Counterfeit scopes on EBay

[Poconnor]

I was searching ebay for a Leupold vxlll 2.5-8 and 3.5-10x for a few hunting rifles I seldom use. I could not believe the number of “brand new” Leupold scopes being offered directly from China. It was like a haji dvd sale. So many that I don’t want but any more optics from the internet. Anybody know how to spot a counterfeit? The Leupold website has some info.

[Spartan1980]

I was searching ebay for a Leupold vxlll 2.5-8 and 3.5-10x for a few hunting rifles I seldom use. I could not believe the number of “brand new” Leupold scopes being offered directly from China. It was like a haji dvd sale. So many that I don’t want but any more optics from the internet. Anybody know how to spot a counterfeit? The Leupold website has some info.

Not a scope but I bought a Streamlight Pro-Tac 1L-1AA flashlight off of Amazon Prime and it was fake as hell. I couldn't get any info out of Amazon on whether they bought them directly from Streamlight without batteries but that's what tipped me off. If anyone has the buying power to spec no batteries and/or other features it would be Amazon. The packaging was without space for batteries to be included but other than that the packaging was absolutely spot on perfect (I had other known legit packaging to compare). The outside of the flashlight was also an excellent copy. Inside it had some differences but an unfamiliar purchaser would have never known the difference and there are multiple youtube "reviews" that are unknowingly displaying these counterfeits. The Chinese are getting very good at counterfeiting and a lot of scopes are now built in China so it's hard to know for sure if you are getting a legit product if you can't at least confirm the country of origin from the seller or manufacturer. Aimpoint has had info up for years on their site on spotting counterfeits but judging from my Streamlight fiasco I doubt it's much use for newly manufactured scopes. It's getting frustrating as hell if you are buying pricey items. OBTW, Streamlight customer service was outstanding, they shipped me one direct, paid for the return of the counterfeit so they could investigate and the best part was that the initial response to my inquiry was from their general counsel. Win!

[voodoo_man]

Buy direct from a quality seller. Like @cstactical and don't have to worry about it.

[Sigfan26]

I avoid eBay for gun parts all together (unless it is the manufacturer specifically selling on eBay).

[BillSWPA]

I would encourage reporting the counterfeits to the manufacturer. They are hurt in multiple ways by counterfeits (lost sales, diminished reputation when the counterfeit fails, etc.) and sometimes reward those reporting such information.



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[Bigghoss]

Anybody know how to spot a counterfeit?

They're listed on Ebay and ship from China.

[CS Tactical]

Buy direct from a quality seller. Like @cstactical and don't have to worry about it.

Sound like a good idea to me...

[Casual Friday]

In 2012 when I briefly worked at a gun store part time, a rep for Eotech told us that a lot of the fakes were so well copied that weighing the units was the only way to tell the difference, outside of the oddball reticles they came with.

[Poconnor]

Shipped from “Shending China” was the big clue. I’m more concerned with buying one from somebody who bought one in good faith off eBay and are now trying to flip their bad buy.

[UNK]

I would encourage reporting the counterfeits to the manufacturer. They are hurt in multiple ways by counterfeits (lost sales, diminished reputation when the counterfeit fails, etc.) and sometimes reward those reporting such information.



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I did that with Trijicon and their reply was It's a fake. My reply to them was Yes no kidding it's a fake thats why I sent it to you. They were quite indifferent about the whole affair.