this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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Redditor Hits the "Jackpot" As the Amazon Return Pallets Gave Him a Surprise of 40x 16 GB DDR5 RAM Sticks for Just $100

We hope this doesn’t convince you to waste your money on Amazon return pallets, but this story might tempt some to try their luck. While we have been posting reports of users getting free hardware worth hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars, this is one of the craziest stories so far. The user u/Apprehensive-Dig2898 posted that he "Hit the jackpot with Amazon return pallets".

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[–] teft@piefed.social 36 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

If I were amazon and had a bunch of pallets of overstock to get rid of I'd plant a story like this to get some poor suckers to gamble for RAM.

[–] upandatom@lemmy.world 9 points 10 hours ago

This was my first thought too. Seemed like an ad when I first saw this story like a week or so ago.

[–] jdr8@lemmy.world 7 points 9 hours ago

I would never guess that a winning lottery ticket would come as ram sticks, but here we are.

[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world 253 points 20 hours ago (4 children)

User with Reddit default name promotes Amazon Return Pallet ad.

[–] Monstrosity@lemmy.today 3 points 9 hours ago

Exactly why I am here

I always wonder about things like this. It takes virtually no effort to imply your service is actually a lottery where you might be given massive returns just by using your service.

You're not actually a gambling service, though, so you don't have to give anything for real, nor submit to any form of regulation. It's just a hypothetical lottery as an advertisement.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 35 points 19 hours ago (1 children)
[–] SillyDude@lemmy.zip 8 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

There's a YouTube channel that's been around for a long time called official duck studios. It was a few guys that made random bullshit videos, which was funny, but for several years they were sponsored by CS lootbox opening sites. They essential had to remove the first several years of their youtube career because turns out that's just gambling. Surprise.

Can you guess what kind of videos they're making today?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago

Oh boy. I don't suppose this is November, Liam, and Rocz, and they're off taking $2/subscriber to make WTYP episodes?

[–] MeatPilot@sh.itjust.works 6 points 16 hours ago

Also if this did really happen l, we ensured whoever made the error was sacked and now have checks and balances put in place to push further errors by having employees responsible have their pay docked.

In other words don't expect lighting to strike twice you pleebs.

[–] Stimpy@lemmy.world 67 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

It sounds like IRL loot boxes.

I'm sure that user is real and definitely not a way for Amazon to get someone throw money at them /s

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 51 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

A couple different ways to read this.

  • Amazon marketing team turned an "oops, we just handed some rando $7,000 in valuable equipment" into a "you, too, can get rich quick buying our trash"

  • The pallets aren't random, there was an insider who knew exactly what they were getting, and Amazon operates at such high volume that they don't really care.

  • It's a totally fake story that's been churned out by one of those AI news story engines, stumbled upon by some weeb who didn't know what they were looking at, and recirculated into ~~Reddit~~ Lemmy, when it deserves to be a pop-up on CNN that your grandmother doesn't know how to close.

[–] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 27 points 19 hours ago

Degenerate gambling ad tbh

[–] ekZepp@lemmy.world 31 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Dindonmasker@sh.itjust.works 19 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

New amazon lottery just dropped!

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 33 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Huh?

Return pallets have been a thing, they're always $100 and usually include $10 of the same plastic junk.

When someone actually hits like this, it's a one in a billion chance and that's why it always makes the news cycles. Which causes everyone to buy one.

Amazon isn't losing money on these, and there's a good chance they intentionally let boxes like this go out only when they're not selling enough pallets.

Meaning the absolute worst time to try it is now. And it's never really a good idea.

You're better off buying an actual lotto ticket, at least that's easy to throw away when you lose.

[–] tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 25 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Return pallets sound like an absolute con.

Basically Amazon disposing of their unwanted trash (which they would normally have to pay to get rid of) by giving it to members of the public to dispose of instead.

And somehow convincing those people they should pay for the privilege.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 10 points 20 hours ago

Yep, Amazon is already paid, it's stuff the seller values so little that when it's returned by a buyer instead of paying a small restock or shipping fee, they leave it unclaimed.

The absolute only way this could happen organically is one buyer ordered all that RAM, and for some reason returned it. Then the seller's only logical reason for not paying a restocking fee or even shipping to get product back, is the seller went out of business.

Sure, it might happen once or twice, ever. But after that, you still have to be the one that randomly gets that pallet.

It's not just buying a winning lotto ticket.

It's someone else finding a lotto ticket for a drawing that's already happened, and buying it for an insane markup even though it's almost guaranteed to not be the winning numbers. Hell, more like you're the third person to buy it after someone found it.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 5 points 18 hours ago

It's not directly a con. It's actual returns, and god damn they get a lot. Whether it's worth it to try and get a net profit of anything is another thing. It can happen, but it's probably low.

Also, a great Climate Town on the very subject.

[–] No_Ones_Slick_Like_Gaston@lemmy.world 9 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 7 points 20 hours ago
[–] homes@piefed.world 10 points 20 hours ago

Typical winnings for a scratch-off ticket. Still, congratulations.