this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2024
6 points (80.0% liked)

PocketKNIFE

1041 readers
15 users here now

This is the place for talking about all things pocket knives, and knife adjacent things. Folders large and small, multi-tools, sharpeners, even fixed blade knives are welcome. Reviews! Advice! Show off your Knives!

Also home of the incredibly loquacious Weird Knife Wednesday feature.

Simple Rules

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Has anyone else noticed a huge uptick in the fakes there the last month or so?

I'm used to seeing a handful of any given brand, but it has gotten ridiculous the last little bit, and not just cheap clones from china being sold cheap. We're talking US addresses selling them for just a tiny bit under full price.

And eBay does not care at all. Less than half of reports end up with anything done, and they're using "ai" to process reports.

I dunno what I'm really saying beyond it being a problem, and for folks to watch out with Christmas coming

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I think there's no point in using eBay for knives. It's almost impossible to know if you're getting a legit product.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I regret not buying a Benchmade 42 when I was like 17 for 120USD. Now I cnet trust any listings. Aaaaaaa

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's pretty easy to tell a fake 42 apart from the real thing, but unfortunately usually only when handling it and thus you can't necessarily identify it from the potato pictures that will inevitably be uploaded to eBay. I've never handled one that actually got it all right. The best I've ever seen is the TheOne clone, which at least has the decency not to actually say Benchmade on it anywhere.

The cheaper counterfeits usually have cast zinc alloy handles rather than the machined titanium of the genuine thing, which can look 100% convincing in photos but as soon as you touch the thing you know it's wrong.

At this point I wouldn't trust any vaguely popular Benchmade model not coming from a completely trusted source not to be fake. The counterfeits of the Bugout, Griptillian, and friends are getting extremely sophisticated now, complete with accurate trademarks and very convincing boxes, even with fake leaflets inside for the Lifesharp program and all the rest of it. You can tell they're fake if you really know what you're doing, or more realistically just by looking at the price. But if some shyster tries to sell one for near to list price a lot of people would probably be fooled.

Maybe I ought to do a comparison one of these days.

[–] southsamurai 3 points 1 month ago

Pretty much, even if you know a model inside and out, you can still get scammed by fake pics. You'll eventually get a refund, but it isn't cool.