Possible Fake ZT 0562CF. What do you guys think?

Is this knife real?

  • Yes.

  • Yes, but he's misrepresenting how many owners it had.

  • No.

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J

Josh G

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Hi, People.

I'm very new to knife collecting and to the forum. I purchased a knife from eBay (Removed link, deal spotting is not allowed) which is on its way to me. After placing my bid, I became concerned that I may have bid on a clone, so I contacted ZT customer support with the link, and they said that the knife looked legit and that it was purchased from Amazon.

The thing is, the seller maintains that he purchased the knife from a retailer. Tech. support confirmed that the knife was definitely originally sold through Amazon. I told the retailer this, and he is indignant.


Based on our extensive conversation, there are indicators that he is telling the truth, but his indignation is a red flag, as is the fact that this is the second of this exact model that he's sold during 2017, even though he claims that it "was just not for him." (Then why he buy two? He gave an answer that is plausible, but it's not exactly a home run explanation.)

I don't know what to think, except that I wish I'd just bought the damned knife new from an established retailer. But obviously I can't go back. What do you guys think?
 
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I don't deal with Amazon, but when I have looked at items that were for sale through Amazon, retailers are what came up selling the items. So, why would you think some random individual sold this one used to your seller? Wouldn't he have bought it from a retailer through Amazon?
 
The seller claims that he bought it from a brick and mortar store. I asked him specifically about Amazon, and he denies it.
 
Judging by the pictures in the ebay post you linked it looks legit to me.

Maybe if we could get some pictures of the knife as you received it? As in take some pictures of the knife yourself?
 
I dont see any red flags visually but the whole story surrounding it is off putting to me personally.
 
3 ways that you can usually tell the difference between the real thing and a fake are in the scale, the blade stops/thumb studs, and the pivot. Fake 0562's usually have pretty shiny carbon fiber, the blade stops are rounded instead of coming to a conical point in the middle, and the 5 circles in the pivot are almost full circles not halves. Based on the pictures provided, the knife looks legit to me.

Also, some of the cheaper clones wont include a stainless lock bar insert, so a missing screw head there is also a clue.
 
Did you ask all these questions before or after you bid for the knife ?
It's a little confusing to me why your asking us now
The knife looks fine to me unless your not telling us the whole story.
 
The amazon/retailer thing isn't cut and dry. There could be explanations for that. None of which is anyone really entitled to. A used knife is a used knife. I simply think the condition and authenticity is more important than who or how he acquired it. Now another thing to remember is some of these brick and mortars sell at stupid high prices. If you have ever been to a store in my area you would think these guys are living on a different planet and don't know what things actually cost. As such if this guy bought it in person at a brick and mortar maybe the brick and mortar he bought it from wasn't authorized to acquire ZT knives and purchased them in bulk from amazon. I get that you want to make sure you didn't get screwed but maybe the person selling it is a private person and just doesn't feel the information you are requesting from him is any of your business and is irrelevant to the sale. Why you might ask? Because no matter the story it almost always can be faked. If Kai says its a legit knife that was originally sold by amazon I don't really think anything else should matter.
 
Thanks for your replies. Here are my responses to some points that you guys made:

* I didn't ask so many questions before placing my bid. Instead, I looked at his feedback rating as a seller and was satisfied. Like I said, though, I'm new to knives, so after placing the bid, I started watching more videos about knives (almost all through Nick Shabazz's channel) and reading stuff on this forum. At that point, I had this uneasy feeling that I really didn't know that this knife was legit. Something in particular didn't add up. In the description on eBay, he said that he just decided that the knife wasn't for him, but if that was the case, why did he sell a brand new one several months ago? How does his story make sense? He just bought the other one to resell? Possibly, but it's not nearly as likely as if he bought one, didn't like it, and decided to sell it. I thought of all this after placing the bid, when I started digging around his seller history.

* Yes, ZT said that from the pictures, the knife looks legit, but I haven't gotten the knife, yet, so I don't know that what's in the pictures will match what I get.

* To alleviate my concerns, I started engaging him in casual conversation to try to see if what he said matches what ZT said, because ZT said it definitely came from Amazon. The red flag wasn't that it came from Amazon. If he had said, "I bought it from Amazon," I'd have been just fine with that. What bothered me was that he said that he bought it from a brick and mortar store. Moreover, he says that he bought it for $240. There's no money to be made at $240 if a brick and mortar store bought it from Amazon. And I'm unaware of bulk Amazon purchasing. What this all boils down to is that there seemed to be deception, and that is a problem because then I have to worry about if the knife is real and/or how many owners there have been. (See my next point.)

* Since this came from Amazon and the seller is not the original owner, how many hands has this knife passed through? And how does he know that it hasn't been sharpened (and re-sharpened)?

* Another red flag for me about the legitimacy of this knife is that my e-mails to him were very polite, but once I told him what ZT told me, he became indignant fast. Honest people don't usually become defensive so quickly.

So, there you have my history and my reasons for thinking that there are multiple red flags. And yes, I'll post pictures of the knife once it arrives.
 
It sounds like at the very least he is not the original owner. However I would post pictures of the knife when you get it for a better guess if it is real. So far the it's hard to tell without pictures of the actual knife.
 
I am NOT rubbing salt in the wound BUT, I hope you have learned a very valuable lesson here.
In the future only buy from authorized dealers. All these concerns and questions then become moot. You really didn't save much compared to a new one, so why bother??
Looks like you got lucky and it isn't fake, but like you say, can't be sure till you get it.
Hope it works out.
Lastly, not really sure why you're so worried where he got the knife......and just maybe these questions you're asking should have been asked a bit earlier.
Good luck.
 
Josh G said:
I'm very new to knife collecting and to the forum. I purchased a knife from eBay which is on its way to me.

I don't know what to think, except that I wish I'd just bought the damned knife new from an established retailer. But obviously I can't go back. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Welcome to BF's, Josh! :thumbsup:

The good news is, that you purchased this ZT on Ebay; so you're covered under their "buyer's protection policy." :thumbsup:

I closely examined the pictures that were posted in the sale. The ZT in question, appears to authentic.

Good luck!
 
To be fair. Lots of different people with lots of different personalities. We cant fortune tell and say "well he got defensive so that's a red flag". The seller may be thinking you are trying to scam him. Lots of people make claims about a knife being fake when It really wasn't. Just a few months ago when ZT switched to S35VN over elmax many claimed the knives were fake. What reasoning? Because no one from Kai emailed or called them to tell them the change was implemented :confused:. I think the best thing to do is wait until you actually have the knife. You yourself even state you don't know if what is in the pictures will match what you get. Well, neither do we.

Worst case scenario the guy used someone elses pics in his auction and the knife you receive wont even be the knife in the photos. And a brick and mortar store could end up being a crusty flea market or gun show. We wont know until you get the knife and post pics of what you actually receive. Bottom line is right now with the limited information and you not having the actual knife that was sold to you no one can really say for sure. The dude could be giving you a line of BS. Or everything can be perfectly legit. But I think the best thing is to actually receive it, post pictures of what you actually received so that people know exactly what they are dealing with.
 
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I also looked closely at the photos. the knife in the photo is almost certainly legit. make sure that serial number
is the same one that is delivered to you. just like counterfeit eese knives the serial number on fake zt knives
is a giveaway. fakes so far do not have different serial numbers.
 
The item is no longer available...

Just curious - how could KAI know it was sold on Amazon, by the ser#?
 
Palonej (and others): Buying used items is no sin. I'm a huge fan of recycling; otherwise items--not just knives--sit around in drawers and are wasted--or worse, thrown out. Better to give something a second home. But buying things that are commonly faked does pose additional challenges, admittedly. So, the "valuable lesson" isn't that you have to buy a knife new from a retailer, but rather that, if you buy a used knife, make sure the seller has a long and positive history with buyers who can tell the difference between real and fake knives. As for others asking me why I didn't check all this to start with, sellers are responsible for representing their items faithfully; there's nothing wrong with investigating after the fact, though it's certainly a lot easier to stay away from something possibly shady to start with and just move on to a different seller who is squeaky clean. With regard to saving a lot of money, I did, actually: $77.50 on a $240 new knife. But if I could do it again, I'd have forked over the $240 in a heartbeat; this isn't worth $77.50--especially because I'll never really know how many people used and sharpened this thing. Finally, I already explained in great detail why I'm concerned about where he got the knife. If the explanations I gave don't work for you, shrug.

Kelama: Thanks!

PURPLEDC: A flea market or gun show being a brick and mortar show?? As Gary Coleman said, "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?!"

bladesmith_3: Thanks, and yes, I'll check out the serial numbers for a match. This is the first thing I intended on checking, and I hope you're right that the cloners don't clone iterative serial numbers and box stickers!

sharp_edge: If you scroll down you should see the item. Since KAI manufactures ZT knives and ships them to sellers, with modern database technology, it's not difficult to determine where a serial numbered item is shipped to. You scan a barcode and then put it in a box.

To everyone who looked at the pictures and commented on the authenticity of the knife based on them, thank you!
 
To be honest, as someone who has sold knives and takes pride in my good reputation doing so, I would become a little indignant if someone bought the knife from me and then IMMEDIATELY started peppering me with questions about the legitimacy of the knife before he even received it.
 
I hear your point, but consider that we were talking back and forth and he was not indignant when I asked him where he got it. He was only indignant after I said that ZT said that the knife was bought from Amazon, while he said that he bought the knife locally at a shop.
 
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