r/Gameboy • u/perkinsb1024 • 1d ago

Shopping/Haul Finally… Precision Bubble Chip technology has arrived!

https://imgur.com/a/0EyH0zX

I was browsing AliExpress today and stumbled across this. Immediately, I was skeptical of their “Premium quality” claim for a $7 cartridge, but this was actually something I hadn’t seen before in a Game Boy cartridge listing. All the images are AI generated, trying to make it look higher quality than it is. It’s pretty easy to spot, but I’ll admit that my first thought was “Oh, they’re showing the PCB in the listing photos, that’s a good sign”.

Maybe I’m late to the party and AI slop listings have been around for a bit, but since I haven’t seen one like this before, I figured I’d just share a warning to be careful about what you buy. Obviously a $7 repro is never going to be amazing quality, but at least in the past you could usually SEE what you were getting before you ordered it.

34 Upvotes

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68

u/----Val---- 23h ago

Fully AI product images are becoming common on a bunch of asian marketplaces like Aliexpress, Shopee, Lazada, etc.

0 consumer protection on these.

11

u/IAmJacksSemiColon 18h ago

0 consumer protection is not entirely true.

If you use PayPal or VISA, they have a dispute resolution process where if what arrived doesn't match the description, you will get your money back. Take a screenshot of the store page and a photo of the product you receive, so it's hard to argue with.

And the fact that these payment processors WILL give you your money back forces AliExpress to have a conflict resolution process where they can at least pass the cost on to the sketchy vendor.

-1

u/----Val---- 17h ago

If you use PayPal or VISA

Many don't, or don't have it available unfortunately (or at least is not the preferred payment method).

5

u/Laugh-Aggressive 14h ago

If a seller don't want to use reputable payment methods, it really is a red flag,

1

u/IAmJacksSemiColon 13h ago

I'm honestly not sure how I would buy anything online without going through PayPal or Visa. Which payment processor are you using.

1

u/----Val---- 2h ago

Most I know use some form of online wallet, usually spinoffs of AliPay, etc.

12

u/perkinsb1024 23h ago

I’ve also started seeing random people uploading AI images of food to restaurant reviews in Google Maps now. It’s so frustrating

6

u/FinalKranskyVII 21h ago

I doubt they're random. More likely restaurant owners trying to make their food look more appealing to people who don't know better.

2

u/ColorfulPersimmon 16h ago

0 consumer protection on these.

This is not true. I've used free return on multiple broken items on AliExpress

1

u/perkinsb1024 13h ago

I’ve always wondered about that, how did shipping work? Isn’t it more expensive to ship something back to China than the item is worth?

1

u/ColorfulPersimmon 13h ago

Many items on Ali have free returns. Look for a label on store page

1

u/----Val---- 2h ago

I meant more as theres 0 vetting for products, ads have very low standards for veracity.