Hi All, I have been playing badminton since childhood but never was serious about it. It was last month when i played with few excellent players here in my university and got passionate about it. I am just a beginner and was looking for a racket because i don't like to use our activity center's rackets. I had no idea where should i look for quality rackets and unfortunately went on ebay to buy. I ended up buying a Yonex Nanospeed 9000 Type-X in just $29 with free shipping. I was very happy with my purchase until i joined badminton forum. I came to know that all rackets that are sold on ebay are fake and was really worried about my purchase. I was praying that my racket should not be fake but it was evident that it can't be a real one with that price. After reading here at the badminton forum, i sent a mail to the seller asking about the originality of racket and told him that i want my money back in case of a fake racket. Fortunately, the seller agreed to pay me back all the money including return shipping and that was a big relief for me. I thought of sharing my experience with all of you so that beginners can avoid making the same mistake. I have taken some pictures of the racket that i got and have attached here so that you can see how good they have become at copying everything. I observed that near the cone, there was a metal deposit which can't be true in case of original racket. Since i was not aware of these issues, i purchased a fake racket but now i am not going to make the same mistake again so i went through the list of sellers mentioned in this forum and was wondering if someone has purchase anything from the following link (http://www.directsportseshop.co.uk). Please give your suggestions or comments about the same. Thanks to all of you who have worked hard and mentioned important information regarding this sport here in the forum. Regards, Chills4u
Thanks for your comments. I know this is a fake racket and thats why i returned it. But i wanted to post some pictures here so that new players like me do not make these kind of mistakes in future.
wow everything got fake nowsaday fake jersey , fake racket , fake shuttlecock , fake shoes ,fake socks....
But the saying always goes "When its too good to be true...it usually isn't" Even without looking at the racket, there must be something wrong with a $29 high end Yonex racket. Yes, new players should be aware of counterfeits but shouldn't a racket priced 80% off retail ring a bell (unless players are unaware of Yonex prices)?
While it's great that you're sharing your story.... if you do a search for "fake yonex" on here you'd probably find a hundred stories just like yours. Unfortunately, most people, just like you, don't actually look until after they've made the purchase. Let's be honest... if you think you're going to get a $200 plus retail racket for $30 then you've got to give your head a shake. Also, there are some good sellers of Yonex in the US, why would you buy from Europe? And if you were going to shop overseas there are a ton of legitimate online stores from Hong Kong (or other parts of asia) that are cheaper.
@ ryim & druss: I completely agree with your opinion. I didn't search for it and suffered. I had no idea about the prices of high end yonex rackets and that why i ended up buying that racket. Oh, btw i have to buy a new racket and was searching here in Arlington, TX but unfortunately could not find anything. Now i am left with online option only but want to buy a original racket so if you could please suggest a good online store from where you have purchased earlier. I was going through a post where everyone has posted the link of online stores in each country. Some of them are working and some of them are not. If you could provide me a link or online store name in US, it would be a great help. I am particularly looking for low end rackets b'coz i am not a very mature player and want to improve my game at this point. Thanks for your help in advance
Being in Canada I don't know many online stores in the US but have heard mention of the following: http://www.badminton.net/cart/index.php (san diego badminton supply) http://www.badmintonalley.com/ (badminton alley) I'm sure there are a bunch more though. I personally buy quite a bit of stuff from www.mybadmintonstore.com which is located in Hong Kong and many members here have bought from.
Thanks a lot druss. I appreciate your help. I will look through these stores. I came across this web store: http://www.badmintonbay.com/index.php. It seems nice and i saw a thread mentioning them in this forum also. One guy has purchased 2 rackets from them and is very happy with the service. I am thinking to buy from them since there price range is within my budget.
