posted on October 15, 2010 09:15:14 AM new
So, I made the plunge into purchasing a few test items from AliExpress... and what a total scam.
I bought some "authentic" NFL items that when they arrived were obviously fakes. I am turning them over to Paypal who processed my payments. Fortunately, the payments were small because I used my $20 coupons to purchase singles.
The thing is that I am not as disappointed in the fakes as I am in the system that allows these to flood the market. Fakes exist, but what I am disappointed in is that nobody is doing anything about it.
1) The NFL must know by now that Ali and eBay sellers are flooding these fakes onto the market. This is not good for their branding and bottom line.
2) Ali must know by now that these are fakes and they continue to allow them to be sold on their site.
3) eBay knows these are being sold on their market too. Obviously the NFL isn't using the Vero system to kick these off.
4) It hurts honest sellers. I want to sell genuine products, but when the market is flooded with 90% fakes it is very difficult for buyers to know the difference.
In the process I also discovered a fake in my own collection... which is good to know. I didn't notice it until after watching several videos on YouTube.
Finally, the fact that Vendio and Alibaba has merged into one company and they allow this to happen means I will no longer conduct business with Vendio. I will begin phasing out the remaining store items I have. I do not appreciate being marketed to buy fake garbage. Terrible business practices.
posted on October 15, 2010 09:25:40 AM new
most of the stuff i saw that was fake was super obviously fake, like prices 80% off of what it should be, stuff like that. what made it seem like it wasn't going to be fake? or how did you figure it out later on that wasn't obvious from the listings?
this was the stuff listed on aliexpress that made me be extra careful when i used my coupons:
(URL)http://help.aliexpress.com/safebuyingtips/before_buying.html(URL)
"Understand the product you want to buy
If you plan to order a brand name product (e.g. iPhone, Nike shoes) make sure the supplier has authorized reseller documentation. This will help you confirm the authenticity of the item.
Find out whether or not the product, as an imported good, will incur taxes or duties in your county.
Use common sense. If a product or the price of a product seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Get to know the supplier you are buying from. To check a supplier's Feedback Profile and History, click on the Star Ratings in the supplier details section. "
posted on October 15, 2010 09:45:14 AM new
I was skeptical about it from the getgo, but I figured for a few bucks I could give it a shot.
I have to agree that most items on Ali are obviously fakes... however some items are very difficult to tell and trying to get information from the sellers is difficult. So, I made 7 orders from different wholesalers to test the waters.
When I opened the packages I was fooled at first... then I started looking closer. Genuine NFL merchandise is very good quality, especially if made by a major company such as Reebok. I started looking that the close up details in sewing. There were obvious differences between the real items I have vs. the fakes I received. Shoddy logos, shoddy stitching. Things like the NFL logo look blurry on the fakes, the tags are stitched on crooked, and the overall quality of materials is far inferior. Unfortunately, these things are not visible in photographs on Ali. It isn't until close inspection that you see the obvious differences.
I plan to go to the mall today and do some more comparisons. There are certain stores that I have questioned their merchandise. Now that I have seen side by side comparisons I know what to look for. It really makes me wonder how much genuine merchandise is really being sold.
posted on October 15, 2010 10:01:29 AM new
Where is the Alibaba cheerleader, who was present in the beginning? I would be interested in reading her comments.
posted on October 15, 2010 10:03:55 AM new
yeah, me too Bill.
Wasn't her name Beth or something?
I know I posted another thread several months ago asking about this problem and she never said a word.
When I get a chance today I will photograph the differences between the real vs. fakes so you can see what I refer to. It is one thing to see the difference in a photo and a whole other world when you see it in person... but the photos will show it easily.
posted on October 15, 2010 11:43:05 AM new
What makes you think NFL items sold by small Chinese sellers can be the real thing,how old are you?
This is just like someone asked me recently should he buy gold from side streets of Beijing at a discount to the spot price?
*
There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on October 15, 2010 12:01:27 PM new
hwa- as i said previously, i did this as an experiment to see what I was getting. I didn't jump in head first and through the process I learned more about the counterfeit problem than I knew. First, I was unaware of just how rampant the fake market is on eBay, largely because I don't sell fakes and don't concern myself in the black market... until apparently now. lol. When I received these items I started looking into how many are on eBay and found that almost ALL of them are fakes. They use the same photos as what are used on Ali's website.
this isn't just an issue of ordering through Alibaba, because obviously i won't do it again... but it is also major insight into the whole eBay marketplace and just how crooked it has become. That is really what I am most concerned about. I still sell genuine merchandise, but now I know what most other people are selling and that really bothers me because for every legit piece that is out there there are probably 9 fake ones.
I am off to the mall to see if they are selling fakes there too. It will be interesting to see what I discover.
Also, I forgot I ordered a MLB item as well. It arrived today... the buttons on it are about to fall off and the fake tags look like blurry color copies. The size should be a 2XL, but fits more like a Large. This item is more obviously a fake than the football items.
I am filing a dispute through Paypal regarding the issue. I don't see why I should be paying to return fakes back since they have no business being made in the first place. I have no problem sending them to Paypal, but back to China... no way.
[ edited by shagmidmod on Oct 15, 2010 12:19 PM ]
posted on October 15, 2010 12:37:40 PM new
just curious, but knowing that there are two more items heading my way, would you refuse them or accept them and then file a dispute?
posted on October 15, 2010 01:10:35 PM new
hard to say, did you order anything that wasn't basically an obvious fake?
i mean, you ordered something that you figured was probably fake, which some people don't care about (as a buyer, who wants to pay $100 for a jersey they only wear a few times on game day when they can get a knockoff for $22?) - why would you be surprised to receive anything otherwise? (or, for the ladies, im sure lots would rather drop $40 for a purse in Chinatown than $2,000 when it'll be out of style in two weeks - colour me guilty on that one. lol)
it would be interesting to know also the prices that you paid for these items Vs their 'genuine' prices. is it grossly different, or close enough where someone might be tricked into thinking its actually real?
the real issue would be for someone wanting to buy in bulk to re-sell on ebay, because if you didn't have a good idea that it was probably fake up front, then your stuck because now you cant sell it on ebay like you originally planned.
posted on October 15, 2010 02:10:31 PM new
good questions...
i don't know what wholesale is for these items. i used to buy from a reliable source during end of season, but that well dried up for me thanks to the economy and them going out of business. my prices for these items were about the same as what I paid through aliexpress.
to answer the question of expectations... the problem is that there are 3 different styles made. One retails at $75, another at $110, and finally another at $220-250. From the images and descriptions I read, I knew they wouldn't be the $75 version, but between the other two it is difficult to tell without seeing them in person.
Ironically, I just came back from the mall and could only find the middle range version, which to be honest is not as nice as the ones I received through ali.
I'm off to pack up a genuine Coach backpack now. lol.
posted on October 15, 2010 03:20:17 PM new
Lets us know what happens when you file Paypal dispute,in some cases ,they just say they dont get involved,good bye !
*
There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on October 15, 2010 03:26:42 PM new
Someone sold a porcelain vase in an auction for 32 millions dollars,part of Emperor QIANLONG collection.
Seller is a New York dealer and buyer is a HK collector.
*
There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on October 15, 2010 05:22:53 PM new
just curious, but knowing that there are two more items heading my way, would you refuse them or accept them and then file a dispute?
///////////////////////////////////////
Since no one twisted your arms to buy from these Chinese sellers and most US sellers on EBAY pretty much know these are fakes,why not just accept them and write them off .
If you are doing this as kind of academic research,why order from so many alibaba sellers?
As for the 32.4 million dollars vase,just a piece of information ,no more no less.
Of course many repros are marked QianLung on the bottom.
*
There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on October 15, 2010 05:32:28 PM new
Years ago someone said he saw many goodies on Yahoo Japan auction which make him want to cry and he wanted to bid but he does not read or write Japanese.
So I went and look and all I see are modern stuff,
Then I went to Ebay-China,95% are repros,they are selling repros to each other??
There is a school of thought which said many Chinese vintage and antiques are destroyed during WWII,Japanese invasion,the civil war,the Communist revolution,the cultural revolution,smuggled out of the country and just plain destroyed or vanished.
In a proletariat society,most folks dont collect,they are too poor to collect else they will be labeled counter revolutionary,running dogs of capitalist,petite bourgeoise,they face paycuts,demotions if they do not conform.
Most nice antiques are in the hands of goverment museums or overseas private collection,or the national museum of Taiwan and some masterpieces are in the hands of foreign museums ,nobilities and private collectors.
*
There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
posted on October 15, 2010 06:12:47 PM new
And that, my friends, is all we have time for today on this edition of "Surrealistic Free-Association." Tune in tomorrow when our host decides the problems with Chinese fakes are due to the lack of potassium in our diet. Right here, on "Surrealistic Free-Association." Have a wonderful bunch of tulips in your light socket, won't you?
