In the case of Amazon, I don't think that's true, but my opinion is only shaped by what I read online since I don't use it. I'd be wary of getting fake/counterfeit/knockoff items even if I thought I was buying the real thing.

Does the bullshit P&TO, Chinese-alphabet-soup-fake-brand-name of the enclosure matter that much? It was a Seagate Exos X4 drive inside the "branded" enclosure.

I consider Seagate to be a trustworthy brand, yet the one sent to me failed within two weeks and it had no shock absorption in the device at all.

When you buy rust drives on Amazon you are rolling the dice that you're going to get a drive that's been thrown around and could fail within two weeks.