Ebay flooded with fake Seymour Duncan pickups from China

Mr. B

Mr. B

New member
Lately there have been dozens of postings with obviously fake Seymour Duncan pickups from China on Ebay. I filed a report on several of them because I hate to think that a lot of buyers are going to be taken advantage of. In every case Ebay's finding was that the counterfeit product "didn't violate their terms". Seems like a great way to eventually lose ALL of your customers because they cannot trust anything on your platform to be legit. Maybe it is better for consumers if all factories start selling direct like Fender has recently.
 
This got me curious so I checked my EBay purchase history and it looks like I bought a SSL-2 back in January. I don’t remember having any issues with it though. How can I tell if it is fake?
 
If I buy pickups online, it's always from US based sellers with good reputation, like e.g. on ebay from phantom48 or squid music. Over here in Australia the local stores are charging an arm & a leg for Duncans. Plus, I would never, ever trust ebay, amazon or other online shop to guarantee the authenticity of a product coming from mainland China. They're all in the business on making money, honesty and ethics don't matter. Caveat emptor.
 
Buying online is pretty safe, as long as it is an authorized dealer. Unfortunately, people who buy fake pickups want a ridiculous deal, and/or don't care if they are fake...they just want bragging rights on their branded pickups.
 
Most of them are very obviously fake to someone who knows what a real Duncan pickup looks like: No embossed baseplate, wrong wiring colors, stickers in the wrong spot and cheap looking, cheap looking bobbin logo etc. I just feel bad for people who don't know what they are supposed to look like. If too many of these start circulating it could give Seymour a reputation for bad tone because players run into these fakes all the time. I have never seen so many auctions for fake pickups (and guitars) from China, and apparently Ebay does not give a crap, even though it is a blatant violation of the law.
 
OsvyRock said:
I'm attaching a screenshot of his eBay Page.
He's US based, and I have made purchases to him in the past.
Look at his reviews. 100% Positive.
https://www.ebay.com/str/pilgrimsprojects
He also provides a 30 days money back guarantee policy to either try something different from Duncan or get your money back.
Click to expand...

Seems pretty legit to me.

Thing is, there is no shortage of people who want a JB and Jazz for $20.
 
The main problem for Duncan and other retailers is that when someone buys a fake Duncan pickup that doesn’t work well, they quickly complain about the brand and product on social media and forums. Another issue is when people knowingly buy a fake and then convince themselves and others that it’s as good or better than the original for a lower price. Both situations can hurt Duncan’s revenue and negatively impact the company’s reputation and finances.
 
Securb said:
The main problem for Duncan and other retailers is that when someone buys a fake Duncan pickup that doesn’t work well, they quickly complain about the brand and product on social media and forums. Another issue is when people knowingly buy a fake and then convince themselves and others that it’s as good or better than the original for a lower price. Both situations can hurt Duncan’s revenue and negatively impact the company’s reputation and finances.
Click to expand...

We haven't seen a lot of that. People who willingly buy $20 fake pickups aren't all that engaged in the guitar social media eco-system
 
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