Thread: 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...

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.

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

Originally Posted by Finnwolf

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

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

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

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

Originally Posted by DavidGunn

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

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

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

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.

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

The seller can arrange that too with small cheap items.

Originally Posted by DavidGunn

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

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.