Counterfeit, anyone?

[Shelbyclone1966]

Is Amazon a fairly trusted retailer for Cold Steel and other knife brands? I have been hesitant buying knives from the site. Im not looking for an endorsement but as anyone had to return a fake? I want the Espada Large or the XL but, the counterfeit risk keeps me from buying there. Thanks.

 

[Blue Sky]

The risk is real, you are right to be cautious. I acted rashly once and almost got stuck with a fake Garberg. Foolish of me. There are plenty of legit, stand up dealers around and the couple extra bucks it may cost is well worth the peace of mind IMO.

 

[David Mary]

Is Amazon a fairly trusted retailer for Cold Steel and other knife brands?

Amazon hosts many third party sellers, so there is definitely a risk. Even if you check the seller's feedback and it looks good, I would still be hesitant given that the feedback is from Amazon users in general, not necessarily knowledgeable knife folks. I'd prefer to get it from a reseller I know and trust.

 

[DocJD]

or the XL

Search google , and find the Espada XL , Ruby Red handle and Black blade for $137.99 , right now but only 13 remain .

From a trusted retailer , but not a sponsor here . Hard to beat on their Cold Steel sales specials .

I've never had a problem from Amazon.com itself , and returns are easy . Other sellers on Amazon are a different matter , some good , some not .

 

[GrumpySoreOldBastard]

Seeing a recent proliferation of counterfeit AK 47 field knifes on ali.
Some of the sellers are using their own images rather than stolen CS flicks and the easy tell with the counterfeits is the scale fit.
Genuine CS AK field knife scales fit seamlessly, even with your thumbnail there is no perceivable step between the scale and blade stock in any of the gripping area.
The counterfeits appear to have sloppy scale fit as well as the area around the lanyard hole the genuine one has scale flush to the hole for approximately 180 degrees while the counterfeit shows 2-3 mm of steel.

 

[DDDYLN]

Below is a photo of a Machete sold on a website in the UK for £12.99

It looks very similar to an Cold Steel Jungle Machete that sells in the UK for around £32.00 the length of the blade appears to be the similar if not the same.

The website i found this on has what looks like other Cold Steel Machetes for sale under the LASHER label.

Are these clones, fakes, rebrands, What gives.

I realize this is a very old thread, but Lasher Tools is the manufacturer for all Cold Steel South African Machetes. So yes, that machete is the real deal. After Cold Steel sold out to GSM Outdoors around 2021 or 2022, GSM moved the machete manufacturing to China. The designs are identical to the old designs, but they are no longer made in South Africa by Lasher Tools from 1055HC. They are made from Chinese 65Mn, and they're garbage compared to the older South African machetes. Consequently, if there's a Cold Steel machete model you want these days, it's best to buy it directly from Lasher Tools or a reseller of Lasher Tools.

 

[DDDYLN]

I realize this is a very old thread, but Lasher Tools is the manufacturer for all Cold Steel South African Machetes. So yes, that machete is the real deal. After Cold Steel sold out to GSM Outdoors around 2021 or 2022, GSM moved the machete manufacturing to China. The designs are identical to the old designs, but they are no longer made in South Africa by Lasher Tools from 1055HC. They are made from Chinese 65Mn, and they're garbage compared to the older South African machetes. Consequently, if there's a Cold Steel machete model you want these days, it's best to buy it directly from Lasher Tools or a reseller of Lasher Tools.

Actually, both Lasher Tools an Okapi made the Cold Steel 1055HC machetes. The jungle machete is still available from Okapi in 1055HC. I think Lasher Tools buys the South African machetes from Okapi. It's still available with either an orange handle or a black handle from Okapi, but I haven't found it for sale in the USA. It comes with the same sheath that Cold Steel sold it with. Cold Steel called them Cor-Ex sheaths. If you can find a way to buy the Okapi Jungle Machete, it's a far better machete than Cold Steel's current Jungle Machete, which is made in China from 65Mn steel.

 

[The Whip]

I've ordered plenty of Cold Steel knives directly from Amazon. They were all genuine. You may get counterfeits through Amazon, but, in my experience, you won't get counterfeits from Amazon.

I'm unhappy to report that what I said above about never receiving a counterfeit when buying directly from Amazon is no longer true. I didn't get burned by Amazon once, but twice!

I ordered two of the Custom Series knives. The first was a Hatamoto in "Like New" condition. I knew there was a possibility of fraud with this one because Amazon was stipulating that the box had been opened. But I'd had good experiences in the past with "Like New" knives and I thought hopefully that Amazon had addressed the knife-swapping swindle, seeing as it's been exposed as a problem for quite a while now. Boy, was I wrong. Here's what I received.

Because the trash that somebody returned looks nothing like the knife pictured ON THE BOX, I couldn't believe that Amazon sold me this knife as a genuine Hatamoto.


The second knife I purchased was a brand new Caledonian Edge. What I received was a pure counterfeit.

The tamper-resistant seal was missing from the inner box, so clearly the knife was not new-in-the-package, as Amazon claimed.

Either it was another fraudulent return that Amazon dishonestly restocked among the new knives, or Amazon employees are stealing knives from the warehouses and replacing them with counterfeits. Either way, I was the one who got screwed.

Needless to say, I'm done buying knives from Amazon. When I first read about the knife-swapping scam that thieves were perpetrating on these large companies, I had sympathy for the vendors. But when I see that the vendors are aware of the problem and aren't lifting a finger to stop it, and in fact are even attempting to pass along the problem to legitimate buyers, I lose all concern.

So, beware of Amazon. You definitely can receive a counterfeit knife, even if you purchase it brand new directly from Amazon itself. And if you aren't savvy about the counterfeits of the brands you're buying, you might not even realize that you've been ripped off.


-Steve

 

[DocJD]

I'm unhappy to report that what I said above about never receiving a counterfeit when buying directly from Amazon is no longer true. I didn't get burned by Amazon once, but twice!

I ordered two of the Custom Series knives. The first was a Hatamoto in "Like New" condition. I knew there was a possibility of fraud with this one because Amazon was stipulating that the box had been opened. But I'd had good experiences in the past with "Like New" knives and I thought hopefully that Amazon had addressed the knife-swapping swindle, seeing as it's been exposed as a problem for quite a while now. Boy, was I wrong. Here's what I received.

Because the trash that somebody returned looks nothing like the knife pictured ON THE BOX, I couldn't believe that Amazon sold me this knife as a genuine Hatamoto.


The second knife I purchased was a brand new Caledonian Edge. What I received was a pure counterfeit.

The tamper-resistant seal was missing from the inner box, so clearly the knife was not new-in-the-package, as Amazon claimed.

Either it was another fraudulent return that Amazon dishonestly restocked among the new knives, or Amazon employees are stealing knives from the warehouses and replacing them with counterfeits. Either way, I was the one who got screwed.

Needless to say, I'm done buying knives from Amazon. When I first read about the knife-swapping scam that thieves were perpetrating on these large companies, I had sympathy for the vendors. But when I see that the vendors are aware of the problem and aren't lifting a finger to stop it, and in fact are even attempting to pass along the problem to legitimate buyers, I lose all concern.

So, beware of Amazon. You definitely can receive a counterfeit knife, even if you purchase it brand new directly from Amazon itself. And if you aren't savvy about the counterfeits of the brands you're buying, you might not even realize that you've been ripped off.


-Steve

Really sorry to hear this ^^^!

I've never had a problem with brand new Cold Steel , from Amazon.com itself as seller .

I will certainly be on the lookout for anything suspicious , as soon as received . 30d return window is easy to miss .

 

[The Whip]

Really sorry to hear this ^^^!

I've never had a problem with brand new Cold Steel , from Amazon.com itself as seller .

I will certainly be on the lookout for anything suspicious , as soon as received . 30d return window is easy to miss .

Thanks, DocJD. The knives I received were easy to spot (and thus Amazon is without excuse). The problem is that many counterfeits nowadays are extremely good copies, and even knowledgeable Cold Steel fans might have difficulty identifying them.

I've been paying attention for many years, but I'm not sure I could distinguish easily between genuine and counterfeit Espadas, 5-MAXes (yes, they're out there), or Thompson Spartans until I had them in hand to compare with the real items. And people who don't have or have never handled a genuine sample are really in for a tough time, especially if the knife arrives in a legitimate Cold Steel box from a (supposedly) trustworthy, authorized vendor like Amazon.

The only way this can truly be stopped is if companies hire actual experts to inspect returned items for fraud. They may do that with high-end items like watches and handbags, but somehow I don't see that happening with knives.


-Steve