Buyer Beware -- Lamy Safari On Ebay

[Drone]

 

Unless someone has been burned by paying extra for a fake, I'm wondering about the unhealthy hatred and rage going on about it. I'm all for PSA making people aware of the differences, but seems like a different matter to act like they just killed your first born. (sort of like I see some people behaving about China in general, or any product "Made in China").

 

I have an "Unhealthy" hatred and rage against these fake products. I live in S.E. Asia and I am forced t take inferior medication because the better-suited but branded medications I should be taking are more expensive - and therefore often counterfeit out of the likes of China and (to a lesser extent) India. I cannot risk buying the theoretically better medicines because of the fakes, but many don't know about this.

 

It may "only" be a fake Lamy Safari to you. But when I read about any sort of fake products I am immediately reminded about how my life is seriously affected by fakes. We should all be so outraged.

 

What's next? Fake jet engine parts or fake chemotherapy medication?

[KBeezie]

 

I have an "Unhealthy" hatred and rage against these fake products. I live in S.E. Asia and I am forced t take inferior medication because the better-suited but branded medications I should be taking are more expensive - and therefore often counterfeit out of the likes of China and (to a lesser extent) India. I cannot risk buying the theoretically better medicines because of the fakes, but many don't know about this.

 

It may "only" be a fake Lamy Safari to you. But when I read about any sort of fake products I am immediately reminded about how my life is seriously affected by fakes. We should all be so outraged.

 

What's next? Fake jet engine parts or fake chemotherapy medication?

 

In terms of the more expensive medications often being counterfeited... maybe don't buy from riskier sellers? Buy from authorized pharmacies/doctors/etc. (same can be said of pen brands). Course I've also heard of doctors giving fake diagnosis so you have to take medication you don't actually need.

Edited September 4, 2014 by KBeezie

[arcadeflow]

 

In terms of the more expensive medications often being counterfeited... maybe don't buy from riskier sellers? Buy from authorized pharmacies/doctors/etc. (same can be said of pen brands). Course I've also heard of doctors giving fake diagnosis so you have to take medication you don't actually need.

That old "blame the victim" tactic. Anyway, these fakes are being sold for the price of the original ones, and very expensive in the case of the rare colors. It is not the case of a fake Nike t-shirt that costs a dollar, they are counterfeits trying to steal money from people that need the real product. This is obviously sad news for all of us.

[OcalaFlGuy]

It may "only" be a fake Lamy Safari to you. But when I read about any sort of fake products I am immediately reminded about how my life is seriously affected by fakes. We should all be so outraged.

 

What's next? Fake jet engine parts or fake chemotherapy medication?

In answer to your question, Yes.

 

I'm sure there already is fake chemo meds though I don't care enough to Prove it. Also can't Prove actual jet engine parts but there are Numerous Other fake parts that have been found for Both jet Military and Passenger aircraft.

 

Bruce in Ocala, Fl

[Osmaroid]

 

Unless someone has been burned by paying extra for a fake, I'm wondering about the unhealthy hatred and rage going on about it. I'm all for PSA making people aware of the differences, but seems like a different matter to act like they just killed your first born. (sort of like I see some people behaving about China in general, or any product "Made in China").

Counterfeits are definitely worthy of hatred

There are 4 types of Chinese pens when it comes to provenance

1. Hundreds, probably thousands, of original designs marked with the manufacturer’s name, logo, etc. These should be judged just like any other fountain pen.
2. Pens made in Chinese factories for well known and not so well known manufacturers outside China. Again, these should be judged as any other pen.
3. Look-alikes, These are pens such as the Jinhao 599, a Safari look-alike, and the Hero 616, a Parker 51 look-alike. These are marked with the actual manufacturer’s name/logo and do not pretend to be products of Lamy, Parker etc. They can be good performers in their own right, and, in the case of the Hero 616, can themselves be heavily counterfeited! Look-alikes were not a result of Chinese manufactrurers – western second and third tier manufacturers in the first half of the 20^th century made Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman etc. look-alikes, but were never marked with the name of the genuine product's manufacturer (Parker etc.).
4. Counterfeits. These not only look like another manufacturer’s product, but are marked as such. Their very nature is to deceive and to make as much money as possible in the process. Hence, they are invariably poor performers, poorly made, and with finishes that degrade quickly. The unfortunate purchaser believes he has the genuine product, so his dissatisfaction is with the genuine manufacturer. The purchaser pays too much for a bad pen, the genuine manufacturer loses a sale and, more importantly, gets a blow to his reputation. How will this purchaser describe the genuine manufacturer to others?

In this age of the younger generation not only being unable to write cursive, but increasingly unable to read it, it is becoming difficult to get new, young, fountain pen users. Anything that underhandedly harms the manufacturers is to be “hated”, and unfortunately it has definitely become a case of buyer beware. One way to mitigate the danger is to use respected dealers when purchasing modern pens.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Osmaroid

[arcadeflow]

Can we post the eBay vendors that are selling fakes here? I don't see why we should let them fool our fellow hobbists, there are a lot of people bidding a lot of money on those fakes.

[Mishka5050]

Oh no, this is bad news!!!

I have been bidding (without luck) on aquamarine Lamy for a week now!

Apple green Lamy with actual apples in picture looks fake - I'm gutted...

Not paying premium price for limited edition which happens to be fake

[sail0rm00n]

Have the AL-Stars been faked yet? I'm now questioning the limited edition color ones I picked up on ebay.

[arcadeflow]

If you are concerned a pen has been counterfeited, search for it at alibaba.com, if you find them selling in bulk it is probably (I would say for sure) fake. It is easy to spot, because the sellers usually claim they are factories.

[Osmaroid]

If you are concerned a pen has been counterfeited, search for it at alibaba.com, if you find them selling in bulk it is probably (I would say for sure) fake. It is easy to spot, because the sellers usually claim they are factories.

What a great suggestion. I went to alibaba and searched on the obvious candidates

 

Parker Sonnet. Lots of hits, minimum orders of 500, 1000 etc. Not much of a question here, especially when some seem to be quoting FOB prices well under a dollar each in quantity!

 

Hero 616 - same story.

 

Lamy Safari - Same story again

 

I then tried Lamy Al-Star - only 2 hits. One is for a pen that sure looks like the al-star, but is sold in lots of 100 and no price quoted in dollars. The other is a bad photo and is called Safari and Al-star.. If you click on the item, the individual listings give quantities that can be delivered - the first hit says 10,000 per month, the second 100 per week. What does this all mean? In answer to sail0rm00n, I would guess that the first hit with the high capacity looks suspiciously like a counterfeiter, but there do not appear he quatities that there are with the Safari. I don't know what to make of the only other hit - they may well be the real item somehow.

 

Finally, just for the heck of it, I checked on Sheaffer Targa as several places are coming up with NOS items. Not a single hit, so I guess my recent purchase was a genuine item!

 

However, using Alibaba as a check is something I will do from now on and, if it looks as if counterfeits are prevalent, use only a respected dealer.

[sail0rm00n]

Thanks for the suggestion on alibaba. I found the same results Osmaroid did regarding Lamy Al-Star. I took it a step further and sent them messages asking if they sell other colors in bulk. I guess we'll find out soon enough! (if they respond)

[arcadeflow]

I wonder why the pen companies haven't started taking anti-counterfeiture measures, like hologram sticks, serial codes, official packages with details listed at their sites. It seems they don't care.

[Osmaroid]

I wonder why the pen companies haven't started taking anti-counterfeiture measures, like hologram sticks, serial codes, official packages with details listed at their sites. It seems they don't care.

It may not be as easy as it seems. I have a 10 pack of what I think are genuine Hero 616s and what I believe is a counterfeit pack (both bought years ago), and both have Hero holograms! Apparently, such measures no longer provide protection.

Edited September 12, 2014 by Osmaroid

[stevesurf]

These are really great pictures that show visible differences and perhaps the difference between the counterfeit units being stamped with lower quality tooling than authentic Lamy.

 

It would be really great if posts like this can get stickied in the Misc Brands section.

 

http://i60.tinypic.com/2upg08z.jpg

 

Fake one engraving is not etched properly and deeply.

 

 

http://i62.tinypic.com/11ax3wz.jpg

 

Lamy safari engraving wording is etched deeply.

 

 

http://i62.tinypic.com/j9vyut.jpg

 

http://i61.tinypic.com/x21bg3.jpg

 

http://i58.tinypic.com/2vjr9e8.jpg

 

http://i59.tinypic.com/14sjvi9.jpg

 

Etching of the "LAMY" also deep and properly for real lamy safari.

[arcadeflow]

Removed, I am not sure of the info I posted

Edited October 1, 2014 by arcadeflow

[nagod]

production runs can have slight differences.has anyone gotten a confirmation from LAMY that these are counterfeit?not asking about the ones on aliexpress but others.

Edited October 2, 2014 by nagod

[Osmaroid]

production runs can have slight differences.has anyone gotten a confirmation from LAMY that these are counterfeit?not asking about the ones on aliexpress but others.

Production variations are subtle, not different size, depth and significantly different rounding of edges in printing - the latter points to a different set of molds, i.e. a different manufacturer. A different manufacturer in turn points to a definite counterfeit. I would bet there are similar differences in the nib and converter, differences that are not merely manufacturing tolerances. Finally, there is no way that a genuine article can be sold for significantly less than $1, even in quantity (see postings above on Alibaba listings). Once there is knowledge that counterfeits exist, purchasing new items from anyone other than a known dealer of the brand is taking a risk, and if the price is "very good", a huge risk.

 

There have been numerous postings on other counterfeit pens, at least one newspaper article, and at least one Wikipedia article. I don't think that there is any doubt that there are many counterfeits out there of the Lamy Safari, Hero 616, Parker Sonnet, many Mont Blanc models, and probably many more.

[arcadeflow]

It seems eBay has done something against the people selling the fake Lamy's. I did a search and found no evidence of fake Lamys, at least in the regular price range. My advice is, before buying, check the seller reputation, and the other colors he offers. If he has a stock of older limited editions like the 2011 and such, be very careful. Also, sellers that include the Z24 converter and keep a low price are probably selling fakes. Some sellers are carrying it in a blister package, I believe it is safe to buy from them.

[DrSbaitso]

I just received a fake Lamy Safari from a seller with 100% feedback rating. I have requested a refund. Not happy at all

 

Edit: Thanks for all the information and further confirmation that I have been defrauded. It was this search that brought me here.

Edited January 17, 2015 by DrSbaitso

[printhardcopy]

Any news on this matter? I have seen a lot of aquamarine Safaris going for huge prices, being sold from Singapore, Malaysia and India. Sellers usually carry regular colors too, which means Lamy buyers are at risk unless they buy from reputable sellers. Disgusting.

 

Hey, im from Singapore.

 

Im selling most colours of lamy safari.

 

I only sell authentic pens.