PSA Amazon selling fake Ernie Balls

grungebob

So I don’t normally buy my strings from Amazon but I was short on basket total to get free shipping and did need a pack so looked about and found some Hybrids Slinky’s sold and distributed by Amazon themselves so thought they’d be legit. 

Nope. 

 Sticker on the back from some dodgy place 

No product code printed inside

Badly cut/trimmed packaging

 Hard to tell from a photo but the paper packets and printed ink isn’t typical EB quality plus the strings are heavily tarnished inside

Amazon refunded but didn’t care. They wanted me to send them back but it’s an offence to knowingly post counterfeit items in the U.K. so they told me to dispose of them once I’d informed them of such. 

I asked Ernie Balls U.K. distributor to confirm as fake, and they are. The APEKS company is a known seller of fake products.  

Just be careful out there people. 

darthed1981

It's worth being aware of how Amazon distributes some items these days.

If you happen to be a seller of these strings, then you send them in to an Amazon fulfilment centre, however of all the sellers (including Amazon) the stock gets sent from whichever fulfilment centre is nearest to the customer, whoever's stock it happens to be.

As a result, you can order as shipped and sold by Amazon, previously a reasonable guarantee of getting good product, and actually get sent the counterfeit items supplied by Chinese Tat Merchants Inc.

The good news is that Amazon come down like a tonne of bricks on sellers suspected of counterfeiting, they do not want to be perceived as an expensive Ali Express, so hopefully a few reports will see this seller banned, and their stock chucked out.

Boromedic

Great to give the heads up, I'm always wary of Amazon with strings, but so far I've been okay with the D'adds I've bought. Also had some Rotos that were genuine too. 

To be fair, I find Ernie's that poor at times that I can only assume they must all be fake Rusty strings out of the packet, break easily, last about a day with my skin chemistry. Pretty much everything from Picato to Encore are better for me. YMMV and all that.

(Only semi joking)

Danny1969

Amazon don't generally give a shit, even when people are selling dangerous fake electronics that could kill someone.

My company used to sell around 35K's worth of genuine laptop batteries and chargers every fortnight on Amazon (that was when you got paid, every fortnight.) All was good. 

Then using a backdoor method in Amazons UPC coding system resellers began importing fake versions from China and selling them on Amazon, undercutting our genuine products because the fakes had none of the EMF shielding, over current protection etc so were much cheaper to produce. 

I wrote to Amazon, I showed them examples of these fakes I had brought from their site, even showed an internal view of a charger that fell apart after being dropped less than 30cm onto a worktop. 

They weren't interested in the slightest and we had to withdraw from the market and leave the fakers to it. 

darthed1981

Danny1969 said:

Amazon don't generally give a shit, even when people are selling dangerous fake electronics that could kill someone.

My company used to sell around 35K's worth of genuine laptop batteries and chargers every fortnight on Amazon (that was when you got paid, every fortnight.) All was good. 

Then using a backdoor method in Amazons UPC coding system resellers began importing fake versions from China and selling them on Amazon, undercutting our genuine products because the fakes had none of the EMF shielding, over current protection etc so were much cheaper to produce. 

I wrote to Amazon, I showed them examples of these fakes I had brought from their site, even showed an internal view of a charger that fell apart after being dropped less than 30cm onto a worktop. 

They weren't interested in the slightest and we had to withdraw from the market and leave the fakers to it. 

That's almost a Panorama episode right there - if that's the case I doubt you are alone.

Who did you tell (apart from Amazon of course)?  Trading standards would surely be interested?

DartmoorHedgehog

I think the standard "internet wisdom" response is that all EB strings are rusty before you open the packet  

(I've always used EBs on my electrics and never had a problem personally - in fact the only "rusty in the packet" strings I've had were d'Addario mando strings)

JezWynd

Danny1969 said:

Amazon don't generally give a shit, even when people are selling dangerous fake electronics that could kill someone.

My company used to sell around 35K's worth of genuine laptop batteries and chargers every fortnight on Amazon (that was when you got paid, every fortnight.) All was good. 

Then using a backdoor method in Amazons UPC coding system resellers began importing fake versions from China and selling them on Amazon, undercutting our genuine products because the fakes had none of the EMF shielding, over current protection etc so were much cheaper to produce. 

I wrote to Amazon, I showed them examples of these fakes I had brought from their site, even showed an internal view of a charger that fell apart after being dropped less than 30cm onto a worktop. 

They weren't interested in the slightest and we had to withdraw from the market and leave the fakers to it. 

That is shocking. Perhaps you could have taken the story to a tabloid, pointing out that Amazon, having successfully killed the High Street in many towns, is now actively aiding in the distribution of products that kill.

Dominic

Thing is ........the likes of Amazon are so faceless and diverse that even if a tabloid consumer journalist was interested it would take numerous days,calls,investigations, rebuffs, dead ends and non-humans involved that it isn't worth the effort and an Amzon is so big it's not as if they do it on purpose ......
now if a little shop in a quiet suburb of London was the distributor there would be a Trading Standards Team , Health and Safety Officer ,Fire Brigade Inspector crawling over the place in 5 minutes and a photo of Mr Evil Shopkeeper on the DM with a tagline like 'Firebug Faker Fucks Customers over "

Hoof

Amazon don't give a toss about the authenticity of the stuff they sell, they usually aren't the cheapest for anything these days and everyone knows how damaging they are for the wider economy. 

The only reason to use them is the convenience. If that's what you value the most, expect to get ripped off from time to time.

fretmeister

That's annoying. I've just ordered some Super Slinkys.

I hope they will be ok.

TimmyO

Gotta hand it to them - they've gone as far as having them tarnished from the outset like the real ones 

Teyeplayer

Rusty strings? Yeah, that’s play authentic Ernie’s, no fakes there.

PLOP

I always get strings from Strings Direct now, I make a custom set of EBs using the singles. I used to always use D’Addario, but I think the EBs last longer, and I like that they come in paper not plastic pouches. 

Anyway, Amazon are getting really bad for fake/crap/tat style items in every category. I use a lot of camping gear and won’t use anything off Amazon because I’ve found a few things on there that aren’t quite right, and I suspect are knockoffs. Then there’s the slew of generic name copies of the one item you do want, and all these other brands exist nowhere except on Amazon. It’s basically a Temu reseller now, similar to eBay in a lot of ways. I wish both platforms would clean up. 

barnstorm

Hoof said:

Amazon don't give a toss about the authenticity of the stuff they sell, they usually aren't the cheapest for anything these days and everyone knows how damaging they are for the wider economy. 

The only reason to use them is the convenience. If that's what you value the most, expect to get ripped off from time to time.

Increasingly they seem not to have the thing I'm after, anyway – it's all just Marketplace sellers offering the same knock-off rubbish under different names. I struggle to understand the direction they've taken, but it's good for specialist retailers.

Tannin

Amazon is evil. On every level. Just say no.

Lestratcaster

I never ever buy strings (or any music gear for that matter) from Amazon. Full of fakes and dodgy sellers.

I get my strings from StringsDirect too. Yes its retail price (or maybe a little cheaper) and not as cheap cheap as Ebay/Amazon but I know I'm getting the genuine goods and I want to support the smaller UK businesses.

TheMarlin

I recently got a set of slinky cobalt strings from Amazon. Half the packet rusted to hell. 

Pretty sure they’re fake. 

DefaultM

Are these coming direct from Amazon, or one of the resellers?

TeleMaster

I bought another three pack from Amazon this week and they were fine. 

ICBM

Fight back.

https://www.unitetheunion.org/campaigns/action-on-amazon

It’s not the same issue, but helping to bring Amazon to book in other ways will make a difference.

TTony

Lestratcaster said:

I never ever buy strings (or any music gear for that matter) from Amazon. Full of fakes and dodgy sellers.

I get my strings from StringsDirect too. Yes its retail price (or maybe a little cheaper) and not as cheap cheap as Ebay/Amazon but I know I'm getting the genuine goods and I want to support the smaller UK businesses.

I've said the same, many times.

Amazon is pot luck for the reason that @darthed1981 stated.  Sometimes you'll be fine, othertimes you won't be, but then that's the chance you take with many things when price is the main purchase-driver.

Personally, I'm fed up with Amazon being flooded with cheap "branded" Chinese stuff for many items nowadays.  I don't want cheap, I want good and reliable/proven, and so I place some value on buying some things from a recognised brand.  Lots of that Chinese stuff is now "branded", but they're nonsensical here-today, gone-later-today "brands" that have absolutely zero value.

It's become a re-formatted AliExpress.