fake elixirs?

mattacjones

Or just donkey's years old? Just bought from an ebay seller at about £10 per pack. I've complained - I think they are fake, the base strings heavily discoloured and they certainly don't feel like the real thing. Didn't get a response from seller barring that he'd accept a return. Not attempt to insist they were real! Anyway - there you go. The set in the pic went on, with reservations, but then off straight away. What do you think? Cheers

kennedydream1980

Just message eBay and explain to the them they are fake. They will refund you and advise you to destroy them.

These fake Elixirs are all over eBay. 

Funkfingers

Elixir altered the graphics on their packaging to make it more difficult to counterfeit. This move also made any fakes still offered as brand new look conspicuously wrong.

As usual, any deal that looks too good to be true probably is.

Niallseroreilly

Fakers mate, got stung by this on ebay before.

daisie_guitar

Those are obviously used strings, look at the ends... Why are you buying them off ebay, should be slightly cheaper than 10gbp at proper stores...

Funkfingers

Genuine Elixir strings for £10 a set? Where, exactly? 

daisie_guitar

https://www.idealo.co.uk/compare/1381132/elixir-strings-nanoweb-light.html

urban_winter

That link goes Amazon where they are £11.79 with free shipping. 

Not sub-£10, but probably worth the extra £1.79 for buying from Amazon (I know Amazon has issues with fake stuff too, and can be a pain do deal with if things go wrong, but still prefer them to eBay). 

ICBM

Or support a British taxpaying business and get them from Strings Direct. If you buy them in threes they’re £12.50.

Any at £10 are going to be fakes.

mattacjones

Yes, well, it was a uk vendor. Anyway, they're going back. Won't do that again.

Sassafras

They're obviously fakes. Look at them, they haven't even bothered putting them in their correct envelopes.
Absolutely outrageous.

p90fool

ICBM said:

Or support a British taxpaying business and get them from Strings Direct. If you buy them in threes they’re £12.50.

Any at £10 are going to be fakes.

That's what I do, I just can't be arsed to trawl through all the eBay vendors to see who's likely to be legit just to save a quid or so. 

mattacjones

Sassafras said:

They're obviously fakes. Look at them, they haven't even bothered putting them in their correct envelopes.
Absolutely outrageous.

Pics taken after I removed them!

Sassafras

mattacjones said:

Sassafras said:

They're obviously fakes. Look at them, they haven't even bothered putting them in their correct envelopes.
Absolutely outrageous.

Pics taken after I removed them!

Now you're just making excuses for them 

ToneControl

I had fake ones recently, in the old style packaging like that, just complained and got a refund
 If you want to be sure, take a magnifying glass to one of the thicker strings, you can see the membrane in the gaps between the windings on real Elixirs

Funkfingers

mattacjones said:

This question set me looking at the packaging on my Elixir strings.

The print quality on the fake outer card sections is not as sharp as the real thing. (Four colour printing as opposed to Pantone spot colours.) The black ink on the fake string envelopes is so dilute as to appear grey.

Delving into the dark recesses of my acoustic guitar case revealed the shameful fact that the current strings had been on for two years. They still look cleaner than the fake ones in the OP photograph! Just a bit furry.

Meanwhile, my acoustic guitar is sounding much better for receiving fresh strings. 

ICBM said:

support a British taxpaying business

I buy mine from a local retailer. (The same one who supplied my acoustic guitar … and numerous other items!) I delude myself that this will help to keep the bugger in business in case I ever need aftersales service or any repairs that I cannot do myself.

Use it or lose it … especially right now.

Jota

A friend of mine bought some from China swearing they were real. He offered me a package.

First thing I noticed was the strings were not rolled  the same way (I use Elixir for years and somehow I noticed the rolling was different). Second thing was, they didn't last one show!

freakboy1610

urban_winter said:

That link goes Amazon where they are £11.79 with free shipping. 

Not sub-£10, but probably worth the extra £1.79 for buying from Amazon (I know Amazon has issues with fake stuff too, and can be a pain do deal with if things go wrong, but still prefer them to eBay). 

The £11.79 ones on Amazon are from EES Music which is a real music/guitar shop in Ipswich.