…per the “flipper” portion of the vendor’s username, possibly she or he had scooped up the stock of a going-out-of-business retailer and was reselling it. Regardless, I figured that I’d give the acquisition a shot, and if it was a pretend (as I assumed could be instantly apparent) I’d file a dispute and get my a reimbursement. Which was conceptually possible, thoughts you. However as a Mercari beginner, I didn’t understand how tough it will be, each in an absolute sense and in relative comparability to eBay (on which I’d been an everyday participant since 1997), to translate the buyer-refund idea into actuality. Maintain that thought.

The itemizing 

Again to my story. To his credit score, the vendor was at the very least speedy from a supply standpoint; the package deal shipped on Tuesday, April 1 (April Idiot’s Day: how prophetic) and arrived that very same Saturday. At first look, at the very least to my uneducated-recipient’s eyes, every little thing regarded genuine, though had I identified extra/higher I by no means would have clicked on “purchase” within the first place. Listed here are the pictures that accompanied the itemizing:

Appears to be like legit, proper? Just one drawback, I later discovered: Apple reportedly not sells AirPods in shrink-wrapped containers. However fake for now that, like me on the time, you’re not conscious of that essential nuance.

The supply

Right here’s the (shrink-wrap already eliminated) field of the particular product I acquired, as traditional, accompanied by a 0.75″ (19.1 mm) diameter U.S. penny for measurement comparability functions:

The tape strips on the prime and the underside have been seemingly “stiffer” than I’d remembered earlier than with different Apple gadgets, however I didn’t give that a lot thought, desperate to get inside:

Getting the 2 halves of the field aside was equally harder than I’d remembered …however once more, I now take pleasure in hindsight in making these key-nitpick observations. The literature package deal up-top appeared to be legit:

The protecting plastic sleeve across the case admittedly additionally appeared flimsier than I’d remembered from different Apple earbuds (there’s that rear-view-mirror perspective once more):

Placing the case apart for a minute, let’s have a look at the remainder of the contents (once more, a reminder that these photographs have been taken post-initial removing). Further earbud tip sizes:

And beneath them, an authentic-looking and useful (at the very least for charging) USB-C cable:

Now for that case. The LED in entrance seemingly operates as anticipated (each inexperienced and orange illumination mode choices), as do the audio system and USB-C port on the underside edge:

Open the case: it nonetheless appears, sounds (beep!), and in any other case acts legit.

Earbuds out: Charging contacts on the backside of every receptacle.

The earbuds themselves, from numerous views. Apologies for the earwax remnants

“That’s odd.” 

Again within the case for preliminary pairing, which is the place my preliminary “that’s odd” second occurred (maintain that thought for a doable clarification to comply with shortly):

I didn’t recall this explicit message earlier than, significantly for supposedly brand-new Apple earbuds, however I plunged on and acquired them paired and related to my Apple consumer account straightaway. They routinely additionally appeared within the paired-Bluetooth-devices listings of all my different Apple widgets. One factor that appeared just a little unusual upfront was that “Handoff” mode, whereby I might hook up with them from one other account-associated system even when they have been related to a unique system on the time, didn’t appear to work. I as an alternative wanted to manually disconnect them from, for instance, my iPad earlier than I might join them to my MacBook Professional. However after a little bit of on-line analysis, I chalked that as much as a possible bug with the earbuds’ present firmware model (7A305, which dated from late September 2024). And about that…try the three-part post-activation settings itemizing:

All appears legit, proper? The earbuds even claimed that legitimate guarantee protection existed by June 2025! Activating noise cancellation appeared to do one thing, though I can’t say it was notably superior (and even equal) to what I’d skilled with their first-generation forebears. And once I tried to activate listening to assist mode, it advised me that I’d should replace the firmware earlier than that exact function was out there for my use. All cheap. After I tried “Discover My” on them, it couldn’t find them, however I figured that since I’d simply activated them, Apple’s servers have been simply sluggish they usually’d present up finally. So, I related them to my iPad, put them in shut proximity to it in order that the firmware would auto-update, and…

Mercari’s vendor score coverage

One other background-info pause. As quickly as USPS delivered the earbuds, Mercari as-usual despatched e mail alerting me that they have been at my entrance door and—that is key—instantly encouraging me to “fee the vendor” so she or he might receives a commission. From previous expertise, these emails would proceed at a one-to-multiple times-per-day cadence till I both reported an issue or went forward and rated the vendor. And right here’s the twist that I didn’t understand till afterwards:

• The customer has solely 72 hours after package deal supply to report an issue
• Within the absence of purchaser response on the contrary after (solely) 72 hours, Mercari goes forward and routinely marks the package deal as acquired and pays the vendor anyway (keep in mind my earlier “seller-friendly” remark in regards to the service?), and
• As soon as the transaction is full, Mercari washes its fingers (phrases satirically written by me inside the Triduum) of the matter and accepts no additional fiscal accountability.

Did I’m going forward and fee the vendor that very same night in order that he/she might get promptly paid? Bathed within the “giddiness glow” of a seeming legit transaction…sure, I did. Sigh. The following morning, in fact, once I checked the settings and noticed that the firmware had not up to date, alarm bells belatedly began going off in my head. A number of subsequent factory-reset and re-pairs have been equally unsuccessful in getting the firmware up to date. After which I discovered this video:

Serial quantity consistency

whereby I remembered that though the serial quantity on the packaging matched that on the case and (by default) reported in settings, the serial numbers for the precise and left earbuds have been alleged to be completely different in each locations. Right here, for instance, are the serial quantity markings on the case and earbuds for my first-generation AirPods Professionals (apologies once more for the earwax bits):

The print is a bit faint, however hopefully you’ll be able to see that the serial numbers on the earbuds each don’t match these on the case (H6VHW8651059) and are completely different from one another (H6QHWQRX06CJ and H6VHX88Q0C6K).

Now right here’s the settings itemizing entry of curiosity for the “fakes”. For those who click on on it, it’ll report distinctive serial numbers for the case and every earbud:

And the mannequin numbers stamped on the case and each earbuds are additionally completely different, and match what they need to be. However the stamped serial numbers on all three? An identical: DT601W1T41.

And are, I’m guessing, additionally equivalent to the serial numbers stamped on and reported by who-knows-how-many different equivalent “fakes” additionally bought by “Skii” and others, which is why I acquired the preliminary “not your” notification in the beginning of the pairing course of. Apple, is it not doable to detect and extra meaningfully alert house owners when a number of units of earbuds with equivalent serial numbers are activated? You’ve gotten each fiscal and reputational motivations to take action, in spite of everything.

I’m begrudgingly impressed with the diploma to which these counterfeit earbuds mimic the actual factor. And right here’s the twist: have been I the proprietor of solely a single Apple system, corresponding to an iPhone, subsequently unaware of the “Handoff” glitch, and have been I a typical non-geeky (non-Brian) shopper, unaware decide the present firmware model, removed from what the present model is, replace it and what it will add to my utilization expertise…I is perhaps blissfully unaware far into the long run that I’d purchased a cheap-but-fake set of earbuds …possibly without end.

Reporting the pretend to Mercari

I reported the scenario intimately, full with photos, to Mercari. All through the next e mail back-and-forth, they a number of occasions jogged my memory that:

Once you submit a score on your transaction, you’re prompted to verify you perceive that when the score is submitted, the sale is remaining. As soon as submitted, funds are launched to the vendor and we’re not capable of course of a return or refund. Shifting ahead, should you obtain an merchandise that isn’t as described, please don’t submit a score on your vendor and phone us instantly.

That stated, in addition they made a promise:

Please know that if a report is made towards the vendor we’ll conduct an investigation to verify the suspicions. If the vendor is discovered responsible rapid motion can be taken towards them concerning their listings. I recognize on your issues and only for you we’ll additional overview this for you. Your case can be taken as a suggestions and we do worth your time in reaching out to us to tell us of this inquiry.

and:

Concerning your vendor’s motion, please notice that our staff may be very vigilant with these sorts of actions. We are going to conduct monitoring the place we might want to examine all their transactions and be sure that our Belief and Security staff will overview this concern. Please go away it to us, relaxation assured that the precise sanction can be given accordingly.

It’s been two weeks since I filed my report. “Skii” remains to be on Mercari. And as I write these phrases, she or he has three extra “genuine” AirPods Professional 2 units on the market. Admittedly, “Skii” might not even know that the earbuds being bought are fakes. Though I doubt it. Caveat emptor, certainly.

Then there was this closing e mail from Mercari:

Thanks for reaching out to Mercari! We hope your difficulty was resolved to your satisfaction.

We might recognize it should you might take a second to offer us along with your suggestions. Your enter helps us enhance our service. Thanks for serving to us serve you higher!

Grrr.

I plan to “flip lemons into lemonade” through future teardowns of each the case and one of many earbuds, evaluating them to present revealed teardowns of legit options. Till then, I welcome your ideas within the feedback on what I’ve written to date on this “fakes” saga.

—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Imaginative and prescient Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the corporate’s on-line publication.

Associated Content material

• Arms-on overview: Is a premium digital audio participant well worth the worth?
• Reminiscence playing cards: Specs and (extra) deceptions
• USB activation dongles: Counterfeit woes
• Apple’s newest product launch occasion takes flight
• Apple’s fall 2024 bulletins: SoC and reminiscence improve abundance

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