Is my Supermicro motherboard actually new, and how to tell?

[enzymatic_catalysis]

Reposting this on a more relevant board:

I just bought a new X11SSM-F-O through Amazon as the seller, and what I received yesterday is a retail box with several scratches, shipped to me in a semi-opened state inside the larger shipping box with the retail box flap bent in several places, with a packaging checklist inside addressed from Supermicro that describes the contents (e.g. "Retail Box for mATX and mini-ITX UP Motherboards", "FOAM 3/4", etc.). It's not how I expected the packaging to look like. Is this truly a new board? Is there anyway for me to know for certain? I've bought new motherboards in the past from different manufacturers and the packaging has never made me question it, but the state of this board's packaging is making me wonder.

 

[Dice]

I've bought new motherboards in the past from different manufacturers and the packaging has never made me question it, but the state of this board's packaging is making me wonder.

Regardless - file a complaint to the seller.

 

[enzymatic_catalysis]

Thanks, definitely going to do that. Question is whether I return it as well to err on side of caution and purchase from NewEgg instead.

To clarify my question, I am trying to see if this is a typical state for SuperMicro motherboards, e.g. whether they ship with a box that is unsealed, whether their retail boxes contain a packaging slip inside that clarifies what is packed in each retail box, whether the retail box exterior looks "old" and scuffed, etc.

For you and anyone else reading this, do you recall if your own SuperMicro motherboard had similar packaging as to what I'm describing?

 

[BigDave]

Every Supermicro retail board I've ever received had a rear I/O shield, anti-static bag, at least one layer of foam
padding, several SATA cables and almost always a packing list. The boxes for the server boards have never been taped close though.

 

[jlentz3]

My X11ssm-f-o came in the regular sealed retail supermicro box. Amazon prime.


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[enzymatic_catalysis]

@jlentz3 , by regular sealed do you mean the retail box was sealed or the anti-static bag was sealed?

I called one company nearby and they said their shipment of SuperMicro motherboards arrive in retail boxes that are NOT sealed, confirming what @BigDave said above.

I also called SuperMicro directly and the tech confirmed that their motherboards do not arrive in sealed retail boxes, and that there is no particular way to determine whether the board is new or not, but that if I did have any trouble I can interact directly with them within the warranty (1 year parts 3 year labor, I think he said). Sort of a silly thing that could easily be resolved, but ah well! I think I'm just going to install it and try my luck, and definitely will leave negative feedback for Amazon, whatever good that will do. Thanks folks.

 

[jlentz3]

@jlentz3 , by regular sealed do you mean the retail box was sealed or the anti-static bag was sealed?

I called one company nearby and they said their shipment of SuperMicro motherboards arrive in retail boxes that are NOT sealed, confirming what @BigDave said above.

I also called SuperMicro directly and the tech confirmed that their motherboards do not arrive in sealed retail boxes, and that there is no particular way to determine whether the board is new or not, but that if I did have any trouble I can interact directly with them within the warranty (1 year parts 3 year labor, I think he said). Sort of a silly thing that could easily be resolved, but ah well! I think I'm just going to install it and try my luck, and definitely will leave negative feedback for Amazon, whatever good that will do. Thanks folks.

I think there was some tape on the supermicro box. Maybe not. At any rate it appeared to be fresh from the factory in every respect.


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[Johnnie Black]

I bought a new X11SSM-F recently and it wasn't sealed.

 

[jgreco]

I don't recall buying a retail Supermicro board that's come in a sealed box. Checks of inventory here going back to the P4SC8 (~13 years) confirm that. However, there is a fairly uniform bagging of the board, and it's normal for the ESD bag to be in like-new condition, because they presumably air-blow them open before inserting the board - the same thing we do here in the shop to ESD-bag stuff. Scratches, divots, nicks, and other imperfections in the ESD bag of the newly arrived board are a suggestion that it may have been rebagged. There's supposed to be a packing list, usually on green paper that looks like it came from the world's saddest laser printer or copier. Boxes are sometimes scuffed. I *have* seen bent tabs/flaps on Supermicro boxes now and then, but that's not common. With the way Amazon packages and ships things, and the way UPS Ace Ventura's their packages sometimes, I wouldn't be too shocked if a Supermicro box were to inadvertently open during rough handling and maybe had to get repacked.

Now, the flip side to this all is that if you were to buy a used board from us here, we keep at least a few of each mainboard box that we've sold, mostly so that if we have to ship back for warranty, we can do so in the "recommended" packaging and avoid bogus warranty evasion claims (not really an issue with Supermicro). We had a bunch of used ASUS P/I-P55T2P4 boards (~22 years old now) that we cleared out in the early 2010's on eBay, and some recipients freaked out thinking the boards were new, because they came in a like-new P55T2P4 box that had an unopened accessory kit, an unscuffed rear ATX panel, and a clean board in a new ESD bag. I don't know what the deal was, but apparently there was some big retro-gaming movement and these sold for a lot better than the five bucks each I was expecting.

Unless there are obvious signs of physical damage to the board, or there are operational defects to the board, I'd say don't worry too much about it.

 

[joeschmuck]

My Supermicro board box was not sealed, the motherboard was not in a sealed ESD bag (no ESD Warning Label), and was wrapped up in between a thin layer of foam padding. My board was a wreck, it had flux residue on the bottom that I had to clean off. But it was new.

As @jgreco said, unless there is obvious damage, plug it in and see if it boots up.

Since Supermicro doesn't seal the boxes, if the person who packed it into the outer box left the thing loose to move around, it's quite possible it could have opened up. I see loose packaging way too often and the shipped would have done better to just slap a label on the product itself vise it being slammed all over the place.