Epic noob post:
My story:
I had a pair of E4g's before, what do you know, the wire crapped out
I had better things to spend my money on since then so I didn't buy any new high quality IEMs until now. I bought some IE8's on ebay and after the seller had already shipped them I did some of the heaviest digging I've done in a long time. I looked closely at him images which were done in a studio, if you guys haven't noticed a clear sign is that where it says open here the text is thinner, not as tall, same applies the yellow bar beneath it. The positioning from the bar code is hard to determine online when the box is shot at an angle. Any who I could tell from the pics it was fake.... he assured me they were genuine the whole time, he said check his feedback. He had some Sony headphones that were also often fakes, he claims they are real though, they do fall inline with real pricing, I checked. After I analyzed the pics I saw a site posted in the IE7 fakes thread I believe. If not I found it in a fake thread for something. It's called diytrade, google it. Any who, I searched Sennheiser IE8 and a few came up. Damn expensive fakes I must say compared to the others, I think the cheapest was 85$, and this is the place where you know you are buying fakes so you think it would be dirt cheap. I think the counterfeiters put way to much effort into these ones. Alright on with the show, I click on a listing title which is the damn same as my ebay listing title. Brand New Sennheiser IE 8 Headphones ie8 UK , Fast ship. This listing on the diytrade site: Brand New Sennheiser IE 8 Headphones ie8 China , Fast ship. You get the picture. The included product list was the same as well, as in it was more detailed then the original so I knew it wasn't copied from sennheiser. After telling me to check the feedback I finally do and freaking after I buy them someone finally says they were counterfeit, only like 2/7 of us noticed, only one of them knew before they got it
that one was me. Other guy got a refund though so I felt good about that part. I guess the rest of them are blinded by the fact they payed so much that maybe that's what quality is suppose to sound and look like. So after I keep telling him I know they are going to be fake and all I finally receive them and give him the news. He says he'll give me a full refund and pay shipping. At least he chose the honest thing to do. Did I mention I payed 294$ Canadian. Pretty expensive for a fake I might add. In his email he apologized and said he would pay me back when I sent the item back. Also he said I learned a big lesson about trust and that I can't even trust my friend(apparently his friend wanted him to sell them for him).
I don't roll that way so,
I send him back another email saying you may say you can't trust a friend but I can't trust you, after a couple paragraphs explaining why I should be payed first because of all the reasons I have little trust in him he accepts so at least he's a decent enough person to do that
Ok that was a long and kind of confusing post. I won't list the sellers name until I get my money back, that way I don't put his name in mud ending in me not getting my refund.
If you want any pictures I would be pleased to supply some decent ones from my iPhone 3G S, it takes a really clear picture when the lighting is good. Know that I cannot take pictures of everything opened because I must give it back sealed. So I can take pictures through the plastic though. I just am not going to cut the plastic seal on the back. Hologram almost made my dad think they were real by the way. The effort they put into these maybe they should design something high end on their own. I mean if you had your own legit company you would probably make more money if you can get yourself out there and you also would produce a much better product because it's yours and you take more pride in something you know is yours. That's my 2 cents, I'm glad he won't let me break the seal, I will never have to here a crap ass fake IE 8 in my life. As soon as I get the money back I will work a few hours for my dad and buy from an Authorized dealer. I don't think I want to shop ebay ever again. Fake PS3 controller(that b*tch never refunded me)and now this. Ebay is over run by fakes and other cheapy products that are not on par with the standard. Unless it's the most obvious thing in the world and it most definitely is not fake and has not been faked then I would recommend staying the hell away from ebay. Almost every listing for the IE 8 available to Canada is fake according to the pictures I can see, and the ones that are a real price have no pictures accept a stock photo, what do I make of that?
Well for all of you enjoying a genuine pair you shopped smart or got lucky, for the rest of you thinking about going for that killer deal, forget it. It's not worth your time or money(even with a refund)
Well for now I can enjoy my dads really old Sennheiser HD440II's and my moms JVC marshmallows. As for my earbuds, well they are Apple, I never enjoy them, it feels like I have a bruise around the bud after wearing them for a half hour. Did I tell you how much I missed those comfy E4g's?
So until I get my real ones, that's my take and story about the fakes and a bunch of other random junk most of you don't care to read.
Lemme know if you want any close up pictures of the packaging, like the holo emblem or something. I would be happy to post any images that prevents more purchases of fakes.
PS: Yes Chungster, it's Mat(YoungGeekGuy) You knew the whole time and it didn't take me long to figure out the same.