Just to spread the word and warn readers about two gear scams to avoid:
1) A lorry load of Petzl equipment was broken into and stolen just before Christmas. Be careful if buying Petzl gear off auction sites. There is more info about this on the Petzl website.
2) A seller called Peace2018 is selling what appears to be counterfeit North Face etc stuff on Ebay. At first it all looks kosher, but it transpires that fake trainers are his/her main business and fake outdoor gear is just a sideline. It may be enough to satisfy scallies who want to wear the label, but in terms of technical performance on the hills, you may as well be wearing a carrier bag! I didn't buy off him/her, but came perilously close. Be warned!
Anyway, happy new year, it's not all doom and gloom out there! xxx
|
 |
 "A seller called Peace2018 is selling what appears to be counterfeit North Face etc stuff on Ebay"
What *appears to be*???
Take care what you say without evidence, mate...
|
|
That is why i said "appears to be" and not "is", mate...
|
|
 The terms "appears to be" or "is" makes little difference to the liabel laws of the UK, I think that is what Ninja was trying to caution against!
|
|
 So it's fake?
|
|
don't e-bay have a rating for sellers, sureley all you have to do is ask the seller if it is a genuine North Face item, if it isn't, and they've said that it is, they've kinda broken the rules, how did you find out the trainers they sell are fake?
|
|
Just got back in...to continue with what Tony said above - with libel law, all that has to happen is that the statement made caused some kind of monetary (in this case loss of profit) damage, and the case would be proven. Be very careful.
|
|
 Maybe one of TNF bods will show up on here and clarify the situation. ie where does all the stuff come from and how can the authenticity be verified?
|
|
Like this -
http://www.thenorthfaceguru.com/
|
|
And - giving a general warning would be OK, but to commit to "naming" an individual/company is enough to leave someone open to litigation.
Having said that, I don't think it would realistically happen in these particular circumstances!
A "cautionary" e mail to the manufacturers might prove useful though !
|
|
BTW
I did a search on North Face on e bay and a number returned the sales location as "Asia/UK."
There is a VERY lucrative market in counterfeit gear from China, and since they now have control over the Hong Kong market, I would be naturally suspicious of anything of that source. This also means that genuine manufacturers can do very little to curb this particular "source!"
|
|
 There are very few real bargins on e-bay these days due to the number of users and professional resellers
If it seems too good to be true it is!!
look at the huge ammounts of seconhand climbing protection available from cams to ice screws. Would you trust these to save your life? even if someone is a genuine seller.
|
|
|
|
|
This seller is based in China, need anyone say more ???
|
|
 Surely this guy should be reported to ebay and TNF?
Isn't that the right thing to do?
|
|
Looking at his profile Darren, he is based in china which means that the UK authorities have very little they could do about it. It is suspected that the Chinese regime not only ignore brand counterfeiting, but that they encourage it as it brings in western money.
As for E bay, IMHO, this is one of the downsides. I have used it and had some good bargains, it is very much a case of "buyer beware" however!
I don't think E bay worries too much about it, and even if this seller was thrown off, the system lends itself to another profile being the easy way around that.
You have to be honest about it really, anyone buying in such circumstances is either very naive or at the very least suspects that such items are "ooky."
That is another problem with modern society, the popularisation of the "Trotters" characters means that the General public are always on the look out for cheap items and some wouldn't care if items have "fallen from the back of a lorry."
Silly really, because we all pay for it in one way or another!
|
|
