Fake Pilot Pens

[yellowecho]

I understand there are fake Pilot pens out there. How can you tell the difference?

 

[ZeissIkon]

In general, a fake of any kind (from a fake $20 bill to a fake diamond to a fake brand name pen) is characterized by "cheapness" -- look for the fine details, and you'll find where the fake (in order to be less costly than the real deal) doesn't live up to the standard. I'm not familiar with Pilot pens at all, but I'd look for details of the nib, cap, clip, and ornamentation. It helps, of course, to have a known real one to compare or at least be very familiar with the model.

 

Of course, another very good way to spot a fake is that it's selling for a great deal less than the item it's being passed off as -- like a $50 Omega watch or a $10 Mont Blanc pen. If a deal seem too good to be true, it almost certainly is.

 

Edit: can't type tonight.

Edited May 27, 2009 by ZeissIkon

[Artie]

Pilot is a Japanese pen company and makes a wide range of pens from student use to high end Maki-e pens (Namiki is the parent company) There are cheap Pilot pens that are real Pilots and not fake. They are sort of like Sheaffer in the 60's, making everything from gold plated PFM's to cheap transparent cartridge pens. I have one made in Korea (Scholar pen) that was made to be a student pen. It writes well and looks very nice but you can tell the plastic is not high quality, but as far as I know, it is a Pilot.

 

 

[hari317]

Hi can you point to some photos of these suspected fakes? I am yet to encounter one but will be interested to see.

 

Best,

Hari

 

[yellowecho]

Hi can you point to some photos of these suspected fakes? I am yet to encounter one but will be interested to see.

 

Best,

Hari

 

No, I don't know of any pictures. I became a bit uneasy when I noticed that Bob Speerbrecher takes the trouble to point out on his site that all the Pilot pens he sells are genuine Pilots. Then I ran across this on Molskinerie:

 

"I thought it was some sort of clearance when I bought this HKD $3 fake Pilot G2 pen from a "warehouse" in Causeway Bay. The standard retail price is HKD $11. $3 is even half of what retailers get from wholeseller or distributor. You won't even notice the subtle differences if you are not holding a real one side by side..

. the pirates even printed the same barcode and model number on the sticker. It is an impressive deception unless you are trained to observe the manufacturing quality differences of sticker/barcode/plastic/ink etc. Shame! Wasted me $3 instead of saving $8."

 

I was wondering if it is an issue of real concern when buying on eBay for example.

[Tsujigiri]

I don't think there's too much of a problem with Japanese fountain pens being counterfeited; they aren't insanely popular or expensive for the most part. The G2 is a cheap ballpoint/rollerball, isn't it? It might be worth it to copy that pen because it sells so many worldwide, but not so much for fountain pens. If you want to make sure something is genuine, though, the quality differences are usually pretty apparent. If you have a gold-nib pen, make sure the nib doesn't stick to a magnet, look to see that all the markings are right, etc. It's mostly Parker, S.T. Dupont, and Montblanc that have problems with counterfeiters, though, Japanese pens should be fine.

[burmeseboyz]

I understand there are fake Pilot pens out there. How can you tell the difference?

 

Most fakes will have a nib that says something general like "Iridium Point Germany" instead of the brand's name. This doesn't apply to specialty manufacturers who may use unbranded nibs.

 

Fakes usually write pretty poorly and you just have to carefully look at photographs of the seller's pens and compare them to pictures of real pens. On Ebay, engeika, ujuku123, and some others are reputable sellers of pilot pens. When you're not sure, pay a little more from a good seller.

[DJJM9598]

I am surprised anyone would counterfeit a Pilot. You would figure they would counterfeit a MontBlanc!

[burmeseboyz]

I am surprised anyone would counterfeit a Pilot. You would figure they would counterfeit a MontBlanc!

 

I guess they wanted to counterfeit a high quality pen for a change! :roflmho:

[ZeissIkon]

I don't think there's too much of a problem with Japanese fountain pens being counterfeited; they aren't insanely popular or expensive for the most part.

 

Yet on the other hand, I've read recently about fakes of the Hero 616 (a pen that can be had at 10/$15 shipped to the USA) that have been confirmed to be fakes -- interesting in part because the Hero 616 is itself a "clone" of the Parker 51 (or 21, really, the cheaper brother). Believe it or not, it can be profitable for a Chinese "factory" to copy an item that sells for a buck and a half.

[oceansportrait]

I understand there are fake Pilot pens out there. How can you tell the difference?

 

I don't really see why people would want to manufacture bootleg Pilot pens since they're already pretty affordable as it is (unless you're referring to the more high end pens like Myu90, etc). Ordering online though, I think it would be difficult to spot a fake, because you don't get a chance to write with it, the pictures they have up may be of authentic pens, etc.

 

I think with the lower-end Pilot though, there's really not that much to be worried about. They're not really a hot blackmarket commodity. If you're suspicious about a certain store that might be selling fake Pilot pens, then there's always the good ol' Google to look up for reviews on the store.

[rwilsonedn]

I suspect it can be very profitable for a factory in a low-cost area to counterfeit even a low-cost pen. It's not that they can sell the cheap pens for a huge mark-up: it's that they build a pen, sell it at a reasonable price, and have a ready-made distribution channel. For many low-cost products distribution and packaging make up the majority of the costs to the manufacturer. If you can piggyback on someone else's distribution and dealer network--hey, you sell Hero? I can get you Heros for 10% less, special shipment from the factory with non-standard packaging, heh heh ... --you have just slashed one of your biggest costs. So you make a small margin on sales, but being able to use a brand name means the difference between nobody wants to carry your pens and you can slip them in all over Asia. This seems to happen a lot with electronic components and mechanical parts that sell at low margins.

ron

[MYU]

Copying a common item is easier to get away with, as an expensive item will be scrutinized more. I've only seen one fake Pilot. Maybe that's because I don't take a chance and buy from sellers with hardly any feedback, showing similarities to pen scammers of the past, or coming from Thailand with photographs taken in bathrooms (telltale giveaway are the lights and reflective counters).

[Tsujigiri]

I don't think there's too much of a problem with Japanese fountain pens being counterfeited; they aren't insanely popular or expensive for the most part.

 

Yet on the other hand, I've read recently about fakes of the Hero 616 (a pen that can be had at 10/$15 shipped to the USA) that have been confirmed to be fakes -- interesting in part because the Hero 616 is itself a "clone" of the Parker 51 (or 21, really, the cheaper brother). Believe it or not, it can be profitable for a Chinese "factory" to copy an item that sells for a buck and a half.

 

Good point, I do remember hearing about those. Maybe they're high-volume enough that they're worth copying... or because they're made in the same area in China that the counterfeiters are in, so it's easy to copy?

[ZeissIkon]

Yet on the other hand, I've read recently about fakes of the Hero 616 (a pen that can be had at 10/$15 shipped to the USA) that have been confirmed to be fakes -- interesting in part because the Hero 616 is itself a "clone" of the Parker 51 (or 21, really, the cheaper brother). Believe it or not, it can be profitable for a Chinese "factory" to copy an item that sells for a buck and a half.

 

Good point, I do remember hearing about those. Maybe they're high-volume enough that they're worth copying... or because they're made in the same area in China that the counterfeiters are in, so it's easy to copy?

 

Most likely it's just that if you can make a pen for even the same cost as the real Hero 616 (and based on the quality of the fakes, they pretty well have to be a little cheaper), and sell it to the same end users for the same price, you'll make more profit than the Hero factory does (and the counterfeiter gets the profit instead of half a dozen middlemen).

 

Best way to be sure you're getting a real pen instead of a fake: buy from a reputable dealer.

[OtterNZ]

I am surprised anyone would counterfeit a Pilot. You would figure they would counterfeit a MontBlanc!

 

There are people on here who have found counterfeit Heros

 

[EDIT]

Oh, ZeissIkon has already said this...

Edited June 6, 2009 by OtterNZ

[someonesdad]

Well, I'm fan of duck typing in programming, so I'd extend the appreciation to fake pens if they write well...

[speerbob]

Hi can you point to some photos of these suspected fakes? I am yet to encounter one but will be interested to see.

 

Best,

Hari

 

No, I don't know of any pictures. I became a bit uneasy when I noticed that Bob Speerbrecher takes the trouble to point out on his site that all the Pilot pens he sells are genuine Pilots. Then I ran across this on Molskinerie:

 

"I thought it was some sort of clearance when I bought this HKD $3 fake Pilot G2 pen from a "warehouse" in Causeway Bay. The standard retail price is HKD $11. $3 is even half of what retailers get from wholeseller or distributor. You won't even notice the subtle differences if you are not holding a real one side by side..

. the pirates even printed the same barcode and model number on the sticker. It is an impressive deception unless you are trained to observe the manufacturing quality differences of sticker/barcode/plastic/ink etc. Shame! Wasted me $3 instead of saving $8."

 

I was wondering if it is an issue of real concern when buying on eBay for example.

 

Hi, In 10 years selling Pilot, I have never seen or heard of a fake Pilot pen. I point out on ALL my auctions that the item is genuine. This is a leftover from when I was in Thailand and people were always asking if the pen, any pen, I was selling is real. They assumed because I was in Asia, fake pens are everywhere and they couldn't trust any seller there. It was annoying since most people are way out of line on this. In 3 years in Thailand I bought over 20,000 pens, new and old. I was offered maybe 30 fakes in that time, all new models, and only bought fakes by mistage 3 times. All were Parker Sonnets before I learned how to spot the fakes ones (I gave them away as i never sell fakes, ever). While there could be others, every single fake I ever saw in Asia was either a Montblanc, Cartier, S.T. Dupont ot Parker Sonnet (sonnet only). None were vintage models. Why copy and old style. People who buy fakes want flashy new pens. Cheers, BOB