Clone brands… should we ban sellers?

[betaboy]

The buyers market is going to get flooded as Temu start making more clone brands available. I’ve already sounded the alarm before when Fake Shimano chains hit the markets. Guys lookout and ask where the item was purchased if need be. If the price is too good to believe, it probably is. Let’s try keep this clean and make sellers more accountable for their goods. 

[RobertWhitehead]

7 hours ago, betaboy said:

The buyers market is going to get flooded as Temu start making more clone brands available. I’ve already sounded the alarm before when Fake Shimano chains hit the markets. Guys lookout and ask where the item was purchased if need be. If the price is too good to believe, it probably is. Let’s try keep this clean and make sellers more accountable for their goods. 

Outright fake I agree with, is that what you're referring to? I've had some pretty decent use from the non-Mainstream brands at a fraction of the cost. Stuff like chains, cassettes and chainrings are viewed as a consumable item (in my head) and the brand doesn't mean anything when compared to the miles it offers. 

[LubedUpGarage]

I agree that some "non brand" things are decent and it will do the job. Issue I have is buying it on TEMU/Aliexpress/Shein whatever, for R200 and trying to pass it on here for 4x that to scam some uninformed buyer...that is just wrong. 🤮

[JBK]

Is there any way to tell if the item is fake ? I've read some terrible reviews of the "outright fake" chains branded as shimano. 

[Mook]

55 minutes ago, JBK said:

Is there any way to tell if the item is fake ? I've read some terrible reviews of the "outright fake" chains branded as shimano. 

The Chinese will fake "fake" without the world noticing. The reality is that you and I will never stop them. "Made in the USA" have not existed for the past 30 years. EVERYBODY commissions China to fabricate frames(Giant, TREK, Pinarello, etc, etc) and components(Shimano etc.). When requested to build 10,000 branded frames for the legit market, the chinamen manufacture 40,000 frames and sell the surplus 30,000 off at a fraction of the price the legit dealers do. This is how they operate.

A legal battle against China will cost you a wee bit more than a cheap chain. If poor quality is your concern, stop buying branded stuff on WISH, TEMU, SHEIN or WhaWhenWong.com

Just my opinion 🤷‍♂️

[dave303e]

9 hours ago, betaboy said:

The buyers market is going to get flooded as Temu start making more clone brands available. I’ve already sounded the alarm before when Fake Shimano chains hit the markets. Guys lookout and ask where the item was purchased if need be. If the price is too good to believe, it probably is. Let’s try keep this clean and make sellers more accountable for their goods. 

We have people on this very forum buying stolen stuff because it is going for a good price(some would say for a 'steal') so the odds of stopping fake stuff is minimal...

Hopefully Shimano and co wake up and realise they are milking the market too much anyway.

[mecheng89]

1 hour ago, JBK said:

Is there any way to tell if the item is fake ? I've read some terrible reviews of the "outright fake" chains branded as shimano. 

I suppose fake, other than the blatantly obvious, will probably boil down to quality. A chain, I can imagine, would probably be down to tolerances, maybe anti-corrosion properties.

[Barry]

A few sellers have jumped on this TEMU  thing and just copy past the pics from TEMU to the Hub. One had some Sram goodies with same copy past pics. Difficult to say if genuine Sram but pics would suggest TEMU is the supply. 

[Ruben101]

I have just received a sold item alert from a cycling shirt on bikehub. Pictures of the shirt was just a screenshot from the Temu app and the price was twice the amount Temu sells it for. 

 

I can understand if you want to sell the shirt because it's either to big or small but to double the price on the item, ai

[mecheng89]

I think if you sell COUNTERFEIT goods (ie. goods claiming to be a certain brand), you should be banned. 

I think copyright law must be so sticky. 

[Alouette3]

BikeHub does remove counterfeit items and issue warnings to users selling them.

[Nick]

Selling counterfeit goods (even when explicitly described as such) is against the Bike Hub rules.

We act seriously against anything carrying a brand name that is applied to goods not manufactured by that brand (printed on the item or in the advert description). Basically when a trade mark is infringed.

Where an item attempts to imitate another without using brand names, that is a slippery slope, and we're less inclined to get involved in these cases.

Bike Hub does not assess each individual advert and relies heavily on the community to spot any counterfeit goods, so please hit the report button if you spot anything suspicious.

Reselling is acceptable. We aren't going to try moderate capitalism. Just bear in mind that not everything that goes up for sale is bought and when it does, the buyer is happy to do the deal for what reasons motivate them.

[Barry]

9 minutes ago, Nick said:

Selling counterfeit goods (even when explicitly described as such) is against the Bike Hub rules.

We act seriously against anything carrying a brand name that is applied to goods not manufactured by that brand (printed on the item or in the advert description). Basically when a trade mark is infringed.

Where an item attempts to imitate another without using brand names, that is a slippery slope, and we're less inclined to get involved in these cases.

Bike Hub does not assess each individual advert and relies heavily on the community to spot any counterfeit goods, so please hit the report button if you spot anything suspicious.

Reselling is acceptable. We aren't going to try moderate capitalism. Just bear in mind that not everything that goes up for sale is bought and when it does, the buyer is happy to do the deal for what reasons motivate them.

So this is that slippery slope? Same same but different. How would Bike Hub approach this item should it be listed? Top is Toopre vs bottom Park Tool even the lable is similar. 

Edited June 10 by Barry

[Jewbacca]

2 minutes ago, Nick said:

Selling counterfeit goods (even when explicitly described as such) is against the Bike Hub rules.

We act seriously against anything carrying a brand name that is applied to goods not manufactured by that brand (printed on the item or in the advert description). Basically when a trade mark is infringed.

Where an item attempts to imitate another without using brand names, that is a slippery slope, and we're less inclined to get involved in these cases.

Bike Hub does not assess each individual advert and relies heavily on the community to spot any counterfeit goods, so please hit the report button if you spot anything suspicious.

Reselling is acceptable. We aren't going to try moderate capitalism. Just bear in mind that not everything that goes up for sale is bought and when it does, the buyer is happy to do the deal for what reasons motivate them.

The report button?

You get way more kudos from the users by starting a thread, inviting casual racism blaming the Chinese, which inevitably descends into a chorus of 'I's and moanings for comments in the classifieds and doing nothing to actually get the ads removed.... Do you even BikeHub? 😝

[guidodg]

4 minutes ago, Barry said:

So this is that slippery slope? Same same but different. How would Bike Hub approach this item should it be listed? 

yes, why not...as long as it it listed as a Toopre tool...

 

but I did see some SRAM rainbow coloured Centreline discs which were probably clones but were being sold as SRAM

Edited June 10 by guidodg

[Nick]

33 minutes ago, Barry said:

So this is that slippery slope? Same same but different. How would Bike Hub approach this item should it be listed? Top is Toopre vs bottom Park Tool even the lable is similar. 

Is there a likelihood that a reasonable person buying this will think it's a genuine Park Tool product? I'm very doubtful.

This would take a lot of litigation to settle. Bike Hub isn't a court. We act where it is obvious. Where it's less clear cut, we'll leave it to the brands to figure it out and happy to follow the judgement that follows.