Counterfeits Coming Out Of China and Hong Kong

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by Malina, Jul 26, 2017.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. musictoad

    musictoad Forum Resident

    Location:
    Salt Lake City, UT
    It's actually not that high at all if you go with trusted sellers.
     
  2. waiting and hoping for a chinese deluxe pepper box
     
    Malina likes this.
  3. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    See also the Beatles Mono Box set when it first came out. Got mine for about £60 and returned it within days. Bought a legitimate copy a few years ago. The differences were obvious when you knew where to look.
     
  4. Well there was some confusion in your post for others I suppose (and myself included). You didn't state from China and Eastern Europe but, I suppose it was implied in the threat. There are always risks ordering from eBay,etc. but I've found if it is too good to be true, it is and I'm sure you've found the same thing.
     
    SJP likes this.
  5. Lots of Dylan complete albums collection 47 disc box sets on eBay from Chinese sellers. They are priced around $80 as opposed to $233 on Amazon. I am suspicious.
     
    Sidewinder43 and Malina like this.
  6. Kristofa

    Kristofa Enthusiast of small convenient sound carrier units

    Location:
    usa
    I haven't really considered counterfeits before. There are a bunch of Patti Smith CDs on Amazon for about $4 a piece. I thought they were cheap because they were... you know... CDs.
     
  7. Off:
    Are you aware of the massive pirating program that was uncovered in Germany recently?
    It's far from being a one country problem.
    The German bust included multiple formats & was believed to be the largest counterfeiting operation in the World.
    Shoot, US is famous [not "infamous"] for 'boots'!!!
     
    tmtomh likes this.
  8. ispace

    ispace Senior Member

    Location:
    Sydney Australia
    I like this +ve feedback left for an eBay HK seller (newtonemusic) recently: "Product appears fake. But it was priced good so oh well."

    It was a new Beatles 16 disc stereo box that sold for $48.

    If they don't get reported they won't get stopped.
     
    Malina likes this.
  9. Including from U.S. sellers.
     
    tmtomh likes this.
  10. dlokazip

    dlokazip Forum Transient

    Location:
    Austin, TX, USA
    I hate counterfeits from China. Argentina, at least, tries to get them right.
     
    tmtomh likes this.
  11. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    Lego is having a significant issue with this right now. All their sets are being knocked off at almost day one of release and now they even copy the color instruction books. Out of curiosity I bought a few. Generally a $200 set will sell for $45 shipped. It's impossible to tell the difference, that's how good they are. The only way one can tell, if you know to check, is the Lego logo is missing. Lego is suing the company in China...it's a painfully obvious copyright infringement, but they very rarely rule against a Chinese company. The only way to combat this is to make the sites aware of the bogus product so it will be taken down, but my understanding is that while Amazon will do so, it is very hard to get eBay to do this. And now, because of a few dishonest people, Amazon has been "gating" major brands so that the average person can no longer sell a lot of stuff on Amazon. It's a very real and huge issue. I applaud Amazon for trying to protect us, but it's real sad for the small business owner that Amazon is having to take this step, and with less sellers it will surely put pressure on pricong. All we can do is not buy the product, but as others have pointed out it is getting hard to know what you are buying in the first place, and if the average buyer can't discern between good sound quality and bad, they sure aren't going to notice a bogus CD. I bought a Bee Gees dvd that ended up being a fake, but the average person never woukd have known. The irony is the fake was better in every way from the real one released a few years ago. No idea how they pulled that off as they had to of obtained the master to improve it so much.
     
    Sidewinder43 and melstapler like this.
  12. SJP

    SJP Forum Resident

    Location:
    Anaheim
    Forgive me for taking your original comment at face value, "As a matter of personal policy, I don't buy any CDs/SACDs/DVDs/Blu rays, etc. Risk of receiving a counterfeit is too high and not worth it." I took this to mean "any" without the qualification "from China". I suppose that could have been inferred by the thread title but your comment was seen as literal which is the only reason I delved deeper.
     
  13. formu_la

    formu_la I'm not a robot

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    They simply don't exist. Counterfeiters don't have the technology.
     
    tmtomh likes this.
  14. Sidewinder43

    Sidewinder43 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lavaca County, TX
    I'm satisfied with the sellers I use.
     
  15. Sidewinder43

    Sidewinder43 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lavaca County, TX
    I was just responding to the OP's question. You're right about if it sounds too good...
     
    wayneklein likes this.
  16. Sidewinder43

    Sidewinder43 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lavaca County, TX
    Yes. I was responding to the thread title.
     
  17. Subvet

    Subvet Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southern Maine
    I have purchased a couple JAPAN MINI LP SHM-CDs from eBay sellers in China. I have others I've purchased from the US and Australia. I can see nothing in the ones from China that would indicate they are counterfeit. I they are, is there a reasonably easy way to tell? These are Richard Thompson CDs so I can't imagine there's much of a market for counterfeiters.
     
  18. MicJames

    MicJames Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    I've purchased a number of blu-ray audio titles from 3rd party sellers based in china recently and they appear and sound fine.

    Is there something in particular I should be looking for as I sign of legitimacy of lack there-of?
     
  19. Claude

    Claude Senior Member

    Location:
    Luxembourg
    True, but that won't help you when you order a SACD and instead get a redbook CD with a SACD logo on it.
     
    tmtomh, Sidewinder43 and formu_la like this.
  20. Claude

    Claude Senior Member

    Location:
    Luxembourg
    Try to find information on a legitimate release (website of the label or a trustedstore) and compare the packaging with the product you got.

    There are many fake chinese releases which don't exist as a legit release: CDs with HDCD coding (or just the sticker), with bonus tracks or even bonus albums.

    Someone could use a hi-rez download and make a BD-A disc of it. It would sound fine despite being a counterfeit. But there is also the risk that it could just be an upsampled CD rip.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2017
  21. MicJames

    MicJames Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    This very thing happened to me yesterday with a US seller on discogs for In A Silent Way. Sent him a message immediately but haven't heard back. I'll give him a few days and see what happens
     
  22. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    Lately I've been reporting sellers who list the Banana Splits Hollywood Library bootleg on Ebay for 50 bucks a pop. It's usually listed as limited to 1000 copies and it's been selling on Ebay for 20 years now. Ebay usually ignores me. They don't want to shut down auctions because they lose money.
     
    Jrr likes this.
  23. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    NYC
    I believe the stuff I see on Ebay from Argentina is legit. MovieMars sent me a Rolling Stones cd from Argentina and accepted a return when I complained because it wasn't listed as made in Argentina. I have seen pictures on Ebay of these Argentina cd's and they appear to be the real deal. I just assumed the big corporations moved production down there for the cheap labor.
     
    melstapler and tmtomh like this.
  24. dlokazip

    dlokazip Forum Transient

    Location:
    Austin, TX, USA
    The stuff from Argentina is of lower quality than that North American, the EU, and Japan. I had heard that they were counterfeits. I have three CDs from Argentina and they're not bad. I just didn't know.

    I've got Monty Python Flying Circus DVDs from China. Those are wretched.
     
  25. tmtomh

    tmtomh Forum Resident

    The Argentina product is legitimate. They're not counterfeits.

    However, the quality does vary. Some items are identical to the US and EU versions. Others, though, have inferior-quality printing on the inserts, or have been printed on thin or uncoated paper, or have inferior-quality silkscreening on the disc face.

    And in some cases with CDs, the music itself is subtly different - not just a level-shifted digital clone of the US/EU original, but rather what appears to be either a new analogue transfer to digital (unlikely) or a clone that for some reason had an analogue stage in the copying process (weird in this day and age, but apparently the most likely scenario). It's very strange.

    As a result, I never knowingly buy Argentina discs. On the rare occasion a seller sends me one, I will be happy to keep it if the music is bit-identical with the US/EU version, and the packaging quality is at least close to the quality of the original. That hasn't happened yet - every Argentina disc I've received, I've had to return for a refund.
     
    melstapler likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine