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Minelabs, fakes exist?.

F

finderfind

New member
Hello All,

I'm looking at getting into metal detecting, I want to buy the minelab etrac,
so I done a bit of research to try and get the best price,

I went to a trade site, typed in etrac just to see what they go for, and quite a few
companys are selling the safari for $100-200, $1800 etrac detector for $315-400. and the gpx-4500 at around $500-1000,
minimum orders ranging from 1 unit to 10 units.

most seem to be based in indonesia.
sounds too good to be true, but there are many companys with these listed,
they display pics showing the logo, minelag bags, all looks real.

does anyone know whats going on here?
could these be fakes?. where are they made? These companys seem to have garrets, etracs, xterras, all at
very low price, apparently with warranty, brand new.

I want to buy an etrac, but want to make sure i'm not spending $1500+ if they only cost $315-400 if imported (+taxes if applicable).

Thanks
 
What site were you on. Kered found one on the Technetics forum I think it was the 18th. They had T-2s Minelabs and Garrett 2500s very cheap on that site but you had to buy in lots of 50. If you get a warranty card they won't have any trouble selling them. Please post the web-site if you still have it. Thanks
 
Hi,

yes, there are many on www.alibaba.com,
I don't want to name any particular company and ask if its a scam, but if you search on
alibaba for minelab, or etrac, you find many.

many have order limits of around 10 units, but I think many would ship one at a time as a "sample".
but I'm wondering if its possible these are that cheap, $400 vs $1800?.
all sorts of detectors for these sort of prices, $100-200 for a safari?

its also possible these are not real companys and will not ship the items,
but there are a lot of them, all seem to be in the same price range $350-500.

I'm thinking either we are being way overcharged by retailers adding a $1000+ markup or these are fakes/scams/copys.
but I don't want to shell out $1500 + un till i know for sure I can't just get one for under $400.

I guess we need to know what happens at the factory,
and I guess another concern is, if these are fakes, how many are on the market/have been bought on ebay etc?.

I don't mean to worry anyone just want to know whats going on, anyone know how minelab makes/distributes these?
if you type in minelab on alibaba.com you will see quite a few, also garretts etc.

I'm not saying any of these companys are scammers, i'm just confused by the price
which seems too good to be true.

Thanks
 
Finderfind: Just got off the phone with Minelab and they are checking these people out as I speak. They assured me Excall II price of 269.00 has their attention. So let's wait and see what happens. Thanks :minelab:
 
Why would any even think about trieing to get a bottom doller on a high end machine?
 
Hi,

Well, why not try and get the best deal :)

I am happy to pay full price, but of course I wanted to shop around for the best deal,
not really thinking of importing one, just more curious as to if these prices/products on these
sites are genuine. also to find out if fakes exist, as of course if they do we all need to make sure
we are buying a genuine minelab product.

as you can see there are tons of these on the site,
even some with super/pro packs, $1000 going for $100-200.

is there any way to get word from minelab if they are aware of fakes on the market?.
or if the sort of price these sites are advertising is auctally what retailers pay?.

I would guess retailers make maybe 30% profit not 200%+.?

all strange, I'm happy to pay the full price for a minelab quality product, just these prices were so low
its made me wonder whats going on.
 
www.alibaba.com isn't that the site that is accused of all the identity theft?

Hope to hear back on this,Just kidding about the identity theft thing.

LabradorBob
 
Hi,

hehe I think alibaba site is fine, very big site for importing/exporting.

looked through the site a bit more, seems some vary in price a large amount some suppliers charge around $2800-3500 for the GPX4500, which I guess
is a lot more realistic than $500. still bit of a mystery why so many are listed at such low prices.

maybe the real ones on that site are the ones with more realistic prices, one selling etrac for around $900+shipping, guessing that could be the real
wholesale price?. who knows.

Thanks
 
Heres a couple pics from the site.
LabradorBob
 
Just recieved this back from Minelab.

Dear Harold



Yes we are aware of this site & have tried to have these adds removed but with little success, they disappear and then a week or two later reappear.



All we can hope is that the old adage
 
Hi,

yes that one in the pictures i'm thinking maybe thats a genuine one,
but I have no idea, I guess we would need to find out if they are a factory that produces them for mindlab.

many other etracs on the site for around $400, which is where the price gets unrealistic for me.

for the one in those pics, at roughly $900, add shipping and possible import taxes/dutys etc, and you could be at over $1100 or so maybe.
which would make sense, plus the need to buy 5+ at a time, the difference being what the retailers make?.

with that in mind its still probably a good deal ordering from retailers to save any hassle.

but if the $400 ones are real, then thats a massive difference, but they cant be real at that price...
can they?. I don't know :).

either way its good if mindlab know about this, since if they are fakes they need to look into this.
 
Hi LabradorBob,

Thanks for sharing,
so what i'm wondering now is, are these fakes? or just fake ads where if you order the product is never sent.

do we need to be on the look out to avoid fake minelabs, or any other make for that matter, or is it just a case of them not sending the product.

I believe alibaba is a genuine site, but anyone can register to add their products I think, so you can't be sure who you are dealing with.

then I guess we need to know if any of the minelab products on the site are genuine, I guess the more expensive the product the more chance of it being real?.

still I think I will stick to an approved retailer, don't want to take the risk. :)
 
Smart Move,When dealing with buying on the internet,(Always) buy from someone
you can trust that has a background and a good reputation.

LabradorBob
 
n/t
 
LOL........... just had to post it..LOL Sorry !!.
 
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=alibaba.com+scam&aq=1sx&aqi=g-s1g-sx9&aql=&oq=akibaba.&gs_rfai=&fp=d90e7c340cb31971

and

http://ask.alibaba.com/Q/800011739-METAL-DETECTORS-SCAM-FROM-INDONESIA-Bertand-Antoni-Sumutmetal-Jaya-CV-TREXINDO.html



J
 
http://golddetecting.4umer.net/general-discussion-f1/fake-gpx-4500-t1565.htm

Just search... and Caveat Emptor

This is just the beginning but one day they will offer decent knockoff detectors just like they do with guitars. When Korea and China first started making knockoff guitars they were not very good but in the last couple of years some very good "copies" have been coming out of China at really low prices. It took them several years to figure out the details and that decent pickups and a good factory setup matter and now they are making some good products under the names Agile and SX for a couple. I'd expect the same thing with detectors once they figure out what matters. They probably wont ever be quite as good but they will probably come close and they may be as good... they will certainly be cheaper.

You can check out the Gibson and Fender knockoffs at rondomusic.com you'll see what I am talking about if you compare then to the real thing. I have a couple of the lower end SX models and frankly they are good players but I had to change the pickups in one and I need to waxpot the pickups in the other. The reviews of the Agile guitars on the other hand are really good, on par with Gibson...

So... give them time and if there is a market the Chinese will produce a near replica with a different name and the product will get better and better and will remain cheap. It will never be the real deal though and if you need service you better not buy it from overseas.


Just my prediction...

Supply and demand and an emerging manufacturing economy... they will produce anything that they can make money on and they will keep at until they get it right. I doubt if they will come up with anything new though so we had better support the companies who strive to make the technology better. Would I ever buy a knockoff detector? You bet... but i'll still buy and use the "name brand" too.

Lets revisit this in three or four years and see where things stand. Either these people are complete scammers who take your money and send you nothing ot they are selling an inferior product... if the latter is the case you can be sure that they will steadily improve their "defaketors" as they listen to the complaints of the buyers.. they are one or the other.

J
 
I did a google on them just now and there are hundreds of complaints about sending payment and not getting product.
 
Your just asking for it.and from what I read on google search..their getting it LOL..

If it looks to good to be true..It Is !!!

I'm not even positive I feel sorry for the buyers... They should have known better.
 
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