Cheap Bootleg Chinese Parts

[RedRider]

Every time you buy a generic part, at a great price, from an online source you are probably aiding the bootleg/fake/criminal industry in Asia. There is no such thing as "made in the same factory, using the same process, but not paying for the brand name".
Ebay has cracked down somewhat on the sellers but Alibaba has a reputation for selling fakes. Here's an example of a Firefly dropout being advertised for sale. They even used (stole) their logo!
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detai...155976642.html
The prospective buyer is misled and could get a product of questionable quality and safety. Firefly gets ripped off both in dollar terms and reputation.
The world wide web is full of this stuff but I used this example because many members of this forum know and respect Firefly, as a framebuilder, and Tyler as a contributor. So now it's personal.
Spread the word... don't buy this crap.
Rant over. Go ride your bike.

[Tony T]

Originally Posted by RedRider

Every time you buy a generic part, at a great price, from an online source you are probably aiding the bootleg industry in Asia. There is no such thing as "made in the same factory, using the same process, but not paying for the brand name".
Ebay has cracked down somewhat on the sellers but Alibaba has a reputation for selling fakes.

Ebay is just as bad. See: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bicycle-Helm...item3ceb26735e
(…and "Report" the item as a counterfeit)

[rnhood]

I've looked at parts from Alibaba on several occasions, as they have some very competitively priced goods. But, I always backed off. I just don't trust that stuff. Frankly, I don't trust the generic carbon wheels although I realize they are popular and appear to be plenty robust nowdays.

[peanutgallery]

Four out of five dentists agree, buy a stem from alibaba

[blasdelf]

Originally Posted by RedRider

Here's an example of a Firefly dropout being advertised for sale. They even used (stole) their logo!
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detai...155976642.html
The prospective buyer is misled and could get a product of questionable quality and safety. Firefly gets ripped off both in dollar terms and reputation.

They didn't do anything beyond copy a picture off of Firefly's Flickr — no dropouts have actually been cloned, no dollars exchanged, and certainly nobody who has any idea about Firefly would consider it a hit to their reputation.

These guys just picked the fanciest example they could find to use as a stand-in for a category of things they could make, it's just to have their machine shop show up in a search for dropouts.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by blasdelf

They didn't do anything beyond copy a picture off of Firefly's Flickr — no dropouts have actually been cloned, no dollars exchanged, and certainly nobody who has any idea about Firefly would consider it a hit to their reputation.

These guys just picked the fanciest example they could find to use as a stand-in for a category of things they could make, it's just to have their machine shop show up in a search for dropouts.

Not really the point, yes? It may do nothing to Firefly, they might even not know but these guys are thieves, have no ethics and are scum balls, imho.

If they want to design a dropout and call it anything else, but they chose to steal Firefly's.

[cderalow]

in my opinion... as long as they're not using the actual item they're cloning's trademarks...

no issues.

no different than a generic version of Tylenol or Kleenex...

My problem is using the manufacturer's real logos on a cloned item.

For the most part, the generic chinese stuff is hit of miss..

I've bought two of the exact same FSA knockoff seatposts... one cracked one is fine.

the generic titanium skewers have been fine.

[rwsaunders]

How these clowns stay on the web is beyond me...

http://www.dhgate.com/product/one-pi...-7a|2997257689

[yngpunk]

Sites like DHGate and Alibaba are China based, where they have no incentive to police what is listed on their site. However, I bet you won't find any Falun Gong or Tiananmen Square protest "memorabilia" on either of those sites.

[GRAVELBIKE]

Originally Posted by rwsaunders

How these clowns stay on the web is beyond me...

http://www.dhgate.com/product/one-pi...-7a|2997257689

It's a good thing that they "only facus {sic} on sports apparel."

[rwsaunders]

Originally Posted by GRAVELBIKE

It's a good thing that they "only facus {sic} on sports apparel."

And most likely collecting your credit card number for future purchases...

[yngpunk]

You need to read the "Authenticity Guaranteed" under the "Shopping Condition of Use" section near the bottom.

We sell genuine faux items

[JeffS]

Yea, I'd probably be ranting too if my business model was based on selling brand names to people.



On a related note. Were you searching alibaba for firefly or dropouts?

[CunegoFan]

Originally Posted by cderalow

For the most part, the generic chinese stuff is hit of miss..

I've bought two of the exact same FSA knockoff seatposts... one cracked one is fine.

That is about par for real FSA components.

[don compton]

I don't know if the part was counterfeit, but i bought a new,unused Ritchey stem on Ebay and the stem was so poorly manufactured that it would lock up the stem.
I have never seen that exact model and I think it was a counterfeit. Oh well