Are these real Duracell cells?

I ordered a box of 12 Surefire 123a cells off a seller in the Amazon marketplace.

Instead I got back some thing else. I'm in the process of dealing with the seller.



The first photo shows the box they came in. I was a little enthusiastic, as you can tell. :huh: The second photo (to the right) has the bottoms on the top row. The lower-right column with the three batteries side by side shows the whole text. The remaining units show you that there are two versions, one with two vent holes and the other with three. Both have the same codes...mostly. The last image shows you the tops of all of them, and you'll note that three of twelve have three vent holes, one is goofed up, and the remainder are two vent hole models. (I don't have a scale, otherwise I'd weigh them.)

Curiously, the seller replied to my initial email with this:

Order ID [REDACTED]:
1 of Surefire SF12-BB Box of 12 123A 3 Volt Lithium Batteries 12-Pack SF123A [ASIN: B000UX93OQ]

------------- Begin message -------------

Sorry for shipping error. could you send me the pic for what you receive?

If we send you Durell 123A by mistake, what you receive is the generic CR123A from Duracell company, and their value and quality is much more that the listing item. pls send back for exchange or refund.

--- Original message ---

Listed below are all the details regarding this order.

Order #: [REDACTED]
Problem: Materially Different
Purchase Date: August 20, 2013
Shipping Service Level: Std Cont US PO Box

The problem involves 1 item(s).

Item 1
---------------
Order-Item-ID: [REDACTED]
Product Name: Surefire SF12-BB Box of 12 123A 3 Volt Lithium Batteries 12-Pack SF123A
SKU: 6L-9GIE-ZDXH
Quantity: 1
Quantity with Problem: 1
Gift Wrapped: No
Item Price: $20.67

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I replied that if I wanted Duracell 123as I would have ordered them, and that I have doubts about his claim that they are better than Surfire/Panasonic cells (I tried looking for Panasonic cells but could not find any).

Thoughts? I've heard from here about fake Surefire/other brand(s) cells and thought I'd ask for some input on this.

icecube said:

.... The last image shows you the tops of all of them ... one is goofed up ....
Thoughts? ....

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Ummm ... ?

Wow...that label. I could be wrong but I doubt Duracell makes anything like that. Reminds me of a low-budget show where a person is drinking from a white can that simply says "BEER"

Some of the negative plates also look scratched like they were used, but this could be caused by something else...who knows.

I think you got totally ripped off.

(And by "think," I mean you absolutely, blatantly, got ripped off by a scumbag Seller.)

They look like Duracell industrial grade LM123A. Duracell used to use a plain black wrapper on their industrial line of batteries (including alkalines). At one time, they even branded them as "Mallory" to distinguish them from the consumer line. I think they started using more colorful wrappers in recent years so these could be old production. Can you tell from the date code when they were manufactured?

I have moved this thread to the /...Batteries/ subforum.

I checked an older Duracell in my desk drawer here and see three vent holes FWIW. Not sure about new production Panasonic/etc though.

what you receive is the generic CR123A from Duracell company, and their value and quality is much more that the listing item.

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But I do wonder about a seller who would state such a thing ... :ironic:


I would like to see the date codes to see the info & format vs cells we're more familiar with.

Those are old, expired cells. I can see 10/13 and 03/13 expiration dates. You can buy these for $0.45 ea. here:
http://www.batteriesandbutter.com/LM123A-GM.html

Edit: I just noticed that the seller quotes 2 million in stock. People are going to be scammed by these for a long time...

Wow expired. I thought they were just production codes, sometimes they have those over date codes. Dunno. Actually if you look at some of them, they are a bit...well, shoddy on the marking process.

I was led to think they were fakes. Considering that one of them has a bad ejection port on the cathode terminal, I'd be inclined to be very much suspect.

As for my note today, I also mentioned that how would I know I would get a proper order if I got an exchange? Mistakes happen, yes, I understand. But the wording of the reply indicates some slightly less than savory dealings.

Mainly, the problem with Amazon is that if you have a listing for say, an Arduino UNO R3 microcontroller board, it could come from just about *anybody*. Actually I looked at mine carefully based on the arduino.cc blog post on counterfeits and my UNO R3 is actually a counterfeit :duh2:.

EDIT: I just measured all the voltages of the cells. Six are 3.20v and six are 3.21v. (Scarey.) The battery that just came with my Foursevens QTLC (got it last week) is 3.27v.

Lodge a complaint with Amazon. Amazon has a lot more clout than you in getting a resolution.

They just issued me a refund.

They said in a parting note, that "Our item is genuine from Duracell company."

mmmkay well I'm not in the mood for arguing all day. They now know that they are expired, if they didn't before.

These guys are clearly scammers. Help out your fellow flashaholics by posting the seller's name.

Looks like there's a few sellers on Amazon pushing them in various quantities (10, 50, 100), They also say "Short Date Batteries". What does that mean, that they expire soon?

markr6 said:

Looks like there's a few sellers on Amazon pushing them in various quantities (10, 50, 100), They also say "Short Date Batteries". What does that mean, that they expire soon?

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Batteriesandbutter.com lists them as "Shortdated MFG Date 2002". I'd call that expired.

anyone test these to see what they have left in them?
they might just be a great deal!

snakebite said:

anyone test these to see what they have left in them?
they might just be a great deal!

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I can get Battery Station brand (Made in the USA), brand new cells for $1.35 each; for a case of 12.

That's a great deal.

Why in the world would anyone pay for suspect, possibly counterfeit, CR123 primaries that are near the end of their shelf life? (Especially since they came from a scumbag Seller who promised new SureFire brand CR123 primaries for that price, instead.)

because if you can buy them for 35 cents each and you use a bunch of them even if they are 80% its a deal!
wouldnt get them from mr bait and switch though.

Monocrom said:

I can get Battery Station brand (Made in the USA), brand new cells for $1.35 each; for a case of 12.

That's a great deal.

Why in the world would anyone pay for suspect, possibly counterfeit, CR123 primaries that are near the end of their shelf life? (Especially since they came from a scumbag Seller who promised new SureFire brand CR123 primaries for that price, instead.)

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snakebite said:

because if you can buy them for 35 cents each and you use a bunch of them even if they are 80% its a deal!
wouldnt get them from mr bait and switch though.

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Well, that's the whole point though. Had the Seller listed them as "Duracells close to expiration date," this topic wouldn't even exist. On top of that, you're assuming these are real Duracells. We honestly can't be sure, and that's precisely because the Seller is a con-artist.

The Seller goes under the name of the Hillflower Store. Apparently they're out of California. Too bad I didn't live nearby otherwise I would have dropped by to check out their joint.

Just got duped by this on ebay.

Sorry to hear that.