This forum and the Spyderco factory forum both have an area that is for reporting bogus knives and/or dealers. It's well used and you should keep tabs on it as there are fairly current updates. Somebody will typically spot new fakes in a short amount of time. If it is a dealer at an auction web site we all know Spyderco reports it after checking it out. I'm sure they stay pretty busy.
I didn't see the Sticky here! Thanks for the heads-up!
I would like to see Spyderco's website perhaps institute a more accessible design. I think when you have exclusive portions of information immediately on a main page, it makes a much bigger impression (plus it's hard to miss given most traffic goes through that page). I think it potentially could help new buyers and people who may not have the best internet skills. A video of Sal himself, even if just welcoming and advising purchase through their ADs, would also be helpful IMO given he's one of the most respected people in the entire cutlery industry. When he speaks, people listen (and on a side note, unlike most CEOs, when we speak, he listens to us and formally responds which is totally awesome!) So I am just floating the idea that a statement/vid from Spyderco on the main page, with a direct link to a program/app to locate or check authorized dealers, could potentially be useful and money-saving down the road.
While not Spyderco's fault whatsoever in the least, if a first Spyderco turns out to be a clone of a Spyderco, the experience is likely going to change the buyer's mindset, for better or worse. As others have noted, everyone is new to knives at some point and many of these clones are not all that easy to pick out...especially to people newer to the knife world, and I would hate for their enjoyment of the hobby be ruined by some thug who preys on good people as it is so, so unfair and immoral.
Spyderco themselves can probably not single-handedly monitor these sorts of things from outside sources, and the biggest one of these organizations needs to change themselves. As of this point in time, they do a terrible job of enforcing their own policies. One big auction site alone yields between 7,000-12,000 Spyderco hits for sale at any given time, not even counting how many are on their international webpages. This organization is failing Spyderco and all makers by doing a crappy job at protecting their respective marketplace (and buyers) from the criminal activities committed by immoral losers, and it says much about this organization's corporate values. And as long as this organization continues to suck at this, they give out-of-country cloners an easy avenue to fraud buyers and escape being arrested and having to stand accountable for their actions.
I could be completely wrong on all of this, but I just hate for these things to happen to good people and good companies like Spyderco so I'm just floating this as a "what if...?".
