Just curious. I see loads of Megabass lures around, mostly asking ridiculous prices on Ebay and social media.  Has there been any documented counterfeit ones found? It seems to me that it would be difficult to produce a reasonable counterfeit one.

I can tell you from a manufacturing perspective, that lure could be (and most likely already has been) reverse engineered in probably a day. If you wanted to, I think you could be up and running to produce counterfeit MB lures in about a month or 2, barring raw material availability. 
 

I worked for a large named bearing company for a few years. One of the biggest problems we had were counterfeit bearings on the market (everything from train axle bearings down to micro bearings for small dental tools). 

Ali Express has a LOT of KOs - even use the same name or at least a part of the name. 

Not to sound petty, but there is a difference between counterfeit and knock off.  I haven’t seen any counterfeit MB products but there are several knock off items coming from Asia.  Products from Japanese fishing companies do come with some high price tags.

 

There is an option if you are willing to shop with JDM retail outlets and the currency difference can make a big impact in affordability.  

Megabass KOs blanks are quite popular among custom painters but you can usually tell its not the original blank by the internals. The 110 for example have those tungsten balls which has a unique sound. Some blanks might not come or come with different balls making a different sound. As for the outrageous prices those are most likely the respect colors you're seeing on ebay. They are considered rare print for the lures which is why people sell them at a collectors value rather than fishing value. Megabass do have a way of making beautiful lures and their cult will pay for them if its the one they are looking for. 

6 hours ago, Big Swimbait said:

Ali Express has a LOT of KOs - even use the same name or at least a part of the name. 

My personal favorite is the JackyHammer

Lucky Craft yes, no Megabass counterfeits that I know of.

 

Allen 

21 hours ago, Munkin said:

Lucky Craft yes, no Megabass counterfeits that I know of.

 

Allen 

Megabass Karashi KO  

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256801832207914.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.1.66a6AnpkAnpkwN&algo_pvid=16256031-4ff9-479d-b756-b9caa62ee6ab&algo_exp_id=16256031-4ff9-479d-b756-b9caa62ee6ab-0&pdp_npi=4%40dis!USD!3.85!3.85!!!3.85!3.85!%402103080617127207235273728e46c3!12000018433469912!sea!US!2015204287!&curPageLogUid=zP69eLBlCsJF&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch|query_from%3A

On 4/9/2024 at 1:50 AM, Munkin said:

Lucky Craft yes, no Megabass counterfeits that I know of.

 

Allen 

Yep - got taken on a set of Pointers online. Had everything right down to the name and lettering identical to originals. Even the paint colors. Only found out once I went to fish them and it took 9-11 SuspendStrips to get them to balance right. Would not be surprised in the least if someone didn’t try to counterfeit the MBs given their price and popularity.

For us, it was the actual color of the text that most people counterfeited with the company I worked for. Very close, but not our brand standard Pantone colors. 

On 4/8/2024 at 9:59 PM, torm said:

As for the outrageous prices those are most likely the respect colors you're seeing on ebay. They are considered rare print for the lures which is why people sell them at a collectors value rather than fishing value. Megabass do have a way of making beautiful lures and their cult will pay for them if its the one they are looking for. 

I got sucked into that rabbit hole last winter on eBay. There are all kinds of “limited release” colors for bidding. I am convinced that those unique colors are designed for collection; not for fishing. I tried mine last October during an established jerkbait bite for 30 minutes too. Nothing. Went back to a natural one, immediately started catching fish again.