There are currently a large number of counterfeit Sony Memory Sticks for sale on eBay and other sources.

These products are cheap imitations, and are usually manufactured in China. They can be hard to tell from the genuine product, but invariably they will not work properly, and they do not have a warranty from Sony.

Here are some general pointers for spotting these fake products:

Price.

Buyer beware. If the price seems too good to be true, then it probably is…..

Packaging.

The packaging of the fakes can be difficult to distinguish from the original Sony packaging, including the hologram.

However, the fake packaging often has poor quality printing when compared to the real Sony product. Also, the Sony packaging is heat sealed and the seals between the two layers of clear plastic are elongated. The fake packaging is sealed using small round spots of glue.

Accessories.

If a Sony Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick PRO Duo is supplied sealed with an adapter, the adapter is always a genuine Sony MSAC-M2. Memory Sticks supplied sealed with a non-Sony adapter are almost certainly fakes.

As far as I can tell, all of the Memory Stick Duos or Memory Stick PRO Duos currently distributed by Sony in the USA (MSX-M2GS, MSX-M512S, MSX-M256S, MSX-M256N, MSX-M512N, MSX-M1GN, MSX-M2GN, MSX-M1GST) come with an adapter in the sealed packaging.

The card itself.

Authentic Sony Memory Sticks have laser-etched information on the back of the plastic case. The lettering on the fake cards is printed on and will rub off.

The fake Memory Sticks have inferior casing, they often do not fit into Memory Stick slots properly, and the case will often break open easily.

Inside the case, the fakes do not have a Sony-marked PCB and use inferior grade chips which do not perform reliably. They usually are not the same capacity as a genuine Sony, and the fake High Speed Memory Sticks do not operate at the same speed as genuine Sony product.