The knife market is over saturated with counterfeits

needler420

needler420

Joined
Apr 29, 2011
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951
Went to 75 flea market and a old guy had a benchmade in a box. Not sure what model as soon as I asked about it he informed me it was a fake that he got duped on. At least he wasn't passing it on.

All these conservative gun guys at the flea markets around here have their inventory tainted with counterfeits. With boxes to like spyderco and benchmade.

It's starting to get like ebay. Even with extensive knowledge about a particular knife you need to get from a authorized dealer.

I can just imagine how many knifes are in circulation that are not known as counterfeit or won't ever get discovered anf just assumed they have the real deal.
 
Obviously one good reason to only purchase from reputable authorized dealers.

And your use of "overly" in the thread title is redundant. ANY counterfeits are too many. :)
 
Shift your interest to unpopular (like Hollow Handles) and/or old and out of fashion knives, like discontinued nail nick folders, Randalls or discontinued Cold Steel/SOG Seki City made designs... Any Busse will do the trick too...

You'll never have even the beginnings of a problem...

Gaston
 
It certainly is. That there are members here advocating clones, as well as outright counterfeits, and the sites that sell them, is more than enough evidence of that.

Even that the argument that "well if you buy a clone, you wont get quality or good CS" that I've heard a lot of is more evidence of that.

I appreciate the fact that Spark has chosen to take a "hard line" on the topic, because it seems to be spiraling out of control...and these makers getting hurt by it aren't nameless, faceless, megacorporations,...they are fellow members that we speak to day in and day out.
 
Gaston444 said:
Shift your interest to unpopular (like Hollow Handles) and/or old and out of fashion knives, like discontinued nail nick folders, Randalls or discontinued Cold Steel/SOG Seki City made designs... Any Busse will do the trick too...

You'll never have even the beginnings of a problem...

Gaston
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So ignoring the problem makes it go away. :rolleyes:
 
Danke42 said:
This is a good read and has some excellent insight on why this happens.

https://story.californiasunday.com/to-catch-a-counterfeiter
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THat's a very interesting story that reads more like a detective novel than a news article. Good find.

I think we can all imagine that the real reason for counterfeiting is that it's an easy way to make money. At least, it's easier to make money than building your own brand and a counterfeiter doesn't have the same risk to his/her reputation. I wouldn't be surprised if the profit margins are bigger too.

Back when I was a lot poorer and a lot more naïve, I scoured sites like the big auction site for great deals too, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of my knives are counterfeits too, but at least they haven't fallen apart yet. Nowadays I try to order from trusted sources only. It can be hard to verify a seller though, but that's for another topic.
 
Yes it is. People are cheap and this is the problem.

It's shameful to see at shows people lining up to buy those cheap India/China made hunting knives with softer than marshmallow damascus and stag handles, while legitimate sellers and knife makers are being questioned on the like of "uh, why is this knife $299?!"

This problem won't go away anytime soon.
 
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marcinek said:
So ignoring the problem makes it go away. :rolleyes:
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Ideally speaking, Yes.

If everyone stopped buying clones and fakes, there would be significantly less of a market, if any at all. Therefore the companies would switch to copying things that would sell.

I take ignoring the brands, akin to a boycott. Less sales (regardless of reasonings) is damaging the company, however slight, but damage to their wallet nonetheless. This is probably one if the best things one person can do, aside from actively spreading the word about how bad they are and offering a better option for similar coin.
 
NJBillK said:
Ideally speaking, Yes.

If everyone stopped buying clones and fakes, there would be significantly less of a market, if any at all. Therefore the companies would switch to copying things that would sell.

I take ignoring the brands, akin to a boycott. Less sales (regardless of reasonings) is damaging the company, however slight, but damage to their wallet nonetheless. This is probably one if the best things one person can do, aside from actively spreading the word about how bad they are and offering a better option for similar coin.
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Excellent point. Stated much better than I did. While us here "just not buying them" is a good thing, we are a small share of the market. Actively spreading the word is, maybe, even more important. As is treating the "counterfeit excusers" here accordingly. If that kinda stuff becomes OK here, then the battle is lost.
 
FullMetalJackass said:
Yes it is. People are cheap and this is the problem.

...while legitimate sellers and knife makers are being questioned on the like of "uh, why is this knife $299?!"

This problem won't go away anytime soon.
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If the buyer is not in $300 purchasing zone, he is not a loss to a legitimate $300 maker.
But yes, it is a loss for another legitimate maker who sells cheap knives though.
 
IMO few people these days have any real concept of "value for money". I put much of that blame on Walmart! A lot of people are happy to have all the same crappy crap that their neighbours have...but if they got it $2 cheaper on a price roll back...they win!!! And they will happily tell you that you are an idiot for paying $200 for a knife when they can get three of them for half that price that are "exactly the same" as yours.
 
So Walmart is at blame for giving people what they want and people are not at fault for asking for the lowest price possible, no customer service and an no questioned asked return policy? People like to demonize Walmart, McDonald's, Homedepot and the like for giving them exactly what they ask for. That is passing the buck in my opinion. These businesses have one agenda, sell stuff and make money. They do this by giving people what they ask for. They are a representation of our culture and our values. I agree that it is a race to the bottom but their is more than one perspective in regards to who's shoulders the blame falls on. Just my opinion.

The counterfeiting situation is different. In some cases the problems lies in the consumer being selfish and wanting the clone and not caring about others involved. In other situations it is the counterfeiter and/or sellers fault for knowingly duping people. I often wonder in the clone/counterfeit scenario what the ratio is of folks who are duped to folks who knowingly want the knockoff. The counterfeiter is wrong either way but they wouldn't do it if people didn't buy them.

Edit to add: Educating people is our best hope.
 
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bearfacedkiller said:
The counterfeiting situation is different. In some cases the problems lies in the consumer being selfish and wanting the clone and not caring about others involved. In other situations it is the counterfeiter and/or sellers fault for knowingly duping people. I often wonder in the clone/counterfeit scenario what the ratio is of folks who are duped to folks who knowingly want the knockoff. The counterfeiter is wrong either way but they wouldn't do it if people didn't buy them.
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Greed and selfishness is still at the heart of getting "duped."

If someone truly buys a cheap Spyderco thinking they are getting some awesome deal on a legit knife that elsewhere costs three times as much as they are paying then they are, in a sense, trying to rip off a seller that they think doesn't know any better.
 
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