You were not unlucky, and three months is a very common life for the cheapest modules. This is one of the clearest quality differences in controller parts.
A stick module's life comes almost entirely from the thickness and consistency of the carbon track the wiper scrapes. The cheapest modules use a thinner track and a looser gimbal, often with visibly rougher moulding, and they wear through in months rather than years. They also frequently arrive with a resting value already outside tolerance, so you start from a worse position than a factory stick. Meanwhile the module looks nearly identical in a listing photo, which is why this is such a common and expensive mistake.
What to look for, concretely. Buy from a named repair parts supplier rather than an unbranded marketplace listing, and look for a part that specifies the manufacturer, usually ALPS or a clearly named equivalent, rather than one that just says compatible. Expect to pay meaningfully more than the cheapest option and considerably less than a new controller. Read reviews that mention longevity rather than fit, because almost all of them fit.
The better answer for your situation, though, is to stop buying potentiometer modules. Drop-in hall effect replacement modules are now widely available for the DualSense and for Xbox pads, they cost somewhere between a cheap and a good conventional module, and they do not have a carbon track to wear through. You have now paid twice in three months; a hall effect module is very likely the last one you will fit. The trade-offs are the ones in our hall effect guidance: they can need slightly more deadzone, and a badly made one is still badly made, so buy a named brand.
Whichever you fit, measure it on day one. A new module resting above 0.03 out of the box is a bad part and worth returning immediately rather than discovering in three months.
