SME V Tonearm on eBay Hong Kong Sellers are FAKE!!!

@raymonda I don’t know if all of those are fake. But for example, the picture showing the Nagra’s internals has been stolen from one of the big online review sites. So that’s a red flag already. I don’t have time to go through everything to verify.

Some stuff might be real, some fake, others may have real stolen pictures but who knows what you’ll get.

SME I know by heart, so the V they have listed on eBay is without a doubt a fake item.

Another giveaway, I just looked at the history and they sell SME V several times a month for as long as eBay allows one to look back. For the other items they do not have previous sales, so they might be real.

Think logically, where are they getting so many V tonearms to sell used?

I love the word 'replica'.

Some unknowing fool bought that fake tonearm for $2125 during the last auction a week ago.

Since January 1st of this year, those scumbags have sold 7 fake SME V tonearms, averaging $2000 per sale. 

I reported most of them. eBay took absolutely no action against them. eBay gets a several hundred dollar cut from each sale and they couldn't care less if the product is real or not, or if the buyers are getting ripped off. 

There is a huge ethical difference between making a replica of a tonearm that is still available from the manufacturer/inventor and then selling it under the pretense that it is a bona fide original and the making and marketing of a reproduction of the B60 accessory for Technics tonearms, whether that replica is of good quality or bad. The seller of the replica B60 acknowledged that he is/was selling a replica, and the price is/was a fraction of that which one would have to pay for a "real" B60. Moreover, the original B60 has been out of production for several decades; there is/was no attempt to defraud. In my opinion, the guy who made and sold me the B60 replica did me a great favor. It adds mass to the base of the pivot point and thereby helps to soak up resonant energy, not to mention the fact that VTA is much easier to adjust with the B60.

Nandric’s post reminded me; the B60s that he and I bought, for $500 each, went away after the initial run of production, because, as Nandric wrote, the seller claimed he was not making any money on the item at that price. So it would seem that the current reproduction is from a different source.

I do share the sentiments of others as regards the fake SME V’s.

By the way, under US law, selling the fake and then shipping it to the buyer under an SME label is "mail fraud", a felony.  But you'd have to chase down the crooks in Hong Kong or wherever.  Lots of luck with that.  On the other hand, eBay should block them.  Has anyone lodged a complaint via eBay?

@lewm I have filed multiple complaints with eBay and they did not even bother responding to a single one. I’ve been a member on eBay since the late 90’s with a huge 100% feedback. But I guess that doesn’t matter to them. So long as the buyer is clueless and doesn’t complain and eBay gets paid, it’s business as usual.

This is a huge problem. As those fake tonearms will eventually circle back into the marketplace. They probably also sound horrendous and give SME a bad rep.