Chinese knock off products

[tomvason]

I would like to hear anyone's experiences with the many Chinese knock offs. Since I'm a novice, but I'm trying to learn, it is tempting to purchase cheap stuff that clearly says "from China" (on ebay as well as other websites).

I understand the major problem the Chinese knock offs pose. I collected guitars for many years and know a lot of collectors. I had a friend who lost close to 150,000 by purchasing a counterfeit "Gibson custom shop Les Paul." It was so good that the only way the truth was eventually uncovered was to take it to Gibson and take it apart for a complete examination. I say all of that to say, I understand the problem and the serious nature of it.

I also understand why it is tempting to want to purchase the knock off products, because the real things are often very expensive (e.g. Joe Porper Linking Finger Rings, real thing $500, knock off $40). So, I would love to hear what experiences anyone has had with these knock off products (good or bad). Oh, one reason for this is that I recently had an owner of a magic shop tell me that he prefers the Chinese products because he thinks the prices are more reasonable and many times they are, (his words) "even better than the real thing." Well, I did not take him up on it. I'm a novice, but not that much of one.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Chinese products because he thinks the prices are more reasonable and many times they are, (his words) "even better than the real thing."

I would avoid that shop completely, personally.

Purchasing a knock off from any country means you are actively discouraging creators from releasing their ideas, you are participating in the rampant piracy and intellectual property theft of the magic world, and you're probably supporting a company that pays its workers as little as possible to make inferior copies of products.

Yes, magic is sometimes quite expensive for not much. But you're not (usually) paying for the physical product. You're paying for the secret of how to do the routine. If you don't think it's worth what the creator wants you to pay for it, then skip that routine.

There's plenty of material out there that all it takes is a little creativity and you never have to purchase another person's product, ever. You could create all your own material. So any time someone decides to purposely purchase a cheaper knock off, I think that person is just being a greedy, selfish jerk.

 

[obrienmagic]

I would say not to for both ethical and practical reasons. Ethically it sucks to buy a counterfeit or knock off of another product, but practically it will prolly not last you anywhere as near as the original would.