And as said there is getting to be a lot crooks on Amazon lately too. Getting just as bad as RipBay if you are not extra carefully.
Today I looking a susposedly Stihl carburetor on Amazon just find out the same picture were on RipBay claiming the carburetor to be OEM Zama. Funny the pictures were of a dirty carburetor. Yes of course it was an OEM Zama but their new carburetor was a clone.
I done fell once for that OEM claims on Amazon. I got a deflective clone spindle and when return I got sock only for the shipping charge of me sending it back but a whopping 30% restocking fee.
Try being a fan of the Halloween movie franchise and wanting to get a decent Micheal Myers mask. There are a bunch like the following that appear to be run by Chinese cashing in on the huge Micheal mask collectors market. They show stock illustrations of a good mask along with a couple of shots of a different crummy mask. You can guess which one you'll get.
I contacted one of the sellers asking which mask you actually receive and got a vague response that they will ask their supplier. This was Monday, it's now Thursday and no update so far. Other sellers want insane prices for half decent ones and even not so good. Wish I got one made from one of the original moulds back in the mid 1990s while I had the chance for $90 from America through an Australian agent.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
I don't see any stamping on the metal hex. Besides the Chinese will clone anything of value.
Have any of you disassemble one these plugs? I have taken the plugs apart and the NGKs are actually mark on the porcelain where you would not normally see it., down inside the metal mounting hex. I found this when I was making myself some pressure/vacuum adapters for testing 2 cycle crankcases. I also took one CMR6A apart to find why it was shorted when in use. I found a defect in the insulating porcelain inside the metal shell.
But personally I avoid nearly anything that are clones due to all the problems I had with them.
Hi Max, The NGK I had that was no good I didn't buy it but the bloke who brought his 600 slasher here bought the plug from a local mower shop. It looked a pretty good copy if it was.
I don't see any stamping on the metal hex. Besides the Chinese will clone anything of value.
Yes the NGK plugs above are definitely fake, I haven't dismantled a NGK plug to see the hidden marking on the porcelain ,that's a good way to check if in doubt.
CJ an increasingly bland and mundane one. I felt I had to include the Michael Myers mask as my example of antics from sneaky EBay merchants. In this case it's to include one or two pictures of the actual item to cover themselves in the event of a complaint they didn't get the item they expected, but dominate with pics of the much better quality item in the hope they click without scrolling the other pictures and then don't bother with the rigmarol of getting a measly refund of 20 bucks and just keep it. They probably factor in a minority who'll chase it up to the full. I had better luck coming across this very good hockey mask replica used by Jason in the Friday 13th films at a local dollar store for under $3.00. I saw the same item listed for around $20 or more by unscrupulous sellers on EvilBay.
Ahh, if only victa had kept producing the thumblatch catcher series, they would be in better shape today!
I do buy a lot of stuff on eBay and I must say that in general I don't come across too many dodgey sellers. Got caught a bit yesterday with the 5 mowers I won, they looked good in the pics but the pics didn't include the big rust holes in a couple of Victa bases. I paid a bit too much but I did get 9 good catchers
Now if there are all these NGK fakes going round is it better to use another brand that hasn't been plagiarised ? and if so which ones haven't been copied that we know of ?
I've never hear of a copied Bosch plug...................probably because they are crap from the onset.
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
It looks like a lot of plugs that are $2 to $5 are fake and the genuine plugs are about $8 .
The problem with the fake plugs is they have an iron core instead of a copper core,the iron core plugs can overheat , the result is meltdown of the ground electrode,this can lead to serious engine damage.A few dollars more for a plug is better than damaging a motor.
I've seen a few mower repair shops using Torch plugs, must be because they are copper core and around $3 each ,supposedly commercial grade.
Some Champion CJ8 plugs are fake copies and Denso plugs have been copied.
A lot of online plugs look dodgy ,the images are small and low quality , the plugs can't be seen clearly to identify a fake plug, if you can't see what they are selling don't buy from them.
I bought a box of 10 Bosch plugs for $20 and 3 plugs did not work ,they have made in Germany on them ,if you suspect a fake plug because it fails straight from the box it would be worth cutting it open and looking for the copper core.
It seems one has to be a Forensic Pathologist to work out what's fake and what's not. What really gets under my goat is that the Chinese can't be held to account with copying everything on this planet and getting away with it. Copyright just seems to mean absolutely nothing doesn't it ?
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Yes it's becoming a bit of a problem ,all the fake inferior parts getting sold as genuine parts to unsuspecting buyers .
One other thing I've noticed that stands out on the fake plugs is the hexagonal base of the fake plugs have a rectangle shape but the genuine plugs have a more rounded shape,see pics below.
