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I've increasingly wondered about counterfeit items not only from Amazon but in local stores. After someone left a tobacco vape pen at my house I decided to buy

I've increasingly wondered about counterfeit items not only from Amazon but in local stores. After someone left a tobacco vape pen at my house I decided to buy some of my own. I went to a couple local liquor stores and purchased some Elfbars. Apparently stores often ask that you sample it before leaving to make sure it works as they don't take returns. Okay. At both stores the clerk opened the box, removed the packaging and handed it to me... while throwing away the box. I realized that the boxes have holograms, QR codes and serial numbers to check authenticity. So, I bought another and asked to keep the box. Checked the QR, and sure enough it went to a dead website "e1fbar.com", obviously not legitimate. I entered the serial on the real website and it said it was not authentic, too. Word online is that a huge amount of these products are counterfeit - Elfbar says they have helped identify and shut down over 120 organizations selling fake products. So it makes me wonder, is everything else these store sell legitimate? What's to stop them from selling counterfeit liquor and cigarettes?

noduerme 3y ago
Hey, just from personal experience, don't smoke fake vapes. I ended up in the hospital with a golf ball sized ...thing... blocking my esophagus, which was initially thought to be cancer, and I was told I had 3 months to live, but it turned out to be a reaction to some shit in an unmarked vape from China. I lost a lot of weight. This was about 10 years ago when basically all vapes were sketchy and off-brand, and I thought it was a great idea to quit smoking and become an early adopter. I'm completely fine now and back to cigarettes. Seriously, don't inhale it if you have any doubts as to its origin. Oh but like per your question... who's gonna defend anyone from an unscrupulous butcher selling someone cat meat, and stuff, Like, no one. That's how it is everywhere else in the world. Amazon is just a rampant zoo of it all in one place, exposing all this deadly garbage to naive first worlders for the first time... but it's just backwash.
- kwhitefoot 3y ago
  > who's gonna defend anyone from an unscrupulous butcher selling someone cat meat, and stuff, Like, no one. That's how it is everywhere else in the world. What? Don't you have trading standards officers (UK) or something similar in your part of the world? Or something like Mattilsynet in Norway? These organizations are responsible for exactly that kind of policing.
- code_duck 3y ago
  Oh, I was fairly offended that these stores happily sold me dangerous and fraudulent products. I certainly won't be doing that again. Glad your problem turned out to be fairly benign, although I'm sure painful and worrisome! Who knows what they put into those products. Customs and the FTC are the US agencies tasked with protecting consumers and the market from counterfeit products. I would imagine there are various national and local agencies for different types of products. It appears they could step up enforcement a bit.
YurgenJurgensen 3y ago
I don't smoke, but every shop I've walked past that was targeted at vapers looked like the shadiest place imaginable. They have the same feel as those cash-only nail bars or phone repair shops. All the furniture and branding looks as temporary as possible, like they know they're probably going to get shut down in a few months so they want to be able to close up shop and ship their assets out on short notice. And they always end up in those cursed retail units which rarely manage to keep a single identity for a full year.
- code_duck 3y ago
  Vapes stores run the gamut. Some of them inherited their style from the classic head shop, which was basically as tacky as possible. The head shop scene has evolved from places selling pipes, bongs, rock posters, incense, psychadelia, sometimes porn and knives to include a type of store called a glass gallery, with higher end merchandise and a much more modern and classy sense of style. Some vape stores are actually quite nice, like one I went to in Eugene which had lounge chairs, tasting bar and was decorated like a fairly nice coffee shop. One that I go to here in Denver isn't as nice, but has a reasonably classy atmosphere compared to the type of store you describe. It likely depends on the area. My experience with counterfeits was at average liquor stores though, not actual vape shops. 7-11 and other convenience stores also sell these disposable vape pens and from what I've gathered, most of the disposables are fraudulent. Supposedly dedicated vape stores are better about selling legitimate items, though I imagine it varies.

noduerme 3y ago

Hey, just from personal experience, don't smoke fake vapes. I ended up in the hospital with a golf ball sized ...thing... blocking my esophagus, which was initially thought to be cancer, and I was told I had 3 months to live, but it turned out to be a reaction to some shit in an unmarked vape from China. I lost a lot of weight. This was about 10 years ago when basically all vapes were sketchy and off-brand, and I thought it was a great idea to quit smoking and become an early adopter. I'm completely fine now and back to cigarettes. Seriously, don't inhale it if you have any doubts as to its origin. Oh but like per your question... who's gonna defend anyone from an unscrupulous butcher selling someone cat meat, and stuff, Like, no one. That's how it is everywhere else in the world. Amazon is just a rampant zoo of it all in one place, exposing all this deadly garbage to naive first worlders for the first time... but it's just backwash.

kwhitefoot 3y ago
> who's gonna defend anyone from an unscrupulous butcher selling someone cat meat, and stuff, Like, no one. That's how it is everywhere else in the world. What? Don't you have trading standards officers (UK) or something similar in your part of the world? Or something like Mattilsynet in Norway? These organizations are responsible for exactly that kind of policing.
code_duck 3y ago
Oh, I was fairly offended that these stores happily sold me dangerous and fraudulent products. I certainly won't be doing that again. Glad your problem turned out to be fairly benign, although I'm sure painful and worrisome! Who knows what they put into those products. Customs and the FTC are the US agencies tasked with protecting consumers and the market from counterfeit products. I would imagine there are various national and local agencies for different types of products. It appears they could step up enforcement a bit.

YurgenJurgensen 3y ago

I don't smoke, but every shop I've walked past that was targeted at vapers looked like the shadiest place imaginable. They have the same feel as those cash-only nail bars or phone repair shops. All the furniture and branding looks as temporary as possible, like they know they're probably going to get shut down in a few months so they want to be able to close up shop and ship their assets out on short notice. And they always end up in those cursed retail units which rarely manage to keep a single identity for a full year.

code_duck 3y ago
Vapes stores run the gamut. Some of them inherited their style from the classic head shop, which was basically as tacky as possible. The head shop scene has evolved from places selling pipes, bongs, rock posters, incense, psychadelia, sometimes porn and knives to include a type of store called a glass gallery, with higher end merchandise and a much more modern and classy sense of style. Some vape stores are actually quite nice, like one I went to in Eugene which had lounge chairs, tasting bar and was decorated like a fairly nice coffee shop. One that I go to here in Denver isn't as nice, but has a reasonably classy atmosphere compared to the type of store you describe. It likely depends on the area. My experience with counterfeits was at average liquor stores though, not actual vape shops. 7-11 and other convenience stores also sell these disposable vape pens and from what I've gathered, most of the disposables are fraudulent. Supposedly dedicated vape stores are better about selling legitimate items, though I imagine it varies.