Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with counterfeit

Logo No Go?

weapons-grade pandemonium — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:09:23 -0800

Paging the MeFi Counterfeit Brigade. Two logos are suspiciously similar. How likely is it that the more recent design was copied? The new City of Kelowna logo, for which they spent $80,000 (consultation, research, design, etc.) is about to be adopted when, whoops! an astonishingly similar logo (designed two years previously) surfaces. What are the odds that this is a coincidence, especially considering that the first one was published on logolounge.com (scroll down)? Is there a computer design program that would spit out similar Spirograph designs with similar color combinations? Can/should the city copyright a design that is so similar, even though the original may not have a formal coypright? Give me your best sleuthing analysis.

eBay and counterfeit goods.

pdb — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:14:29 -0800

Should I send my counterfeit goods back? About a month ago, I bought something on eBay because the price seemed too good to be true. Which, of course, it turned out to be. Shortly after "winning" the item, I was notified by eBay that the item I had purchased was "under investigation", which along with the fact that my auction was never listed under "my eBay" as having been won, indicated to me that I was probably buying something counterfeit. I paid with PayPal, so I opened up a dispute with them so I could get my money back, since I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to get the item for which I had paid. We went back and forth a bit, during which time I attempted to contact the seller with no luck, but ultimately, I got my money refunded. End of story, or so I thought.

About two weeks after all that, I got a package in the mail from China, containing the item that I had purchased - and, sure enough, one simple glance confirmed that it was counterfeit. I figured, whatever - I got my money back, PayPal considers the matter closed, chalk this one up to experience and move on. I reported the item as being counterfeit to the makers of the real item, and went on with my life.

Fast forward to today. I get an email from the seller which says:

"dear friend:

i am sorry to trouble you.the money have been return to your paypal account. if you receive the items and you like the items.could you pay the money to me again? If you no like please return the items to me."

The fishy thing is, the name on the email matches the seller's name, but the email account is totally different. What is my obligation here? I still have the item, but since what I received is not what I paid for (the ebay ad claimed that it was a genuine item, and it clearly is not), do I still have to return it? I'd just as soon throw the thing away and forget all about it, but I want to make sure that there is no recourse for the seller here if I ignore the email that was sent to me.

It should be noted here that I understand that a line on an eBay sales item screen is by no means a guarantee. I'm not upset, I don't feel like I was taken advantage of, I just want to know how much attention I need to pay to the person that wants me to send back their cheap knockoff goods.

What are my rights after being sold counterfeit items by a Craigslist seller?

jacksaturn — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:11:43 -0800

I bought some items from a seller on Craigslist and they turned out to be counterfeit. What are my rights? The details:

- The items were two Shure SM58 microphones. I own four authentic SM58s prior to this purchase.

- I posted a "WTB" (want to buy) ad in the "musical instruments" forum on Portland's Craigslist.

- The seller responded by e-mail (which I still have, branded with the traditional "Craigslist advisory" header). He wrote, "I have 2 NIB (unopened) Shure SM58 Microphones. Call me if you're still interested."

- The microphones were purchased in person at the seller's home for $55 each, $110 total.

- Got them home, opened the box and noticed something was wrong. These were not identical to the other SM58s I own. They were lighter, cheaper plastic and the logo printing was an off-color.

- Did some internet research and turned up these URLs:
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2139144
http://reviews.ebay.ie/Beware-Fake-Shure-SM58-Microphones_W0QQugidZ10000000001718736
http://audio-studio.blogspot.com/2007/11/fake-under-shure-sm58-do-not-allow.html

- Realizing they were fake, and thus worthless to me, I called the seller to let him know. I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt, that he didn't know. There was a language barrier involved, but essentially he gave me the run around and refused to refund my money, or to adequately compensate me for the difference in value.

So that's the long story. It seems to me that he was aware of what he was selling, or at the very least is unmoved by having it brought to his attention.

I am ignorant of the laws that apply to individuals selling counterfeit items in the US. Do I have a basis to take him to small claims court?

How do I reliably detect counterfeit currency?

yeoz — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:53:27 -0800

How do I reliably detect counterfeit currency? My mom lent a neighbor a very large sum of money last week, and she was paid back a few days later. She's concerned (because of how quickly it was paid back) that the money might be counterfeit. (The bills are a mix of new-design and old-design $50s and $100s.) How would we go about checking if the money is genuine or counterfeit? I've heard that those counterfeit checking pens are worthless. Would buying a random-off-the-shelf black light and using that to check if the money glows a different color work? Would that work for the old bills as well? Are there any other methods we could look into?

Is there anywhere to buy counterfeit goods in Portland, Oregon?

cmonkey — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:30:10 -0800

Are there any stores that sell counterfeit goods in Portland, Oregon? Not counterfeit DVDs and CDs that are often sold at "swap meets", but larger consumer items like watches or home electronics. I know that intentionally buying counterfeit items is illegal, so I won't actually purchase anything, but this post made me curious.

Avoiding scams selling expensive items on craigslist

freshgroundpepper — Mon, 28 May 2007 17:25:04 -0800

I'm about to list a relatively expensive item on Craigslist (asking ~$700) and have been reading up on all of the different scam horror stories and what _not_ to do. I'm only going to be dealing with someone in person, and I won't accept any wire transfers, cashier checks or money orders because of the high abuse potential, but I'm not sure what this leaves as viable alternatives for what I _should_ do to receive payment. Is it OK to ask for that much cash? Is there some other alternative that I'm missing? Anything above a couple of hundred dollars seems like a lot of folding money to me. Is there some sort of unspoken maximum amount where cash is no longer viable?

Should I be asking the person for some sort of identification (driver's license?) when I make the deal? Do I need to worry about counterfeit money and get one of those pens that I see some stores use on large denomination bills that identify counterfeits?

How have other people dealt with large items that they've sold on Craigslist (or a similar forum)?

Copy-proof gift certificates?

CrayDrygu — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 19:12:46 -0800

I'd like to create a limited number of fixed-value gift certificates. I'm concerned about counterfeiting, and I'm hoping some folks here can share some ideas. These gift certificates will be going to a fairly savvy crowd, many will have laptops, scanners, and printers, and anything that's easy to copy will be copied.

It's for a weekend-long event, and the certificates are only good for the duration of the event, which means we don't need it to be copy proof, just something that can't be easily copied on two days' notice. We'd also like the techniques we use to be visible, to discourage people from even trying.

To that end, here's some of the things we've considered so far:

Specialty paper. Ideally, we'd like something with a foil/holographic strip embedded in the paper, but we don't know where to get such a thing, or how much it might cost.
UV stamps. A unique rubber stamp combined with UV-reactive ink would be tough to duplicate on short notice.
Serializing. We're not sure how useful this would be, as we'd not have a good way of tracking which serial numbers have been redeemed yet.

Any other ideas, or advice on our current ones, that could work well? We don't want to go too extravagant, as we're only producing a limited number of them (maybe 20 or 30) and would like to keep the production cost per certificate as low as possible.

U.S. Customs and Chinese knockoffs

jbb7 — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 03:06:30 -0800

I'll be entering the U.S. after spending 2 months in China. In my luggage I'll have 3 fake watches, 3 fake Polo shirts, a pair of fake shoes, and a fake North Face backpack. Will U.S. Customs find out, and if they do, what would they do? I'm an 18-year-old U.S. citizen who's entering alone with 3 checked bags (yeah, a lot). I also have some real Polo shirts that I don't want taken away if they confiscate the fake ones.

Another thing: My North Face backpack is a big hiker-style pack with the North Face logo prominently featured on the front. If I completely rip off the logo (by dethreading it), that'll solve my problems in regard to the backpack, right?

So: any personal experiences or insight about what I'll face at the customs checkpoint?

Can a consignment shop get away with selling fake designer purses?

anjamu — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 21:18:05 -0800

Is it legal to knowingly sell counterfeit handbags at a consignment shop? Is there a reasonable expectation of authenticity that the consumer has? I recently visited a resale store that touted itself as offering designer and name-brand items.

While I was browsing, I noticed a wide selection of Louis Vuitton bags and a few Chanel ones. All were originally priced at either $60 or $40, depending on size, and all had since been marked down 50%. When I asked the owner whether the bags were real, she said without hesitation that they were all fake, and that "some lady had brought them from New York." She went on to tell me that she sold everything at 30% of retail price, and that a Chanel bag would cost several hundred dollars in her store were it real.

Obviously, "caveat emptor," "if it's too good to be true, it probably is," and all that. But does the consumer have a reasonable expectation of authenticity? If her price had been more in line with what I expected, like $300-400, could she still justify selling fake ones? Does it matter that she was selling other pieces by well-known "names" at far below 30% of their retail (ex. a Theory button-down for probably <5 % of its retail price)? and further, is this legal? lvmh obviously a href="http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jun2006/pi20060613_187965.htm?chan=topStories_ssi_5">felt very strongly about Sam's Club selling fake Fendi. Does a consignment shop have the same obligations toward authenticity? The bags were not marked as fake, nor were they obvious fakes like, say, this one.

For what it's worth, I ended up deciding not to buy anything at the store, because I just didn't feel comfortable supporting a place that knowingly sold fake bags while boasting of its selection of designer apparel. I'm pretty confident that the girl who tipped me off to the store didn't know that she'd bought a Chanel fake, and it bothered me.

Shopping in NYC

Kwantsar — Wed, 14 Apr 2004 15:04:15 -0800

I'm going to be in New York City next Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. While I'm there, I'd like to piss away some money on a knockoff watch and a handbag or two. Where and when should I go?