Fake and Counterfeit Gear on TradeMe

Just a quick warning...

It seems the eBay scourge of knockoffs and fakes has reached TradeMe...

In particular seller mikevr4 seems likely to be selling fake Cold Steel Code4 / Recon1 and Kubun knives

The reason I say likely, is in a previous auction where he claimed to have bought the two knives from Guncity I asked the boxes had Guncity pricing stickers. He answered the question but then blacklisted me from all other auctions.

Those knives sold, but now has multiple listings for the same knives again. Listed again at $1 reserve with just the standard blurb stolen from bladehq etc....plus colour options not available on the real deal.

So just a heads up. If buying a cold Steel on TradeMe it might pay to check what's selling on AliExpress first...

A lot of people seem happy with what they bought from him.

Yes, those are knock off's. People can be happy with them and they may work well, but they're still knock off's being posed as something else.
And I'd guess that the steel isn't correct.


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I use the sellers feedback as a way to gauge the situation.

Unfortunately its not very helpful in regards to quality of product being passed off.
Comments like "nicely packaged" and "quick delivery" do not help.

Report the listings to trademe for ‘intellectual property’ concerns. They’re usually pretty good about pulling listings for knock-offs that can’t be verified.

Yep - 100% knockoff knives.
At best these will have D2 steel blades, but you can pretty safely know they will not be S35VN.

Normal thing, if it seems too good to be true...

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Originally Posted by trapperjohn

I use the sellers feedback as a way to gauge the situation.

Unfortunately its not very helpful in regards to quality of product being passed off.
Comments like "nicely packaged" and "quick delivery" do not help.

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Likewise orchestrated positive comments from mates of the seller can instill the illusion the seller is a good honest person.

Theres also been those minox scopes recently, i cant say 100% that theyre knockoffs but at half the price of retail shops and unusual details on the scopes themselves they do tend to raise suspicion

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Originally Posted by Finnwolf

Likewise orchestrated positive comments from mates of the seller can instill the illusion the seller is a good honest person.

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Actually that is quite a hard thing to do as one has to complete auctions to have the ability to leave feedback.

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Originally Posted by keengunNic

Theres also been those minox scopes recently, i cant say 100% that theyre knockoffs but at half the price of retail shops and unusual details on the scopes themselves they do tend to raise suspicion

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Are the scopes any good?...heaven forbid, they may be better than the originals.

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Originally Posted by DavidGunn

Are the scopes any good?...heaven forbid, they may be better than the originals.

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Not sure mate, they may well be legit im not sure. They just look off to me. The email stating they're legitimate is different too:pacman:

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Originally Posted by keengunNic

Theres also been those minox scopes recently, i cant say 100% that theyre knockoffs but at half the price of retail shops and unusual details on the scopes themselves they do tend to raise suspicion

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There seems to be a big difference in prices between retailers also, makes you wonder thru which channel they have arrived here by. Also warranty seems to differ from the manufacturers, one retailer I queried on this stated "he would personally match the manufacturers warranty" all good when his door closes in a couple of years down the track.

Every now and then a scope comes up on TM that just screams out fake, but is actually an amazing deal. There were a few Bushnell xrs2 on there at 1/2 of the retail price. Unsurprisingly they were not there for long.
It was only after some investigation, working out I had dealt with the person on TM before, and a friendly email enquiring about the scope, that I found that the "too good to be true" deal was actually legit.

They do exist, but it will be safe to say that it is the exception, and not the rule.

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Originally Posted by keengunNic

Theres also been those minox scopes recently, i cant say 100% that theyre knockoffs but at half the price of retail shops and unusual details on the scopes themselves they do tend to raise suspicion

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The seller can arrange that too with small cheap items.

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Originally Posted by DavidGunn

Are the scopes any good?...heaven forbid, they may be better than the originals.

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Possibly as least as good as. One question is relevant: do Minox get their scopes made in China? Some years ago I heard of a manufacturer of kitchen taps etc setting up a factory in China. Market soon got invaded by a flood of perfect counterfeits. Turns out that, as they set up their Chinese factory a copy of the factory was being set up in a nearby Chinese town. What you risk getting from outsourcing manufacture to a Ferengi who lives by "the rules of acquisition".

I'm not anti Chinese, just anti the corrupt CCP which allow scum to operate with impunity.

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Originally Posted by Cordite

Possibly as least as good as. One question is relevant: do Minox get their scopes made in China? Some years ago I heard of a manufacturer of kitchen taps etc setting up a factory in China. Market soon got invaded by a flood of perfect counterfeits. Turns out that, as they set up their Chinese factory a copy of the factory was being set up in a nearby Chinese town. What you risk getting from outsourcing manufacture to a Ferengi who lives by "the rules of acquisition".

I'm not anti Chinese, just anti the corrupt CCP which allow scum to operate with impunity.

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some minox are 100% german, some are filipino assembled. havent seen a chinese one so far

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Originally Posted by Cordite

Possibly as least as good as. One question is relevant: do Minox get their scopes made in China? Some years ago I heard of a manufacturer of kitchen taps etc setting up a factory in China. Market soon got invaded by a flood of perfect counterfeits. Turns out that, as they set up their Chinese factory a copy of the factory was being set up in a nearby Chinese town. What you risk getting from outsourcing manufacture to a Ferengi who lives by "the rules of acquisition".

I'm not anti Chinese, just anti the corrupt CCP which allow scum to operate with impunity.

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Then there’s those who happily import shoddily made items from China and on sell them with no care about the safety etc of the item.

IE there were shiny custom tilt steering columns imported to NZ from China for use in hot rods - only the universal in the column disintegrated under load, rather inconvenient to say the least...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cordite

Possibly as least as good as. One question is relevant: do Minox get their scopes made in China? Some years ago I heard of a manufacturer of kitchen taps etc setting up a factory in China. Market soon got invaded by a flood of perfect counterfeits. Turns out that, as they set up their Chinese factory a copy of the factory was being set up in a nearby Chinese town. What you risk getting from outsourcing manufacture to a Ferengi who lives by "the rules of acquisition".

I'm not anti Chinese, just anti the corrupt CCP which allow scum to operate with impunity.

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fairgo did a programme on it a few years back.....they sent someone over to suss out the how it happens....it all started over a orange n white rip off chainsaw...when they were at manufacturing plant they could order ANY label they wanted put on them including....direct copy of other makers....
that whole programme was shockingly eye opening.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

fairgo did a programme on it a few years back.....they sent someone over to suss out the how it happens....it all started over a orange n white rip off chainsaw...when they were at manufacturing plant they could order ANY label they wanted put on them including....direct copy of other makers....
that whole programme was shockingly eye opening.

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Whatever you say about Chinese goods you generally get at least what you pay for. If they just did more of their cheap copies honestly they'd get more of the cudos they deserve for turning stuff out so inexpensively. But too many of them can't see beyond greed and profit, a great shame on and disservice to the rest. The slave is usually not fit to be king, and communists once they displace those hated capitalists predictably turn out worse once the boot is on their own foot.

On the other hand... to be balanced ... there were chinese companies recycling Apple goods - phones, ear buds, ipads, ipods etc - fix broken glass etc. Bitchy Sissy Apple Inc. arranged for customs in US to intercept the recycled goods on return as "counterfeit"... basically because Apple don't approve of anyone fixing their stuff. THAT also surely undermines the average Chinese person's respect for copyright law. And mine, I suppose.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cordite

Possibly as least as good as. One question is relevant: do Minox get their scopes made in China? Some years ago I heard of a manufacturer of kitchen taps etc setting up a factory in China. Market soon got invaded by a flood of perfect counterfeits. Turns out that, as they set up their Chinese factory a copy of the factory was being set up in a nearby Chinese town. What you risk getting from outsourcing manufacture to a Ferengi who lives by "the rules of acquisition".

I'm not anti Chinese, just anti the corrupt CCP which allow scum to operate with impunity.

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My favourite is the landwind x7 which was a copy of the range rover evoque and they got caught because they launched it at the same car show as the range rover and one of the JLR reps was walking around the show and spotted it . https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/g...t-which-better

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Originally Posted by MrMatu

Just a quick warning...

It seems the eBay scourge of knockoffs and fakes has reached TradeMe...

In particular seller mikevr4 seems likely to be selling fake Cold Steel Code4 / Recon1 and Kubun knives

The reason I say likely, is in a previous auction where he claimed to have bought the two knives from Guncity I asked the boxes had Guncity pricing stickers. He answered the question but then blacklisted me from all other auctions.

Those knives sold, but now has multiple listings for the same knives again. Listed again at $1 reserve with just the standard blurb stolen from bladehq etc....plus colour options not available on the real deal.

So just a heads up. If buying a cold Steel on TradeMe it might pay to check what's selling on AliExpress first...

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I actually bought one of his recon 1's and here's my experiences.

The handle itself feels just like the real thing but the blade has wiggle in it.
Also he posted the listing as a "S35VN" but the stamp on the blade says the older "CTS-XHP" so i thought he was selling an older model and accidentally put the new model descriptions in.
The screws on the knife handle and pocket clip do not tighten as if the holes were stripped
The DLC coating comes off very easily

It's a good copy but the quality is not there

Try sacking a fake Rolex, Omega etc and see how long it takes for Trademe to respond, probably minutes :D

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Originally Posted by gonetropo

some minox are 100% german, some are filipino assembled. havent seen a chinese one so far

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Genuine chineese models are the ZL - stick to ZA's i think they have SHOTT glass

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Originally Posted by Maca49

Try sacking a fake Rolex, Omega etc and see how long it takes for Trademe to respond, probably minutes :D

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Yet fake Atlas bipods are sold week in and week out without anyone at Trademe batting an eye.
When I was selling my genuine atlas bipods I went through all of the clearly obvious fakes, and reported the auctions for the breach of intellectual property, just so I didn't have to deal with all of the muppets putting in comments like "this is for sale for $39 elsewhere on trademe".
After almost a month, and 4 sales cycles, not a single one got removed from trademe. Total joke.