I have been surfing Chinese used market lately, and saw a number of posts mentioning and showing fake Calcatta Conquest they bought. Those reels look, and FEEL, so real that it makes me wonder why make fake ones if you have the ability to manufacture good quality reels.

And it's not just Shimano reels, I saw some fake Zillions as well. A quick AI search tells me it's been going on for a while now, across many series of Shimano and Daiwa reels. I guess the China market is so large that it's worthy to make high quality fake reels instead of making your own brand. What a world we are living in...

Last week the other post asked if there's any problem with buying reels on Ali. I will take back my comment back then. Just be careful now☹️

I can't speak to what is going on today, but this is nothing new.

I am huge Shimano fan and have been all through the Calcuttas over the years.

I came across a reel made by Doyo for Browning called the Citori that is a Calcutta knockoff, and honestly I love it as much if not more than a Calcutta. Its a great reel. Just as well built too and super smooth.

It might be a knockoff, but I can't knock it. I'm keeping it.

36 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

I can't speak to what is going on today, but this is nothing new.

I am huge Shimano fan and have been all through the Calcuttas over the years.

I came across a reel made by Doyo for Browning called the Citori that is a Calcutta knockoff, and honestly I love it as much if not more than a Calcutta. Its a great reel. Just as well built too and super smooth.

It might be a knockoff, but I can't knock it. I'm keeping it.

This I understand. Knockoffs are always there. They are walking in the grey area, marketed as "name brand inspired" product so they won't be suited. But that is just plain counterfeit, so why taking such a big risk to make some money off fake product while you can make similar amount of money selling legitimate product of your own brand? It's not like they can't make quality products.

The reel in the above picture was purchased new for about $120. It took the buyer two months to realize he got a fake one, because it looks and feels so real. If you can sell Conquest-quality reels for $120 a piece and still make some money, why not just make your own brand and sell it for $150-200? It may take some time to promote your brand so the public is aware of it, but I for one will gladly buy your reels.

The only explanation I can come up with is that the market is large enough for them to take the shortcut and make some quick money, and the penalty of being busted is just minimum.

20 minutes ago, newapti5 said:

This I understand. Knockoffs are always there. They are walking in the grey area, marketed as "name brand inspired" product so they won't be suited. But this is just plain counterfeit, so why taking such a big risk to make some money off fake product while you can make silimar amount of money selling legitimate product of your own brand? It's not like they can't make quality products. The only explanation I can come up with is that the market is larger enough for them to make some quick money, and the penalty of being busted is just minimum.

I’m confident there is a zero chance any company would successfully bring a lawsuit against any knockoff.

Shakespeare and Pflueger were literally never out of court between 1910 and 1966, when Shakespeare bought Pflueger. Hardy was also litigious in US, and sued Pflueger for copying their horseshoe latch, stopping production of 1st model Gem in 1935,

and sued Heddon, stopping production of Heddon Imperial in 1928, which was a reverse-engineered St. George. Pflueger's better lawyers beat Hardy over Medalist similarities to St. George

I don't believe there is a single fake daiwa or shimano. When you read the AI answers, you need to visit links it gives you. Plenty of times it'll give you a link that has nothing to do with the question you've asked, and the source ends up being a random reddit post, or something stupid.

Cloning reels to look as good as what Shimano and Daiwa releases is simply not worth it for those companies. Profit margins are minimal, better invest that time and resources into cloning Omega's & Rolex's, and swim in cash.

Did some googling, and as i assumed, when AI tells you that there's plenty of conterfeit calcutta's for $50-150, its referring to those noname brands that "borrow" the shape of it, to make it look similarlish. Its nowhere near identical looking, so unless you have no idea how the real thing is supposed to look like, it's impossible to be fooled.

This is what AI considers are a clone that is identical to the real thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iyYWX8EwCg

Are you talking about straight up counterfeit Conquest and Zillion? Or some cheap aliexpress reels that resemble them? We need to see some pics if tbey are counterfeits.

18 minutes ago, 4g63power said:

Are you talking about straight up counterfeit Conquest and Zillion? Or some cheap aliexpress reels that resemble them? We need to see some pics if tbey are counterfeits.

You won't find any.

2 hours ago, WetBlanket said:

I don't believe there is a single fake daiwa or shimano. When you read the AI answers, you need to visit links it gives you. Plenty of times it'll give you a link that has nothing to do with the question you've asked, and the source ends up being a random reddit post, or something stupid.

Cloning reels to look as good as what Shimano and Daiwa releases is simply not worth it for those companies. Profit margins are minimal, better invest that time and resources into cloning Omega's & Rolex's, and swim in cash.

Did some googling, and as i assumed, when AI tells you that there's plenty of conterfeit calcutta's for $50-150, its referring to those noname brands that "borrow" the shape of it, to make it look similarlish. Its nowhere near identical looking, so unless you have no idea how the real thing is supposed to look like, it's impossible to be fooled.

This is what AI considers are a clone that is identical to the real thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iyYWX8EwCg

No, I am not talking about what AI tells me. I am talking about the contents of many posts on the largest China used market online platform. I am not sure if I am allowed to post that website here, but there's only one largest used market platform in China and you can google it. Once you're there, just search keyword "国产CQ" and you'll see all these posts and pictures, if you don't mind reading Chinese. Then, you can make your own judgement whether they exist or not.