Thanks. They don't have to ship it if I get my money back! I'm not worried about authenticity, since it is a Gurkha Kukri. But they are having a fit with it being a big knife I guess.
Counterfeit, anyone?
- Thread starter The Whip
- Start date
A Kukri oddly enough, is legal in Japan. They aren't regarded as "weapons" but seen in tje same category as Japanese Nata.
Your shipper may be dealing with it's size but there should be no issues with legality.
About 8 years ago I sold my only Khukri (Cold Steel Sanmai III) to a fellow in Australia. Haven't owned once since.
Legal with a permit, like big kitchen knives? Or legal period? I guess the proxy people don't even know. The size of the package is certainly not the issue.
Legal to sell, own and posess, legal to carry in the woods, no permit needed. So "legal period".
Hopefully the proxy realizes that too! Maybe they are hung up on the 15 cm thing?
By the way, I imagine a GK would have done more damage than the double edged dagger the guy used.
So this is now a big mess. The proxy - or their system - only "knows" items that are prohibited for international shipping, so they are treating this Gurkha Kurki, which according to them is prohibited in Japan because it is longer than 15 cm, as an item that is prohibited for international shipping, so they are giving me the standard reply with the option of shipping it to an adress in Japan or disposing of it at my own expense, and then they want to charge me for the domestic shipping too! Obviously I can't ship an item that is illegal in Japan according to them to another person in Japan, even if I had such a contact. But they are just hiding behind the fact that they messed up by unblocking the auction for me. So I told them to refund me or I will open a Paypal dispute. Obviously there are no International Postal Regulations against shipping knives. I can understand they don't want to ship a knife that is illegal in their country, because they should not even have it in their possession, but they should take responsibility for erroneously unblocking the auction and allowing me to buy it. The problem is I'm dealing with Service Desk people who a) are using standard replies and b) are not in Japan and have no authority to do refunds, so that makes it a very annoying and slow process, even if it gets resolved.
Either way, trying to buy ANY knife from Japan via a proxy is asking for trouble!
Either way, trying to buy ANY knife from Japan via a proxy is asking for trouble!
They are wrong. The 15cm blade length applies to Nihontorui 日本刀類.. (Japanese swords)
The Ghurka Kukri does not fall in that category.
If you look at thｗebsite for Rakuten you can see that Kukris are legal and openly sold.
I would suggest that this particular proxy has no idea of knife laws in Japan.
The Ghurka Kukri does not fall in that category.
If you look at thｗebsite for Rakuten you can see that Kukris are legal and openly sold.
I would suggest that this particular proxy has no idea of knife laws in Japan.
Thanks, I will forward the website to them, but I don't think they - Buyee - will be very open to it.
Meanwhile I have asked Zen Market if they will ship a Gurkha Kukri.
I did notice a Cold Steel clone (but unbranded, so not a counterfeit) on the Rakuten page you linked to:
Meanwhile I have asked Zen Market if they will ship a Gurkha Kukri.
I did notice a Cold Steel clone (but unbranded, so not a counterfeit) on the Rakuten page you linked to:
Buyee Customer Support is a mess. Now one employee claims the item is OK to ship in Japan, but not internationally, because it is larger than 15 cm! He also said that if it turns out they unblocked it erroneously, I can get a refund. At the same time, another employee keeps sending me standard reply that they will not refund, and they simply ignore that they unblocked the auction.
Meanwhile, ZenMarket has explicitly stated that they can ship a Cold Steel Gurkha Kukri to me. So I am looking for a double confirmation and I will have a go at that, and see if they keep their word.
Maybe it's not worth the headache, but I just need to know, as some Cold Steel knives are scarce in my country.
Meanwhile, ZenMarket has explicitly stated that they can ship a Cold Steel Gurkha Kukri to me. So I am looking for a double confirmation and I will have a go at that, and see if they keep their word.
Maybe it's not worth the headache, but I just need to know, as some Cold Steel knives are scarce in my country.
On the positive side, it seems that Buyee automatically loses a Paypal dispute if they can't provide a tracking number for the shipping. There was a girl who ordered something that the auction text said was genuine, but when it arrived in their warehouse she was able to confirm it was counterfeit with additinonal photos. She refused to pay for shipping, and Buyee refused to refund her because she had the lite plan, not the standard plan (with standard plan you get a refund if the item does not match the description). So she opened a dispute for Item Not Received - as I did - and Buyee lost because they couldn't proof that they shipped it. Why they did not ship it, seems irrelevant to Paypal, as it should be, because the payment has been made, so the product needs to be shipped. Fortunately for her they didn't ship the items to her at their own expense, then she would have a bigger issue.
So hopefully I will win the dispute, but I'd still rather have the knife than the refund though.
So hopefully I will win the dispute, but I'd still rather have the knife than the refund though.
That they still think there is a 15cm blade length restriction for international shipping shows how little they know about knives and local laws.
I have had knives with 24 cm blade length shipped from Japan to USA without any issues in the past.
This whole thing is quite a mess. Hopefully Zenmarket will work out for you.
I have had knives with 24 cm blade length shipped from Japan to USA without any issues in the past.
This whole thing is quite a mess. Hopefully Zenmarket will work out for you.
FYI, the mess has been resolved. Buyee has refunded me. I'm gonna skip on trying another kukri via ZenMarket, even though they said they could ship it to me. And since this ordeal left me disenamored with collecting these, I've listed my SK-5 Gurkha Kukri for sale locally, because there is no point in keeping it for another 8 years. Someone else will get to enjoy it if they pay up!
I'm glad someone else also noticed the counterfeit Cold Steel AD-10s being sold on the bay of E. They are listed under different sellers as an "AD-10 with carbon fiber handle." Looks really cool actually. However at the $50 price point you know they're as fake. The Bay of E has no interest in thwarting counterfeit goods on their marketplace.
People shouldn't get bent out of shape about Cold Steel enforcing their copyrights. There is a concept in copyright law whereby you must attempt to enforce your copyright otherwise your business is giving its tacit consent to steal it. I can see why some people were upset with Cold Steel going after people for using the "San Mai" trademark, just realize that as a reputable knife brand, they are legally compelled to protect their trademarks and copyrights.
People shouldn't get bent out of shape about Cold Steel enforcing their copyrights. There is a concept in copyright law whereby you must attempt to enforce your copyright otherwise your business is giving its tacit consent to steal it. I can see why some people were upset with Cold Steel going after people for using the "San Mai" trademark, just realize that as a reputable knife brand, they are legally compelled to protect their trademarks and copyrights.
I haven't added to this thread in a while because the Cold Steel counterfeits have become so ubiquitous and well done that it doesn't really mean much to try to identify every one of them any longer. China has made counterfeits of most models available on the usual sites in recent years.
While the too-good-to-be-true pricing is a valid warning sign when the original suppliers are offering them, the real problem arises in the following generations of sales, when individuals who bought the counterfeits re-sell them, knowingly or sometimes unknowingly offering the knock-off as the genuine article. And some of the counterfeits (including boxes) are so good that you just can't tell from photographs that they're fakes. It's especially problematic when it comes to the rarer, high-demand models. For example, I wouldn't buy a Rawles Voyager or a Thompson Vaquero now, even from a reputable resale vendor like Arizona Custom Knives, unless I knew for a fact that the knife had originally come from Cold Steel.
With that in mind, I'm adding photos of these counterfeit Broken Skulls selling on eBay currently.
Note that they're even marked as CTS-XHP blades. I know that original XHP Broken Skulls are pretty coveted now by both collectors and people who missed out back when Cold Steel offered them. Other than the black model, which Cold Steel never sold, they look almost identical to the real thing (at least in pictures; I can't vouch for the in-hand similarities).
As always, caveat emptor!
-Steve
While the too-good-to-be-true pricing is a valid warning sign when the original suppliers are offering them, the real problem arises in the following generations of sales, when individuals who bought the counterfeits re-sell them, knowingly or sometimes unknowingly offering the knock-off as the genuine article. And some of the counterfeits (including boxes) are so good that you just can't tell from photographs that they're fakes. It's especially problematic when it comes to the rarer, high-demand models. For example, I wouldn't buy a Rawles Voyager or a Thompson Vaquero now, even from a reputable resale vendor like Arizona Custom Knives, unless I knew for a fact that the knife had originally come from Cold Steel.
With that in mind, I'm adding photos of these counterfeit Broken Skulls selling on eBay currently.
Note that they're even marked as CTS-XHP blades. I know that original XHP Broken Skulls are pretty coveted now by both collectors and people who missed out back when Cold Steel offered them. Other than the black model, which Cold Steel never sold, they look almost identical to the real thing (at least in pictures; I can't vouch for the in-hand similarities).
As always, caveat emptor!
-Steve
Alex.Y.
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2021
- Messages
- 1,418
As to Broken Skull, I heard (and saw pics) that the fake Tan is actually gray in hand.I haven't added to this thread in a while because the Cold Steel counterfeits have become so ubiquitous and well done that it doesn't really mean much to try to identify every one of them any longer. China has made counterfeits of most models available on the usual sites in recent years.
While the too-good-to-be-true pricing is a valid warning sign when the original suppliers are offering them, the real problem arises in the following generations of sales, when individuals who bought the counterfeits re-sell them, knowingly or sometimes unknowingly offering the knock-off as the genuine article. And some of the counterfeits (including boxes) are so good that you just can't tell from photographs that they're fakes. It's especially problematic when it comes to the rarer, high-demand models. For example, I wouldn't buy a Rawles Voyager or a Thompson Vaquero now, even from a reputable resale vendor like Arizona Custom Knives, unless I knew for a fact that the knife had originally come from Cold Steel.
With that in mind, I'm adding photos of these counterfeit Broken Skulls selling on eBay currently.
Note that they're even marked as CTS-XHP blades. I know that original XHP Broken Skulls are pretty coveted now by both collectors and people who missed out back when Cold Steel offered them. Other than the black model, which Cold Steel never sold, they look almost identical to the real thing (at least in pictures; I can't vouch for the in-hand similarities).
As always, caveat emptor!
-Steve
Some chinese fakers even state that their knockofs are "good for resell".
Spydercojh
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2022
- Messages
- 47
If I buy a Cold Steel from Smoky Mountain Knife Works, should I assume that they receive directly from Cold Steel and the knife I receive is not a counterfeit?
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2016
- Messages
- 18,709
Probably have better luck with Smoky Mountain Knife Works
