3 ms·

Is widespread counterfeiting of this kind a new phenomenon? Was it less common before supply chains were exported?

turbinerneiter 6y ago
> Was it less common before supply chains were exported? There are factories that run "midnight shifts", where the same workers, on the same production line, spend a night building a batch of counterfeits. If you rent instead of own the manufacturing line, you are open to this. A design is easy to copy, a factory not that much. I see all of this as way to tip the scale of profit sharing between the ones with the idea/design and the ones who make the product. Whether it is balanced or not, I can't tell. A cheap copy that performs well is also in a way pressure to innovate. The factories innovate in making things cheaper, the designers innovate in making things better. Someone who manufactures themself gets to do both.
- toss1 6y ago
  Not sure why you're getting those bogus downvotes - these 'midnight shifts' are absolutely real, and can cause serious problems. I know of a specific US-based specialist manufacturer who makes some of the best-in-class products in the world - a LOT of R&D and optimization. The castings and machining were done at a plant in Asia. After shipping their product, they discovered an obvious Asian knock-off selling for 1/3 the price. They immediately called their manufacturing partner and got that shut down, but it was too late - the Chinese competitor already had inventory, customers, marketing, etc., and just switched factories. And there's still debate in the purchasing community about which to buy. Those 'midnight shifts' literally enabled a new competitor from the starting gate for just a bit of extra temporary profit - straight up theft. (If it was my biz, I'd have not only gotten them to shut down the backdoor selling, but also put as a top priority finding a new manufacturing partner and moving production at the earliest possible date).
michaelt 6y ago
Before the rise of Amazon and Ebay, you (almost) always knew when you were buying a counterfeit, because you were getting a great price for the latest Disney VHS from someone selling out the back of a van at the local flea market. The other option was to go to bricks-and-mortar retailers, where if they had it in stock and if you were willing to pay full retail price, you'd get something that wasn't a counterfeit. Amazon seems to have pulled off some marketing magic where flea market sellers plus a refund policy equals one of the world's largest companies.

> Was it less common before supply chains were exported? There are factories that run "midnight shifts", where the same workers, on the same production line, spend a night building a batch of counterfeits. If you rent instead of own the manufacturing line, you are open to this. A design is easy to copy, a factory not that much. I see all of this as way to tip the scale of profit sharing between the ones with the idea/design and the ones who make the product. Whether it is balanced or not, I can't tell. A cheap copy that performs well is also in a way pressure to innovate. The factories innovate in making things cheaper, the designers innovate in making things better. Someone who manufactures themself gets to do both.

toss1 6y ago
Not sure why you're getting those bogus downvotes - these 'midnight shifts' are absolutely real, and can cause serious problems. I know of a specific US-based specialist manufacturer who makes some of the best-in-class products in the world - a LOT of R&D and optimization. The castings and machining were done at a plant in Asia. After shipping their product, they discovered an obvious Asian knock-off selling for 1/3 the price. They immediately called their manufacturing partner and got that shut down, but it was too late - the Chinese competitor already had inventory, customers, marketing, etc., and just switched factories. And there's still debate in the purchasing community about which to buy. Those 'midnight shifts' literally enabled a new competitor from the starting gate for just a bit of extra temporary profit - straight up theft. (If it was my biz, I'd have not only gotten them to shut down the backdoor selling, but also put as a top priority finding a new manufacturing partner and moving production at the earliest possible date).

michaelt 6y ago

Before the rise of Amazon and Ebay, you (almost) always knew when you were buying a counterfeit, because you were getting a great price for the latest Disney VHS from someone selling out the back of a van at the local flea market. The other option was to go to bricks-and-mortar retailers, where if they had it in stock and if you were willing to pay full retail price, you'd get something that wasn't a counterfeit. Amazon seems to have pulled off some marketing magic where flea market sellers plus a refund policy equals one of the world's largest companies.