Fake Lamy Safaris on eBay

[DrSbaitso]

Just thought I would share a recent experience. I am generally a bit weary of eBay. Being a watch geek as well, I am aware of a lot of fakes in circulation, particularly on sites like eBay, and I have a lot of friends who have received counterfeit products such as watch bands, sunglasses, electronics, and even clothing. So I like to steer clear of the sub 99.5% powersellers from S.E. Asia in general.

As I live some ways away from local Lamy dealers, I have been forced out on the web to find my fix. I like to promote local retailers whenever possible, but the prospect of saving a few bucks does soften the blow a bit. Long story short, I found a small time dealer (~200 sales in the last year) with 100% feedback from Israel who sold the charcoal Safari with fine nib I was looking for. Including shipping and a converter I paid what I would have over the counter, so no screaming deal, but reasonable none the less.

When it arrived I immediately had a bad feeling, as I thought they had forgotten the converter. It turs out it was already mounted in place of the customary, complimentary cartridge. That doesn't mean the pen is used, but felt odd. The cheery blossom box it was delivered in offered better protection than the original packaging, which was included, flattened, with the pen.

Removing the cap, the nib struck me as very shiny, rather than the black I was expecting, and for a moment I thought it might have been a regular chrome nib. At this point I started comparing it with another Safari I had and the small differences started to stand out (though, admittedly, the genuine safari left something to be desired as well, when scrutinized).

At this point I was absolutely convinced it was a fake, and I contacted the seller requesting an immediate refund. He claimed to be unaware, but with me slowly losing patience, he eventually refunded. I did not offer any specific "proof", as I suspect this might be forwarded to the factory and remedied, which I don't want to be a part of. I can't imagine he is genuinely unknowingly dealing with fakes, though it wasn't until I pointed out that buying "made in Germany" products from a factory in China would be a dead giveaway. Anyway, there are already sites comparing fakes similar (identical?) to the one I bought, so I thought I'd share my findings here.

Some things can be noticed from pictures in the listing, though the differences are a bit subtle, and they might not post pictures of the actual product. To me, the stand-out feature was the "X" on the cap, which is much less distinct on the couterfeit (on the left)



The same goes for the rest of the printing, i.e., logo and "Germany" text on the bottom.

When I got the pen, it was the nib I noticed. This difference is presumably much smaller with pens with silver nibs, but the text alignment and length of the slit still sticks out (fake on the right).



What sealed the deal though, was the fact that it, unlike all my other Lamys, was untested. Every other pen I have has always had some ink residue on the tip (fake on the right).



Once I received my refund, I figured I would put the pen to the test, and if there was any doubt before, there certainly wasn't now. The cartridge didn't puncture, because it seated too deeply in the pen, requiring either manually mounting the cartridge or using the supplied filler. I chose to try the filler instead. The mechanism was much more rough than my genuine (even though it was hard to distinguish the two, visually), and because the seal leaked, it only filled about 50%. When writing, well, to say that it was wet would be an understatement. The ink blotted and wetted through the paper. Every time i removed the cap I would be greeted by a splash of ink, both in the cap and on the grip. Not that I would have recommended this pen to anyone, but the differences went beyond the origin of the pen, and the morality of the seller.

Finally, I suspect it might have been made from a different plastic - A genuine Safari is made from ABS which has a melting point of just over 100°C, but this pen didn't melt at all until far above 200°C. This is the result after a few minutes in 250°C.



The moral of the story, I guess, is be careful. Even the cheap stuff can be counterfeit, and there is always a profit to be made if the volumes are large enough. The same seller also had limited edition safaris for sale, which were much more expensive.

Here is another site on the subject