There have been cases where the Salesmans from a Reputable/Popular Badminton company supplier who has been offering almost undetectable counterfeit badminton rackets to shopowners or local distributors. Of course his/her boss don't know about it. Well it is detectable usually by an expert or a person who has been using the Originals for a long time. The prices of these items are lower than the Original, but not as low as the Bad counterfeits. Maybe around 20%-30% lower. Some might sell it as high as the Original Price. For the consumers and distributors around the world. Please don't entertain these people if they offer you these good fakes. But some of you might not know that it is a fake until they tell you. But some Badhats might not even tell you that it is a fake. I don't have the opportunity to take pics of these fakes. However just be careful that the "original" that you are holding might be a fake. Please BUY YOUR ITEM FROM A REPUTABLE and TRUSTWORTHY SELLER.
So far its just Yonex. I have not seen any other brand which has been counterfieted that way. Well only if you are good people will copy you.
I assume though that rackets will feel different (balance point, grip size, weight etc) without playing with it? What country code is usually on these counterfeits?
So you want us to favour the established players in the market ? The competition in market place must be getting quite intense for these players to come up with this tactic. I would suggest these players be bold and come forth with the evidence. Better yet, they should come forth with more of the popular spot the fake contests. These will not only provide educational value, but also entertainment value. To show they are genuine players in the market with good will, perhaps they should offer real prizes for such contests.
You can actually buy from anyone. Not nessesary the establish players. But just becareful. So far the fakes are SP and CH coded.
Ants, So there's still a chance that we'll get the fakes from reputable shops since the shop owners are also cheated by these Salesmans. Why not publicised those Salesmans' name
Remember something to consider. Reputable/Popular shope does not necessarily imply that it is a Yonex Authorized dealer.
If "Fakes Are Improving and goes HighTech", then is there a chance they will be as good or even better, soon or later? If the Yonex NS9000 X is to be the standard of a real Yonex racquet to be judged by, then it is easy for fakes to be better, even now.
It's is very destructive that if fakers make better counterfeits then the original maunfacturers go busted, then there will be no more real rackets for the fakers to imitate.
If its a YONEX SHOP, personally i don't think they will SELL FAKES. You can definately buy from them worry free. But the problems is sometimes these Reputable shops owners either big or small timers don't know that their people is selling fakes stuffs to the customers. Or sometimes the owners is the one doing the job as well. Usually based on the info that i got, they will not sell to the regular customers. Mostly sells to overseas people etc..
In indonesia, alot Yonex distributor sold those fake, NS9000 real about Rp. 1.6million and the fake one is ten times cheaper, i was compare within two, still do not find any difference except the seller said it was fake, no.no.. it's not fake, they said it's 2nd quality ironically when i know that's on yonex distributor.
The world of business is profit driven, not claims of product fidelity or fakes. It is a survivor of the fittest, consumer driven at that. You will eventually get what you want, not what others say.
