Counterfeit shimano spd-sl cleats from Amazon

[Veloo]

Is Bezos still the richest guy on the planet?

We know where the money is and isn't going.

Lots of companies have teams to ensure legit supply chain. And they're effective too.

So yeah, shame on Amazon. (And while we're at it, shame on Jack Ma.)

[paredown]

The other thing to watch out for--if you go to your past orders and use that as a way to reorder, Amazon will send to the page of the current seller based on price/sales volume(?)--who may or may not be the same as your previous purchase.

This is the one way that the crap gets into the system--as people have noted, there will be a whole string of good reviews from when the merch was genuine, they get transferred to the new seller who ships crap for a time--then a bunch of bad reviews (and I think sellers then get booted), and a new seller starts.

As a buyer--you can't always figure it out--I've seen products go from genuine to crap, and back to genuine (or at lease decent quality)--and I think Amazon doesn't boot people until there are complaints.

The other problem is that they don't provide very good tools for brand owners to root out counterfeit products--anyone can call their Amazon seller account pretty much anything that is not already in use, and a purchaser can think that the name being used suggests that the seller is an authentic outlet for that branded merchandise. And brand owners can't shut them down quickly--what is being sold can be gray market, counterfeit or whatever...

I've been much more careful lately--and count on the easy return policy. I have also had stuff that was really bad--like a whole batch of small halogen bulbs that I thought were from the same seller as before--and that would burn out within weeks of installing--past the window of return, and it took a while to realize that the whole batch was crap. Luckily not much money involved, but changing them requently has a high annoyance factor.

[Likes2ridefar]

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[ntb1001]

I had never realized that Amazon had fakes. Recently I bought some Addias athletic wear pants. When I compare them to an old pair I have, they feel cheap and flimsy, obviously fakes like a cheap flea market version.
I’m surprised that such a large retailer can sell fake product.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[reuben]

Originally Posted by Likes2ridefar

I will no longer worry about it. I cancelled prime and will no longer shop there.

I had to confirm three times on three pages to cancel it....

Are you sure you cancelled your REAL Amazon account, and not a fake one that just harvested all of your information?

[boywander]

Originally Posted by ntb1001

I had never realized that Amazon had fakes. Recently I bought some Addias athletic wear pants. When I compare them to an old pair I have, they feel cheap and flimsy, obviously fakes like a cheap flea market version.
I’m surprised that such a large retailer can sell fake product.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There’s got to be a way to report this sort of thing. Maybe the FTC?

Edit: I meant the consumer protection of some sort.

[Likes2ridefar]

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[Wattvagen]

wow, thanks for the heads up.

i generally shop for wear items at the cheapest price i can find, usually ebay - but who knew there were fakes for things like cleats. I wonder how many fugazzi cleats a company would need to sell to turn a profit for tooling up to make them?

i know when shopping for pedals i have seen great "deals" shipping direct from china and other far off ports, which never seemed right, maybe there are fake pedals out there too?

[benb]

Amazon did create a new counterfeit task force earlier this year.. maybe eventually they'll start to get this under control.

You think this is bad I had read even some food you order from Amazon is turning out to be fake/counterfeit. Cereal products were what I had read about. Box looks identical but when you open it up if you're familiar with the food you can realize it's fake. And who knows what ingredients are in it!

The review stuff is so bizarre, and customers are so bizarre.

I have been looking at Fishing stuff lately. I got a Shimano Rod/Reel recently that my father bought me at a local store. It's a pretty amazing piece of gear and yet was really reasonably priced.

My son just got some Chinese brand stuff as a gift from family members as well. When I looked the stuff up it all comes from Amazon or Alibaba. It looks super blingy on the outside, at least as shiny & fancy looking as the Shimano stuff. However when I looked up reviews they were full of people snapping the rod the first day when they hooked a fish, or the reel wearing out in 10 hours. But at the same time the reviews were also loaded up with fake reviews from people you can tell never actually used the product just the way they write. There are youtube videos of people taking them apart after they break and the internal construction is nothing like name brand reels, they don't use the right kinds of bearings, no seals on the bearings, plastic parts under strain/force, etc..

What was truly bizarre is in the fishing stuff these counterfeit/off brand Chinese products cost about 95% as much as the name brand stuff.

It's not like $300 alibaba carbon wheels vs $3000 Enve wheels. It's like the Alibaba wheels cost $2950 and people are still giving them a shot. My son's chinese rod & reel cost more than my Shimano setup.

My wife has been in a Paypal dispute with Chinese scammers that were selling camp chairs on Facebook. The ads were looking just like the $200 chairs that REI sells, but these were $80. When they arrived they had 0 resemblance with what was shown on the website/videos. Totally different design, and not big enough for most adults to actually sit in. Customer service just tries to send you in circles over and over.

[charliedid]

With respect to the OP I am not convinced they are fake based your experience and assumptions made but then maybe they are?. My SPD SL cleats purchased directly from Shimano appear the color of you supposed fakes. Do they change color as they age? Maybe so....I never really noticed. I can also attest to the fact that sometimes cleats seem to last for ages and sometimes not based on conditions etc.

I'm not sure how you verify this (maybe a date code stamped) but I'd look into it further. Is it really worth the effort to knock off something like this?

Just my 2 cents.

[Likes2ridefar]

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[Gsinill]

Originally Posted by charliedid

With respect to the OP I am not convinced they are fake based your experience and assumptions made but then maybe they are?. My SPD SL cleats purchased directly from Shimano appear the color of you supposed fakes. Do they change color as they age? Maybe so....I never really noticed. I can also attest to the fact that sometimes cleats seem to last for ages and sometimes not based on conditions etc.

I'm not sure how you verify this (maybe a date code stamped) but I'd look into it further. Is it really worth the effort to knock off something like this?

Just my 2 cents.

+1
Even though Amazon handles parts of the supply chain for those 3rd party sellers, I think it is pretty hard for them to determine fakes like this.
I am sure those sellers will be reprimanded and it sounds Amazon did the right thing refunding the OP.

[Davist]

Originally Posted by Nomadmax

Amazon got money from the sale so it's their responsibility to insure they don't sell/deliver/facilitate counterfeit products, especially ones that could cause injury.

Give them a pass if you want, but all you'll get is more of the same.

NOPE Amazon explicitly takes no responsibility for "marketplace" sales. NEVER buy anything that plugs in the wall, plenty of fake stuff there. HUGE issue in tech, literally enabling counterfeiters. Yes they will refund (just like Ebay/Paypal) but those guys sign back up under another name "tomorrow"..

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Likes2ridefar

It’s very obvious side by side in person. They look different in many ways. They are fake.

Should i have to force the screws through the washers? When tightening no matter how I tried the Washers were always very crooked. The washers are sorta blue grey color. The shimano label is totally different. The mold where the washers sit is way more shaped on the real ones. The side carves are slightly different. The yellow pads are different color and not aligned properly.

I hear ya.

And yes the current iteration can be difficult to get the screws through the washers.

Either way sorry for your trouble.

[mcteague]

Hard to believe anyone would find it worthwhile to knock off something as cheap as plastic cleats.

Tim