The Dangers of Purchasing a Counterfeit Filter

Have you ever come across a price for a water or a refrigerator filter that is just too good to be true? While these filters may look the same as your original brand name filter, the truth of the matter is that you might be purchasing a counterfeit filter that can put you and your family at risk.

Check out this video to see what we found:

At FiltersFast.com we took it upon ourselves to get to the bottom of these too good to be true prices from sites like eBay.

We ordered EveryDrop Ice and Water Refrigerator 2 & 3 Filters from a seller on eBay and grabbed two of the same brand filters from our FiltersFast.com warehouse.

As you can see in the picture above, there are a few differences packaging-wise, but nothing to be alarmed about.

Upon further inspection, we noticed that the filter from our warehouse had a foil sticker indicating authenticity and the one from eBay did not. Some other differences that we noticed, were that the filters from eBay were wrapped in plastic inside the main plastic casing and the ones from the FiltersFast.com warehouse were not, but the warehouse ones did come with a magnetic security strip inside and the ones from the eBay seller did not.

As we took the filters out of the packaging there were a few obvious differences right off the bat. While at first glance they looked virtually the same, they were slightly different in color and the filter from the FiltersFast.com warehouse was clearly heavier than one from the seller on eBay.

After observing the things we could see instantly, we started to look at the differences in the mold. Whirlpool uses the same mold for each filter, so there should be NO discrepancies if it is an authentic filter.

Here’s a breakdown of the differences that we found in each filter mold:

Everydrop Filter 2 (orange cap):

• The notches along the bottom of each filter were different in both size and length.
  • The eBay filter has numerous small notches close together
  • The warehouse filter had thicker notches and they were more spaced out
• The numbers at the top of the filter was a different font and had a difference in raise on both filters
• There were a few indicator dots at the top of the filter that were slightly different too

Everydrop Filter 3 (blue cap):

• The eBay filter was a brighter white than the warehouse filter
• There was a small size difference in the notches along the sides of the filter
• The slider piece was raised more on the eBay filter than on the authentic Whirpool filter from the FiltersFast.com warehouse
• There are markings at the top of the eBay filter that were more spaced out and had a deeper indent than the authentic Whirlpool filter
• The authentic Whirlpool filter had the #33 on the top of the filter and the eBay filter did not

We were so startled at the differences between to the two filters on the outside that we didn’t stop there! We decided to cut the filters open and see what differences we could find inside! Here is what we found:

• The carbon in the eBay filter was extremely loose and darker in color, while the authentic filter from the FiltersFast.com warehouse was more tightly packed and the carbon was lighter in color.
• When the carbon was taken out the filter casing, the eBay purchased filter’s carbon crumbled, the authentic filter from the FiltersFast.com warehouse did not.
• The carbon in the filter from the FiltersFast.com warehouse was a pain to get out because it was so tightly packed and had a few parts attached to the filter that limited the carbon’s movement. However, the eBay purchased filters were extremely easy to dislodge.
• The material that the carbon was wrapped in were extremely different. You could tell that the eBay filter had a very low-quality wrap and than the one from the FiltersFast.com had an extremely high-quality wrap around it.

While these filters seemed virtually the same on the outside, the inside told a different story. The filters from the sellers on eBay were cheaper, but it was clear that the makers cut corners wherever they could. So why is this so important? When you purchase a filter from a trusted seller like FiltersFast.com, you are guaranteed to get exactly what you are paying for. If you are purchasing a product from a seller site, such as eBay, at a price that is too good to be true, you could potentially be putting you and your family at risk. But that’s not all, you could also be setting your appliances up for failure, which can become very costly down the road.

Where you order filters from is totally up to you, but we advise that you do some more research to ensure that you are buying exact filters you need. At FiltersFast.com we’ve made it our mission to provide you with high-quality filters at the best possible price. Check out our wide selection TODAY!