Going to revive this thread instead of starting a new one. I mentioned in a previous post here I had bought struts that were wholesaler closeout and they were new in box and had no issues with them... Well the other day I bought a plate bracket as wholesaler closeout item, and to reduce shipping I stocked up on a some air and cabin filters, along with a hengst fuel filter which was also a wholesaler closeout item and happened to be coming from the same warehouse... at 11.20 CAD, I couldn't say no, the same filter from all the sources I have here in Canada retails around 35 CAD plus tax.
Well, I guess there's a reason it's a wholesaler closeout item... the filter came in a basic brown cardboard box, with no o ring inside, wrapped in a bunch of bubble wrap... it doesn't look used, and if it was, it would think it would reek of diesel (filter is for a 13 golf tdi)... see below for pics of the box it came in and a side by side of the same hengst filter that was ordered off RA aswell a while back, non wholesaler closeout, came in the proper box with an o ring. The filter on the right with o ring is original packaging, left is the wholesaler closeout
Will I use this filter in the future, not sure, on one hand it seems new, on the other, the thought of it coming in a generic box doesn't sit well with me