Milan Police Seize 40,000 Fake Luxury Goods: Have You Ever Bought a Counterfeit Product?

can one find out

guici Knifes from a traveling tool sales man they were fake.

A Rolex in Washington DC. Hey for $5 how could I pass it up.

love gucci and can't afford the real deal

Since I am not much into name brands, I would not believe I ever had.

One Christmas when I was living in NYC everyone had a Rolex under the tree. Trust me, I didn't steal any business from Rolex!

I don't think so, I avoid to buy luxury products or great labels abroad - I prefer local specialities.

But I thought I was buying a fake. Turned out to be real.

I bought a "BIG" name suit in Calif. But what can you expect from the land of pretend? Although it was well made and of quite good fabric.

And don't plan to. I don't need a famous name on anything I own

+1 for the little guy!

not to my knowledge.

I once bought a Buck pocket knife, and at the time, I thought that I was aquiring a bona
fide Buck product. Needless to say, I wasn't too thrilled to discover that it wasn't the real
McCoy. It was as phony as an eight dollar bill. And to make matters worse, I bought it
from a brick and morter store with a reasonable reputation. It woulden't have been so
hard to take if I had bought it from a street corner vendor, a flea market or swap meet,
an estate sale, or some other similar fly by night party. With these types of sales, you
have to pretty much expect that it's a done deal (i.e. all sales final). I never expected
that at a brick and morter store. Especially when there's no "all sales final - no refunds,
exchanges, or credit" signs anywear to be seen. That was one lesson that I definenately learned the hard way.

Probably, but not intentionally. There are so many knock-offs out there, it's hard to tell. You really have to do your homework to make sure you get what you're paying for.

Yes, it said... Made in the USA

Not that I'm aware of. But then, I don't buy those over-priced designer items.

About a month ago, I bought a Louis Vuitton bag on ebay, the price was cheaper, but not too cheap than other similar bags on ebay. The seller was located in Milan, Italy, so I thought I was safe since Europe has tougher laws on counterfeiting copyrighted handbags such as Louis Vuitton or Chanel or Gucci. Thank God, I paid via Paypal. The bag was sent directly from China (not from Milan where the seller was) and it was an obvious fake. I filed a dispute claim with Paypal immediately and they decided in my favor so I got every penny back. The seller could be one of many arrested in Milan.

Not that I know of. Do they carry these "luxury" items at Walmarts? That is where I shop!

I got a counterfeit lollipop from some guy in Sydney, Australia. I honestly felt hallucinogenic after taking it. No worries though, I still love the Land Down Under!

I bet lots of you have and didn't know it. That's how it was with me. It was a Louis Vuitton handbag in the ninetys. I thought I was getting a good deal

I bought a couple of the Chinese copies of the Swiss Army knife. At one dollar the crappy copies were worth it. If you used them too rough they would fall apart. The real one didn't.

I don't buy anything, brand name or fake, just for the name. I think that is a stupid thing to do. I buy for quality only and price, of course.

Yeah one of those fake iPods on eBay. It was a piece of ***t so I went and got the real thing instead.

I bought a misspelled Rolex rip-off once for $10, as a gag gift.

Not on purpose. I bought a pair of Motorola Bluetooth headphones online and they were knock-offs. They worked for about a year then died. I guess I got my money's worth.

Yes but it was many years ago, and I didn't know it was a fake.

Not knowingly. Think about it, if no one bought there would be no crime,no drug dealers, no re-sellers of stolen gems, auto parts, computers, DVD's and don't forget scrap iron!

I don't buy luxury goods, so I don't worry about it.

Actually, I thought I bought a fake Gucci watch years ago for a mere $50.00. I cracked the crystal so I took it to a jeweler to get a new "cheap" crystal. The jeweler informed me that the crystal was going to be very expensive and I said, just give me a cheap one, it's a fake Gucci... to which he proceeded to show me why it was anything but a fake... it was real! So I went to the guy I had bought it from and confronted him... Seems odd, right! So this guy's brother works for Gucci and all of the watches that fail Q&A; are simply discarded, so he takes them from the trash bin, fixes them and sells them!

Now about Italy... It is one of the few places that I have seen them enforce the law against peddlers out selling counterfeits... I have seen these guys with all of their goods lying on a blanket and as soon as they see the authorities, they pick up the corners of the blanket, securing their goods and run like the wind! :)

But, you get what you pay for, an vastly inferior product

If you can't afford it, why pretend you can?

Very common in high end Swiss watches, to the casual uniformed buyer it's a huge problem they are getting very good at copying right down to the factory copied watch boxes. Most of it is coming from the far east and I would guess with a certain degree of government support based on the degree of sophisticated CNC machining that must be used in production. If the price is too good to be true chances are very high it's a fake. A Rolex Sub for $120.00 should ring a bell somewhere in the back of your noggin...

Unfortunately, I bought a fake Xbox 360 controller off eBay. Now, it's my toddler's toy.

Not knowingly anyway.

Btw, a friend told me YEARS ago that some of the money from fakes supports crime (terrorism, human rights abuse, dictatorships) in the countries where they're made. The friend is reliable, I don't know whether the info is; I'm just passing it on.

But if the person who made and/or sold it TOLD you it was a knock off they made themselves, then the seller SHOULD NOT go to prison for it. That is an unconscionable over-reach of the state. It is nothing more than a protection racket for the filthy ultra-rich.

It's pretty pointless to me. The only reason to buy a high-end product is for the quality of the workmanship. Quality goods tend to last for a long time. If you buy a knock-off your just buying junk. If your self worth is based on the label of the stuff you wear then you have issues that a fake product is not going to resolve.

Should have an option here for "not intentionally..."

"Authorities are cracking down" translates to "overly rich business people have bought the authorities". The government shouldn't act as a private police force for the wealthy.

but in spirit of transparency it was intentional to compare to real product...