This is Terrible!

[theseeker]

I know that there is much talk here about recasting and counterfeiters, and here is great example http://cgi.ebay.com/ROMAN-GLADIATOR-THRAEX-IN-90MM-WHITE-METAL_W0QQitemZ110284744684QQihZ001QQcategoryZ16511QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I found out what this guy does and it it really makes me hot! He buys one kit or sometimes two and has a little factory where he reproduces Andrea and Pegaso kits for pennies. He then sells them for less than 20-40% of actual pricing and makes a mint.
He has been reported to E-Bay but they say that they cannot control a seller selling counterfeit items, obviously they do not care either. This is BULL S*&T! He makes himself look good by selling a real Andrea or Pegaso Figure on occasion. Please join me by sending him a nasty E-Mail.
Sorry, but this is wrong.
Rocky

 

[Guy]

This guy has been an ebay seller for years and after sending email after email to ebay I came to the conclusion they will do nothing about him. Best way to deal with him is with your wallet.........don't buy his stuff!

I always found if the price is super cheap.......its that way for a reason.........If it sounds like a deal too good to be true........it isn't

 

[theseeker]

This guy has been an ebay seller for years and after sending email after email to ebay I came to the conclusion they will do nothing about him. Best way to deal with him is with your wallet.........don't buy his stuff!

I always found if the price is super cheap.......its that way for a reason.........If it sounds like a deal too good to be true........it isn't

Guy,
Fortunately, it was not my wallet. However, it is wrong and I know that you agree. Too bad that Bill Gates does not own Andrea or Pegaso!
Rocky

 

[EFO]

I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

Not sure if this would work or not... but what about the companies that are the victims of the counterfeit.... maybe they can do something about the copyright of images the seller is using? I know its not a big blow, but might curb his sales. But than again EBAY will probably look the other way on that as well.

Take care,
Ed

 

[busso_boy]

funny ol thing is ebay, i put a parts & service manual for a mazda ute on cd format up on ebay Australia years ago, i put in my discription it was a used disc yet mazda USA complained to ebay and it was pulled off?? i was told by ebay i had breached copywrite??

yet i bought the damn thing off ebay 8 months earlier

all counterfeiters should be making number plates for the state ...... if you know what i mean

 

[tonydawe]

Hi Rocky,

The figure manufacturers bear the responsibility to protect their copyrights and intellectual property by taking the necessary legal actions against scum who seek to profit from illegally stealing their artistic works.

We as consumers can warn and protest, but at the end of the day, we are powerless to prevent these things from happening. Clearly Ebay only responds to serious legal action, so its up to Pegaso and others to take this action. If they don't, then they only have themselves to blame.

I for one will never buy re-cast figures from Ebay or anywhere else, but if the manufacturers don't act to protect their own interests, then unscrupulous scum bags like this will continue to profit from their failure to protect themselves.

 

[Mark S]

Rocky as you say this guy's been operating out of Argentina for some time,he buys up genuine Pegaso and Andrea kits which later appear as cheap copies.-and it is terrible.

But Tony I don't think consumers are completely powerless to prevent this from happening,it's only consumers who make it a going concern for these operators after all.~ just Cease and Desist!

Don't buy what you know to be rip-offs for the sake of the major producers who are able to support brilliant sculptors and bring us new figures each month.Every dollar that goes to this guy or to Modelin from China is one less that
goes into the development of the great pieces we see each month from the best producers worldwide.

I should declare at this point that I've deliberately bought an item from the Argentinian fraudster just so I could throw a spanner into his works with formal Ebay compaints and negative feedback and declarations of illegal fraudulent copies.It has made no difference of-course and he has the money-but still it felt good!

I donated the painted figure to a good cause.

 

[Roc]

I agree with how you guys feel; but I think it's Pegaso's and Andrea's problem, and they should be dealing with it, after all it's affecting their business.

If you feel that it is wrong, and wish to help these manufacturers, just don't buy the product, soon or later they will cease and desist.
Just my two cents for what it's worth.

Cheers
Roc

 

[garyjd]

The only way to deal with this is to NOT BUY whatever he is selling. If the manufacturer cannot or will not do anything about it why get wrapped around the axle over the matter? ~Gary

 

[vergilius]

hardly to imagine this guy gets a 99.7 % positive remark !

 

[theseeker]

hardly to imagine this guy gets a 99.7 % positive remark !

Very good point!

 

[T50]

It takes 2 to tango! He sells, someone buys.
If you have been on eBay selling and buying,
you know eBayers are not stupid or naive.
They know what they are selling and buying
exactly. I'd say 99% of the people who buy
counterfeit goods know exactly what they are
buying.

 

[renarts]

I find the whole thing rather humerous to watch. There really is an ironic quality about all of this. From the sidelines there is a whole cadre of things that all put together really kind of makes me wonder.
- Andrea knocks off a property (Spiderman) and skirts the trademark or copyright by calling it "Web Slinger". Everyone can come up with a justification for doing so.

- Some pirate in Argentina knocks off this property and sells it as the real thing for pennies on the dollar. He's the figure version of Ben Laden.

- The company that the property was ripped off from won't do anything about it to try and force an ex parte or cease and desist.

- e-bay won't do anything and continues to make it harder to do any sort of retaliation or it becomes more difficult to post negative feedback.

- The concensus is usually "don't patronize him", which really is almost negligable but everyone still uses e-bay. Would you continue to patronize a store or pawn shop that you knew sold stolen merchandise? You may not be buying stolen power tools but you'll still use that same pawn shop to buy jewelry, guns and guitars...

- Maybe instead of trying to isolate the pirate, we patronize him instead of Andrea or Pegaso. Possibly they'll take notice and more of an active participation in pressuring e-bay to curb such pirates if they realize they are losing money to them.

- I look at this whole thing as part of the direction that the hobby is taking. We lament the loss of hobbyshops or brick and mortar figure retailers. They can no longer compete with the internet hobby shop or mail order house and thus a vicious circle is created. We lose the hard retailer to the interent retailer because of the internet retailer making the latter the only place to find the product. This in turn leads to a market that is created from the internet "deal" and a counterfeit culture that profits from our willingness to buy off the internet to save money. All the time lamenting the loss of the hobby shop.

Maybe the market needs to accept that pirates are part of doing business, much like those brick and mortar shops had to learn to deal with the loss of business to the internet, or have to pay insurance, light bills, ocupational business licenses, taxes, signage, wholesale minimums, display, phone ads, newspaper ads, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I think that they (counterfeiters) are the lowest form of thief and should be given to a pack of rabid dogs while their families watch, but they are a fact of life and it doesn't do any good to grind your teeth over them.

 

[Wlas]

The guy is successful in his selling because the modeling community that keeps in touch ( such as planetfigure ) is too small and insignificant to have an effect. For every modeler we know there are hundreds we will never know. That is the market he reaches. Our complaints are less than mosquito bites in the world of counterfeiters. As Roc said if Andrea and Pegaso don't care enough to act on it what business is it of ours. If we don't approve....we don't buy. It's simple. But others will.......
I also wonder how many in our community use others to buy for them from counterfeiters. When you consider the going rate of a 90mm from Pegaso or Andrea it is difficult to blame them harshly.....