[stavros]

I don't understand why they sell them as counterfeits. I just want 3 EUR cards, I'm not fussed about the size (they're for things that need a few MB, usually). However, nobody will sell me cheap cards, unless they're counterfeits that claim to be 32 GB but are actually 16 GB instead.

I would have been happy with 8 GB!

[dspillett]

You can get “genuine no-name” cards at that sort of price, though I can't testify to the long-term reliability. Some that I have on use are https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09YGV2JGP/ which are £2.50 each if you get the 10x 16GB option. I got a 5-pack a larger version for a Thing a short while back and the ones I've used thus far fully checked out to support the claimed storage (I don't trust cheap SD cards without verifying, because of the counterfeit issue and quality issues, so ran a full test on each) and have so far maintained reasonable performance.

That is why there aren't genuine smaller cards: there just isn't a large market for them because the parts availability means the smaller capacity cards wouldn't work out any cheaper to source, so any noticeable drop in price would be through the seller reducing their markup. For the same price, people will buy the larger ones for the same price just-in-case they need more space later because why not? Even if there is a small price difference, if 8Gb or less is pennies cheaper than 16Gb or more, people will generally go for the larger option.

So to “why sell counterfeits?”: the scammy sellers can't sell them honestly in enough quantity to be worth bothering, so they lie.

[stavros]

This is very helpful, thanks!

[Fnoord]

If you only need a few MB anyway I can recommend getting industrial grade (aMLC / SLC cards) from Digikey (Mouser probably has them as well).

[stavros]

That's a good idea, thanks!