Counterfeit guitars. What can we do to stop them?

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charliefrench

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While it is not limited to, a sizeable proportion of them do appear to be coming from far eastern countries. I believe what is needed is more stringent import/export licensing controls and certification. A nightmare scenario for all concerned, especially for the port control agencies maybe and ultimately you know who will foot the bill but I cannot think of any other way to reduce the number. I have reported many counterfeit guitars being advertised for sale on various websites. Some were removed and some were not. I appreciate that it must be extremely difficult for the website administration staff to decide whether to remove these listings. After all I am nobody. These fake guitars, be they rubbish or not, drive down sales of their authentic article and weaken the second user price of our investments. If anybody else has some hot air they wish to let go?
 
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As long as there exists premium priced products that most people cannot afford, like a PRS, people will counterfeit them. Aliexpress is a billion dollar company and all they do is sell knockoff gear, a huge part of the worlds economy is rooted in schwag.
 
Fair point but it is not just premium priced products that are affected. And it has not always been like this. When I first got into guitars the last consideration when buying one would be to check if it is genuine. In my cozy little world counterfeit guitars were practically unheard of. Now it would be my first consideration. Maybe the Internet is to blame.
 
True this. Has been occurring across many product categories. I also collect knives, and the number of counterfeits out there are staggering...
 
Look at sports jerseys and T-shirts - tons of counterfeit merch. I even got burned buying a shirt off Amazon.
 
It seems there are no marques that are spared by the counterfeiters now. Good luck to anyone who buys say an SD memory card on that auction website. It is difficult to buy anything that will be guaranteed to be genuine these days. So now you all know why I wear a Timex wristwatch.

@xjbebop, That will work :)
 
It can't be stopped. That's just the way the world works. People will buy them and be disappointed sooner or later.

I'm not sure that it has a big impact on the guitar industry. I wouldn't think it has. The used market is a different matter of course.
 
I agree it cannot be stopped completely but I do think more could be done to reduce the number of them considerably. People will buy them (as known fakes) and be disappointed sooner or later, sure. Or maybe not, some of them could be guitars that from a distance look the part, and play well. The counterfeiters are getting better. Ten years ago they were laughable but now you need to look very closely to find their calling card.

Eventually these fakes will and do end up for sale in the second user market as legit guitars and straight into the hands of those that believe they are buying the real thing and pay top dollar. And this is what bothers me most. Aside from the poor souls being ripped off, confidence in the used guitar market will take a sharp nosedive if more is not done to tackle this problem.
 
The trademark laws allow for the seizure and confiscation of counterfeit goods, as well as imposing substantial fines, damages and penalties.

The problem is that for the most part, federal law enforcement doesn't do it; the job is left to the big companies that can afford to take the time and pay the expenses involved in litigating all over the country in federal court constantly.

This type of litigation is something the tobacco companies do regularly, for example - you wouldn't believe how widespread counterfeit cigarettes are. And the folks who deal in these counterfeit goods don't make themselves available for litigation, the stuckees are the guys who have stores and try to get away with selling counterfeits to their customers.

But then, folks are stealing intellectual property such as music and software right and left, and people seem to think stealing copyrights is just fine.

We're living in the golden age of BS, as a certain songwriter I'm related to has opined. ;)
 
LSchefman said:
But then, folks are stealing intellectual property such as music and software right and left, and people seem to think stealing copyrights is just fine.
Click to expand...

"Yeah, but that's perfectly fine, cause the cost of production of a digital asset is zero" :mad:
 
Educate the buyer so they don't buy it. One thing to realize (instruments excluded generally) is most people don't care that its fake though.
 
I dont know if it helps or not but when i see these guys on Youtube showing off counterfeits, claiming its not intended to advertise them, yet they are buying the **** out of them, i voice my opposition to it. Especially the ones who are complaining that they got ripped off, i love to dig at them. That China Guitar Skeptic guy was showing off his fake PRS wuite a bit when he had a channel, such a **** that guy was.
 
@ReptilianNosewood I am with you point by point. He must have helped sell thousands of these worthless pieces of nothing.

A little education for anyone reading this while maybe considering buying one. I paid roughly the same price for my amazing used but near mint SE Standard 24 as what you will pay to import the **** copy that you have bookmarked.
 
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