p.2 #1 · B+W Filters fake or have they changed something recently?
brad-man wrote:
Amazon is safe from counterfeits so long as it is sold and shipped by Amazon. It's the third party sellers that are known to counterfeit. The danger with Amazon is I have read where they sometimes sell returned items as new. This has not happened to me, but I have read enough comments to take it seriously.
Not any more, as other have pointed out.
I now try to avoid buying anything from Amazon now, not just because of the risk of fakes or previously returned stuff, but also because the site has become borderline unusable due to the sheer volume of no-name Chinese copies and often-unrelated "sponsored" products that you often have to wade through to to find the actual brands you recognize.
I've also stopped buying B+W filters in protest at their astronomical price increases over the last 18 months even with the obvious downgrade of packaging. I just bought a couple of Marumi Exus clear filters that were literally half the price of B+W MRC Clears.
p.2 #2 · B+W Filters fake or have they changed something recently?
I bought the exact same filter 52mm a week ago from Amazon Germany. It looks like the one on the first image, printing on the front was still the gold color and XS-PRO. The box had a hologram sticker on the left side.
p.2 #3 · B+W Filters fake or have they changed something recently?
I'm a bit late to the party, but have a little twist on the Amazon - fake narrative. I ordered a B+W XS-PRO 62mm circ. P. from them in early December, they were out of stock, but I was in no hurry. There were no marketplace sellers. The filter finally turned up last week, in a box that looked very convincing, except that the hologram was missing. That was a big worry, so I thought I'd weigh it. Inside the cardboard box was a pretty normal looking B+W plastic case, inside of which was a filter, ..... with Tiffen written on it.
The filter is still showing as out of stock, so it seems they ordered that one in for me. There are still no marketplace sellers, which seems to rule out mixing of stock, which begs the question, who did Amazon go to for that filter?
p.2 #4 · B+W Filters fake or have they changed something recently?
Thermocafe wrote:
I'm a bit late to the party, but have a little twist on the Amazon - fake narrative. I ordered a B+W XS-PRO 62mm circ. P. from them in early December, they were out of stock, but I was in no hurry. There were no marketplace sellers. The filter finally turned up last week, in a box that looked very convincing, except that the hologram was missing. That was a big worry, so I thought I'd weigh it. Inside the cardboard box was a pretty normal looking B+W plastic case, inside of which was a filter, ..... with Tiffen written on it.
The filter is still showing as out of stock, so it seems they ordered that one in for me. There are still no marketplace sellers, which seems to rule out mixing of stock, which begs the question, who did Amazon go to for that filter? ...Show more →
Perhaps from a seller (or Amazon itself) who received -- and didn't check -- a return? Why not just buy from another, better, retailer? If not B&H then perhaps 2filter, which I've used a lot in the past.
I've more or less given up on Amazon for small stuff like this. The lottery of their marketplace sellers and their alleged co-mingling of stock in warehouses just makes it too much of a crapshoot. Same with Walmart and its rapidly growing number of marketplace sellers. When you have thousands of private sellers trying to make a buck on those platforms you know a good few will be gaming the system either with fake stock or fake reviews (and others will be just plain incompetent) so I just don't trust that system anymore.
p.2 #5 · B+W Filters fake or have they changed something recently?
I went to Europe in 2018 and bought some SD cards from Amazon that were supposed to be made by Sandisk. When I got them the day before I left, it was clear they were counterfeit because the labels were so bad! I used one anyway and half of the first day of use, the first card went bad! I threw both of them away and used the old reliable Sandisk cards I already had. I won't rely on Amazon anymore for camera gear.
I used to shop at B&H, but when they had their Payboo scam, I stopped going there. Any other reliable camera stores that are as reliable as B&H who are hungry for business?
p.2 #7 · B+W Filters fake or have they changed something recently?
billsamuels wrote:
I used to shop at B&H, but when they had their Payboo scam, I stopped going there. Any other reliable camera stores that are as reliable as B&H who are hungry for business?
p.2 #8 · B+W Filters fake or have they changed something recently?
I know this thread is old, but I've been getting different "pouches" for the new Master Clear filters (formerly the MRC-Nano). The ones from Amazon have a nice leather pouch for them. The ones from B&H have a cheap cloth pouch (the kind you'd just throw away). I thought the amazon ones were fake so I emailed B&W.
They said:
The packaging of the MASTER filters from cloth pouch to leather pouch was changed mid-2022, so I suspect your purchase through B&H was of their inventory from prior to that change.
*Please note that B&H Photo is not an authorized B+W Dealer for Schneider Optics USA, as they purchase outside our US Distribution network, and we cannot authenticate their B+W product. Any authentication of B+W product from B&H must be channeled directly with B&H Photo.
p.2 #9 · B+W Filters fake or have they changed something recently?
lifeandmylens wrote:
I know this thread is old, but I've been getting different "pouches" for the new Master Clear filters (formerly the MRC-Nano). The ones from Amazon have a nice leather pouch for them. The ones from B&H have a cheap cloth pouch (the kind you'd just throw away). I thought the amazon ones were fake so I emailed B&W.
They said:
The packaging of the MASTER filters from cloth pouch to leather pouch was changed mid-2022, so I suspect your purchase through B&H was of their inventory from prior to that change.
*Please note that B&H Photo is not an authorized B+W Dealer for Schneider Optics USA, as they purchase outside our US Distribution network, and we cannot authenticate their B+W product. Any authentication of B+W product from B&H must be channeled directly with B&H Photo.
Interesting that B&H is not an authorized dealer (Adorama is, though). I automatically just assume B&H is legit for everything they sell. I guess not. Do we assume the B&H filters are essentially gray market, I wonder?
p.2 #11 · B+W Filters fake or have they changed something recently?
I got B&W Master MRC filters from B&H. Each box of this filter has scanning code. So you can check if the filter is legit on Schneider Website - mine shows they are ok
