Buying Counterfeit Merchandise
| by Jim Wang |  Print Article
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One of the books I started reading recently is titled Hot Property : The Stealing of Ideas in an Age of Globalization, which is all about counterfeiting and how it affects… well, basically everything. The books starts off by throwing a bone to the fake Rolex’s and Louis Vuitton bags, then delves into how it affects you (airplane part manufacturers selling parts not to spec, re-dated perishables like rubber, etc), how pervasive counterfeiting is, etc. Well, this brought me to thinking about Chinatown, NY and the sale of counterfeit products. Would you buy something that’s fake?
Here’s how it works if you want to buy a fake purse or shiny thing in Chinatown… you go down to Canal Street in Manhattan and nine times out of ten, someone will approach you and drop a brand’s name (Tiffany? Louis? Prada?). If you’re interested, you’ll perk up and look at them. They’ll flash out a catalog (or a large semi-glossy page) of products with prices listed underneath. If you say yes, you basically follow them down an alley to a back room where they’ll have boxes full of this fake stuff.
The alternative is you walk to one of the storefronts, preferably one of those incredibly narrow and deep stores that already sells Proda, Lovis, and Tiffony’s (Po1o is popular too) stuff anyway and is “not quite” counterfeit. Walk up to the guy running the show and ask him if he or she has other, better purses. They’ll look at you and probably will take you back into a room. It’ll be behind a pseudo false door (the walls are all slotted so you can hang stuff off them, the one in the back simply opens up to the storeroom) and the tiny room will be PACKED with cardboard boxes. He/she will show you a few purses, haggle briefly, and either you’ll buy it or they’ll shuttle you out.
I’ve actually never bought a fake purse (I don’t carry a purse and its ridiculously bad form to give it as a gift to a girl when you’re a guy, but somehow awesome if you’re a girl giving it to a friend though, it’s a horrible double standard!) but I’ve been on many a trip to the nebulous black market of high end accessories. I would say most people don’t realize how easy it is to get counterfeit products in the States (everyone knows of the $1 DVD movies or $10 for Microsoft Office 2003 in Hong Kong, but that requires a trip to Hong Kong and some sweating in customs)… so would you buy a fake purse if it meant chopping 80-90% off the price?
Also, from what people tell me, quite often when you go to Asia and see products really cheap, it’s not because the products are counterfeit but because they are stolen. With all the production in Asia, often times the workers steal a few to sell. Either way, it’s still illegal stuff. Incidentally, I wrote this article because I thought people would find it an interesting read on how simple the infamous “NY Chinatown black market” is and this isn’t meant as a guide or anything to help you buy illegal goods. Since it is illegal, you could get in serious trouble for buying stolen goods or counterfeit products.
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Sep 21, 2005 | Read more in Shopping
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In chicago, some of the purse parties are like this (they have whatever crap the person is selling and then some of the counterfeit stuff). Also, you can get it on the street (they carry this stuff in duffle bags). My sister has purchased a couple of these. I don’t think I would.
On 60 Minutes, a seller of these items in Italy said that rich people buy the fakes from him. Average people are in the stores buying the real stuff. Why? Rich people are smart and want to save money since they get the prestige of having the real thing since they know that no one will challenge them. Regular people want to look rich, but others will always wonder whether their stuff is fake.
It’s all an illusion. People, things and information.
When is the last time anyone spent $20 for a crystal clear DVD …when the sell them for $5 on any major city street.
In America like it or not…the middle man has gotten filthy rich of the backs of many. Why should I pay my GM/ or Honda Dealership $75 per hour to fix my car, when I can get their mechanic to do the same work for 50% of the dealers cost and cutting out the middle man?? The car still rides the same, but my pockets sure do feel different.
Walmart didn’t get to be number one by ingnorance on their purchasing decisions. Neither should you.
It’s your money…….
Whoa! There’s a big difference in cutting out the middle man than cutting the legal owner of the brand who made the item. You are advocating buying illegal stuff from the street man selling bogus DVDs. There’s a lot of people hurt in that transaction.
You’re mixing apples with oranges. The situation of seling bogus DVDs on the street is more like selling stolen stuff on the street than comparing it to Walmart selling things. People may get a bargain by buying stolen things but there are victims here.
Perhaps my DVD illustration is mixing apples and oranges here in the states, but the little guy is all but totally left out of the transaction except to ’service’ (prep, merchandise, sell, ect) the product.
Yes there are victims in this scenario, but what about the normal business model…how many people were victimized by price fixing, price gouging ect?
CD’s were selling at almost $16-20 in some stores….Isn’t it funny how they all of of a sudden dropped to about $10 to compete with the counterfieter?
No I don’t advocate doing anything illegal, but again….It’s your money
Thank goodness for Ebay, and other sites where people can deal directly with each other for goods and services.
“Yes there are victims in this scenario, but what about the normal business model…how many people were victimized by price fixing, price gouging ect?”
Not normal. These acts are illegal conduct. No one advocates their use. They will be prosecuted if they get caught.
“CD’s were selling at almost $16-20 in some stores….Isn’t it funny how they all of of a sudden dropped to about $10 to compete with the counterfieter?”
No, it isn’t funny because the next step from cutting costs is true bankruptcy, in which case no one will get anything new because the artist or inventor won’t provide these items without pay.
I think illusion’s point of the middleman (distributor) is true, they make a tremendous amount of money. Distributors (music labels) are necessary in a free market economy because the producers (musicians) don’t have the capability, the network, or the funds to be able to provide their products to as many consumers as a distributor is able to. The downside is that in the past distributors have taken advantage of musicians because of their contracts (musicians are at an obvious disadvantage in negotiations, they’re typically starving and need their “big break”) so it’s easy to laud counterfeiters are taking down the big bad wolf, but that’s not the answer.
The answer has been developing for years as intelligent artists (Jay-Z for one) create their own record labels with fair deals for their musicians.
There’s he goes again. Illusiion is mixing apples and oranges. The topic is counterfeiters merchandise, and somehow he’s justifying it by talking about cutting the middleman. That’s a whole other issue entirely. Jim, maybe you can write an article about that someday to satisy his anger about it.
Sorry John…..No anger here, just stating my opinion. If there weren’t distributerships to promote artists, the artists would find a way to get their music heard. Trust me…
Ask Master P (Southern Rapper) how many years did he sell his own music out of the trunk of his car before he signed on with a major label.
Ask Prince why did he stop his “lucrative” deal with Warner Bros. to distribute/promote his own music.
It’s about control, nothing more. The little man wants his/her fair share.
As far as mixing apples and oranges, the monkey’s been off my back for years. This is a global economy and the cheapest guy wins…
Perhaps your gripe should be with the way our business model are structured and why they continue to out source labor to foriegn countries but expect Americans to pay the same or higher costs.
Is it any wonder why companies continue to go offshore?? Ask any employee at Stanley why the company went offshore to Bermuda. Ask GM’s 25,000 employees being laid off.
Counterfeiters are criminals plan and simple. I pretty much guarantee you that they aren’t going to win any employer of the year award. Honestly, I don’t want to see cheaters and criminals getting wealthy. I don’t want to validate what they are doing by buying any of their merchandise.