I think there's no point in using eBay for knives. It's almost impossible to know if you're getting a legit product.
this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2024
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I regret not buying a Benchmade 42 when I was like 17 for 120USD. Now I cnet trust any listings. Aaaaaaa
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.
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.
One wonders with the threat of tariffs looming, if all those Chinese counterfeiters are making a concerted effort to dump their stock before they're left holding it.
Which is extra disappointing because there have actually been some high-quality knives coming out of China in the last few years. I know a lot of knife guys have strong opinions about Chinese knives, but manufacturers like Reate and everything under the We Knife brand have been surprisingly high quality. It's a real shame that we're about to lose a lot of great, affordable options soon.
Dang, I didn't even think of that.