Buyer beware! A buddy of mine bought a grip from this seller on ebay and it wasn't until we examined it in great detail that we learned it was a FAKE ... I gotta tell ya its scary because this thing looks completely legit unless you know exactly what to look for you would have never known its not a real one ... I post on here as a member beware since I know some of you all may shop on ebay if you don't find what you are looking for here .... not sure if this is against the rules and if so Fred please delete but I thought it was worth letting other members know before these items make it on here for sale .... click link below .... thx
Bubble wrote:
well, it said we offer 30day money back guaranty
you are right it does say that, but if you don't know how to tell fake from real 30day policy won't do you any good if past that point ... My buddy and I just found that out today and his 30day return would have expired on 01/01 .. luckily he called ebay and they issued him a refund ... on this one the wheel that screws into camera was free-spinning and made from plastic where original is metal , the box did not have the serial # sticker and the logo's and wording were off ... the aperture wheel was very loud compared to nikon original ...
this is a link I have used to compare but the one we encountered was even a better fake than the one he mentions ... the pleather on fake was actually smooth like original grip
Bubble wrote:
well, it said "we offer 30day money back guaranty". Just return it back. btw, it is USED.
also, how do you know it is fake? care to share the secret how to know if it is fake?
Well, judging from the amount of the grips this seller sold, I think it's out of good intention to share the story here.
On the other hand, it's also hard to believe that one has this many exactly the same grips that are all used. Well they may not be exactly the same since the seller can use the same picture, but it's indeed pretty suspicious already just for the amount of it. It's logically ok to have 10 NEW grips, but it's quite fishy to have 10 used ones.
herbertgzb wrote:
Well, judging from the amount of the grips this seller sold, I think it's out of good intention to share the story here.
On the other hand, it's also hard to believe that one has this many exactly the same grips that are all used. Well they may not be exactly the same since the seller can use the same picture, but it's indeed pretty suspicious already just for the amount of it. It's logically ok to have 10 NEW grips, but it's quite fishy to have 10 used ones.
you said it right! I personally don't want that crap to end up on here ya know!
This is becoming a common problem on Ebay. Twice I ordered what were suppose to be genuine Canon battery grips for my 5d. Both times I received counterfeit grips and sent them back for a refund. I ended up ordering from B&H. I have learned I am better off paying a little more money to a reputable company than dealing with the hassle of sending items back.
harleyman wrote:
you said it right! I personally don't want that crap to end up on here ya know!
For real, you guys should report this sucker.
I thought it through. This guy is selling stuff as "used" just to escape from being caught on selling counterfeit as new. He may say "yeah however I have no knowledge about it since I bought it from someone else. I am sorry so here's the refund", and then he walks away with it, selling more fake stuff.
This is very sly, and just very bad. He should get punished.
herbertgzb wrote:
For real, you guys should report this sucker.
I thought it through. This guy is selling stuff as "used" just to escape from being caught on selling counterfeit as new. He may say "yeah however I have no knowledge about it since I bought it from someone else. I am sorry so here's the refund", and then he walks away with it, selling more fake stuff.
This is very sly, and just very bad. He should get punished.
I hit the "report item" button already and reported him hopefully they get him off! I'm sure that my buddy's case will also help ebay get him
Unfortunately even though I read the Fstoppers post over and over again, and compared my grip to their descriptions like 20 times I still thought it was real. Harleyman and I had dinner today and he saw the grip and thought something might be off, thank god. He had played around with a real one just the day before and noticed what he listed above.
Worst part is, I was just hours away from posting the grip for sale on here as a genuine Nikon grip not knowing it was counterfeit.
Lesson is: if you don't have a real one to compare, chances are it will fool you too. I feel so stupid now that I know.
The seller refunded me less than 5 minutes after I hung up with eBay CS and is not asking for the grip to be shipped back. He KNOWS he is selling fake shit. He has not cared to contact me at all.
My biggest worry after everything was selling that grip to an FM member. I treasure my rep here and on POTN. That would have been a fatal move for my rep even if I truly didn't know.
Mrsekret wrote:
This is becoming a common problem on Ebay. Twice I ordered what were suppose to be genuine Canon battery grips for my 5d. Both times I received counterfeit grips and sent them back for a refund. I ended up ordering from B&H. I have learned I am better off paying a little more money to a reputable company than dealing with the hassle of sending items back.
I just assume all eBay batteries are fakes but if they are cheap enough I dont mind. I got a letter the other day from a seller apologizing for passing on fake batteries as real stating that he didn't know they were fakes. This was two years later! Must have been a law suit involved. Regardless it was 25% of the real price and a clear fake on ebay from the pics but worked better than the real one due to higher capacity.
Mrsekret wrote:
This is becoming a common problem on Ebay. Twice I ordered what were suppose to be genuine Canon battery grips for my 5d. Both times I received counterfeit grips and sent them back for a refund. I ended up ordering from B&H. I have learned I am better off paying a little more money to a reputable company than dealing with the hassle of sending items back.
^ this. Never a guarantee shady Ebay vendors won't bend you over.
Why don't you tell your friend to post Ebay negative feedback and a warning? Since the guy is still selling them, I think preventing the sale of more of these grips, would be the proper thing to do.
The sad part is I've see people selling fake BG-E6 here on FM from time to time (asking full retail price too!). I know they know because when I PM them asking where they bought the grip from, they never reply back.
I think anything now that can be an aftermarket product can be a fake. So, this ranges from memory card, filter, grip and so on. I think soon we'll see fake flashes if it doesn't exist already and if the potential benefit is high enough.
I once got a couple of fake B+W filters from eBay and once from here (seller here didn't realize) and there seem to be more than one variation of fake products.
Yes, I have seen plenty of fake B+W filters too. But this is genius though. Think about it, there is very little electronics inside a battery grip so producing one should be pretty easy. Faking a flash would require LCD, bulb, zooming mechanism, electronics, etc. That will be hard. And yet both a cheap flash and the grip sell for around the same price. So better to counterfake a grip instead.
Also, eBay doesn't care much about this unless the manufacturer puts pressure on them (Gucci, etc.) and by selling it used and offering refund, there is practically no way eBay will police the situation. I got suckered into buying a Thumbs Up with no marking, and was warned by another member that it was fake and eBay shut the guy down after one too many complaints.
Thanks for sharing the story. This is impressive and I will share with my friends.
glee719 wrote:
...So better to counterfake a grip instead.
Heh heh, I like that term.
Not that it isn't helpful to have a site the illustrates the fake versus the actual, but won't savvy counterfeiters merely try to improve their wares, based on the commentary? That's what I'd do.
