Here’s my stance, laid out clearly so be there no confusion:
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The serial-number mismatch is real and it was my oversight - didn’t look into it as such a thing has never happened.
I should’ve caught that the body and internal SN didn’t match. The buyer also didn’t notice it, and I’m not holding that against him, rather it was his first deal with me, and that detail was easy to miss.
I accept responsibility for not identifying it at the listing stage. -
The label (different SN, different firmware printed, PSID = 0000…) confirms the drive was re-shelled.
This doesn’t automatically mean “fake” as many refurb/pulled units, including official service center units, are sold in re-shelled form.
But yes, its clear that this was not a factory-sealed retail piece, and I agree with that fully now that everything is visible.
The drive will be opened up once received return back and shared here publicly, to justify if it was an original crucial unit OR just a dummy labelled as crucial (more of a fake drive). -
About calling it “fresh”
My categories are as “new / fresh / pulled / used ” are based on usage and present condition of the unit (writes, power-on hours etc etc).
They do not mention sealed retail condition.
I understand some people assumed “fresh = close to new,” so I’ll clarify this better in future listings, with more detailed results for each unit posted. -
The important part: the drive was working until the firmware update.
This is not about blaming the buyer, rather about understanding the sequence:
The drive booted, It worked for months
The failure happened only after the firmware update attempt
Now it shows no ATA response
I’m not claiming “firmware update kills drives.” But firmware updates are not 100% risk-free either. Even Crucial’s own documentation says that.
I’ve personally had BIOS updates brick motherboards even with everything done correctly : these edge-case failures do happen and we can’t rely 100% on it to be successful.
So we have two facts simultaneously true:
The unit was re-shelled → my oversight
The unit died during/after a manual firmware update → not something a seller can be held fully liable for
Both things exist together.
- About refund vs partial resolution
I’ve already offered two fair options:
Option A: A discounted replacement
Option B: A compensation/partial refund after verification
I am open to sorting it out claiming that the SN mismatch was overlooked in 1st place - totally my fault. Also this exactly and accurately informed to me on December 2nd, late night, that’s when @Uvula clearly wrote over chat that the SN’s shows up diff from what’s actually written on the drive.
So far what I’ve been reading over his chat was that the unit shown on photo before dispatch & the unit delivered → Are 2 different pieces of the same model.
The buyer is asking for a full refund now, after the drive has become completely dead.
This is where I disagree. A full refund would make sense if the drive was returned in working condition, with only authenticity concerns.
But returning a completely bricked unit months later, after a firmware operation, and expecting full value doesn’t feel fair to me, especially when it was functioning at the time of delivery.
If the issue had come up while the drive was still alive, I would have replaced/refunded immediately, no questions asked.
There have been cases where the buyers were not happy with the drive condition , let’s take few exact cases of such :
@Anil_Sharma being refunded full 3800 for WD Green 1tb (seal pack unit) that died under the 7days offered seller coverage period;
@CasualGamer91 who experienced screen flicker on 4k resolution on R3 4300g Brand New Unit - refunded full 5k, was informed under 7day seller period, though had 3yr brand warranty on it.
@Kmkaks who cancelled his UPS preorder, refunded entire amount, no questions asked.
@shr who locked up a deal for 35k for 5700x3d + mobo + 32gb rgb new ram, full refunded
@Giridegr8 where the delivered m.2 sata ssd did not work fast enough (capped at some 65MB/s, was brought back under the 7day period, tested, worked fine for me, still refunded at no extra questions / charges.
@Synth-Pop and @anchberry about the 9100Pro being blacklisted for magician - refunded in full amount.
@soulweaver where the delivered unit did not work optimally, was offered replacement, this order had a bit of delays, and he had gone out of the country, unavl to accept the replacment and asked for refund - where I denied, that we are yet available to replace the unit, and it’s a massive amount, and the unit sourced as per buyer req, so now cancellation wont’ be permitted. Still , later he agreed that I give him the replacement once he arrives back to India, and since he wanted the entire 14day testing period on the replacement, I offered to ship the replacement around the period he arrives back - so that he gets to take his 14day testing period in his own hands → to which he agreed initially, and later asked for a full refund again (by adding mod to the PM, and was refunded by cutting 500rs for cancellation despite replacement availability)
@MrGhost who bought a 990 evo plus for 19.3k, his system used to cut power whenever he put load on the NVME ssd, brought unit back, was fully working, his refund is in progress.
Whenever replacements available, I’ve provided replacements. For both - DOA units (zero so far), incompatible units (working for me, not for buyer - maybe 5 so far), wrong items delivered (slight mismatch of model no etc, 3 so far) ; and complete refund in cases where replacement was not available (5 cases) or buyer’s preferred upgrade option was not available.
- I’m still not walking away, I’m offering support beyond my warranty terms.
Even though this failure did not occur naturally, I’ve still stepped in with workable options so the buyer doesn’t face a total loss.
But a full refund for a unit that was rendered dead after a manual update, I’m sorry, but I cannot take that entire liability.
About the “dropshipping” matter - here you go
I understand why people worry about dropshipping, because the word gets used on the internet for all kinds of shady stuff. But the way it works on TE is very different from “random online sellers passing parcels from unknown warehouses.” Here each and every unit that I have “dropshipped” so far, has been shared with all proper information and details, and for the first time, it has been found that an issue has occurred → which again has zero relation to the unit being either shipped from own hands OR dropshipped from elsewhere.
Bulk suppliers don’t have the time or bandwidth to deal with 1-piece buyers.They work in lots of 50, 100, 500+ units. They won’t sit and answer 20 questions per buyer, send photos, negotiate prices, handle shipping, or take returns one-by-one.
Without intermediaries, most of the hardware that shows up as these bulk deals, would never reach buyers at all.
Few worried about me making 10k commission each sale, cutting all middle layers is not realistic.
You can’t walk into a wholesale market and buy 500g onions; similarly, you can’t expect bulk IT suppliers to sell you one SSD, test it, pack it, ship it, and provide support.
People deal with me, not with an invisible backend supplier.
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You ask me questions
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You get my testing guarantees
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You return to me for support
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I am accountable for delivery, condition, and post-sale handling
Nobody here is being redirected to unknown vendors.
I have never told a buyer, “Here’s my supplier’s number, go solve it with him.”
If something goes wrong, the responsibility lands on me first, and I’ve always acted accordingly.
Also stock variety is impossible without this model. No individual seller can physically hold dozens of models, hundreds of capacities, DRAM/non-DRAM variants, multiple price tiers, pulled units, fresh units, open-box units, service replacements etc etc.
The only reason such variety is even available to TE members is because sellers like me coordinate with bulk sources and make these items accessible as single pieces.
Hence people here are getting the goods, at insane pricings, with catching hold off me when anything occurrs.
Otherwise, the only choices left would be Amazon retail pricing or waiting for rare individual listings/
Also,the SN mismatch case is being shown up as a “dropshipping failure,” but that’s not accurate. In large batches of hundreds or thousands of units, refurb/shell-swapped units can slip through. It happens even with enterprise-grade liquidation lots and RMA discard channels. One mismatched-shell drive out of ~50 or 100 units isn’t a system failure, its all just a probability in bulk procurement.
And the moment it was specifically mentioned, here we are.
Also for those who say “Ban dropshipping”, it sounds simple but breaks the ecosystem.
I’m not forcing anyone to buy. If someone prefers only sealed retail units from Amazon, that option always exists. If someone is okay with open-box / pulled / service-center / refurb units at lower rates, I’m here to bridge that gap.
The choice stays with the buyer