​Counterfeit Goods: Why They Are Too Good To Be True

Many people assume that purchasing a counterfeit good isn’t a big deal. They see it as an economical option, but likely don’t understand that counterfeit goods impact U.S. businesses AND consumers. In addition, many people don’t realize it is illegal to knowingly purchase counterfeit goods. Some product listings on e-commerce websites try to get creative with verbiage to mislead customers into thinking the product is real. Some listings will say it ships from U.S. cities, but sometimes when the product arrives the return address on the label is in a foreign country. They try to be sneaky with listings by eliminating where the item was manufactured and misrepresenting the point of departure for the item. When something is questionable or sounds too good to be true: it is, and you need to walk away.

Every form of industry has counterfeits that make their way to the U.S. The firearms industry isn’t immune to this and some accessories are easier to copy and export to the U.S. than others. We see our vertical foregrips constantly being knocked off. Occasionally someone will send us a grip for evaluation because something broke. Once it arrives at our facility, we see the grip is counterfeit, so we can’t fix it. TangoDown® Inc. CAN’T repair, replace, or exchange counterfeit products. Some of the counterfeits actually appear to be very close copies and others are just a complete disaster. Even though counterfeits sound like a smoking deal in the beginning; ultimately, you’ll spend more in the long run when the product begins to fail.

Example of Counterfeit

Imagine if you started a business. You’ve invested time and money into your product, intellectual property, etc. Starting a business is incredibly expensive, so you may have spent your life savings or taken out loans. Then some random entity abroad decides they like your idea and decide to copy every-single-thing you’ve done to steal money from your pocket. You’d probably be a bit annoyed, to describe it mildly.

 Real TangoDown® Inc. Grip

**Per the CBP/DHS FY2017 statistics, the MSRP value of seized counterfeit goods was $1,206,382,219! Yes, that is over a BILLION dollars. This is the MSRP of just seized goods, so imagine how much higher this number would be if every counterfeit item had been seized. This is where businesses and consumers get burned due to other people’s inability to design their own products. This leads to businesses having to increase pricing for their products, which ultimately gets passed to the consumer. It doesn’t matter how large or small the company is, the counterfeit market impacts them all.

CBP/DHS will never be able to eliminate the number of counterfeit items that make their way onto retail websites, but those of us acting as consumers can put the dent into the counterfeiter’s pockets by not purchasing their knockoffs.

Whether you’re shopping for firearms components, housewares, clothing, or watches – always be aware of what you’re purchasing and purchase from reputable sources. If something seems too good to be true, walk away. If there’s something you want badly but the budget doesn’t allow, save for it so you can buy the real thing and save money in the long run. Shop smart!

If you ever have questions about a grip you found on another retail website, please email us the link using Sales@TangoDown.com and we’re happy to take a look at it. If you believe you own a counterfeit grip you can also contact us to obtain information on how to have it evaluated for authenticity.

We thank you all for your business!

**To learn more about the CBP/DHS FY2017 stats visit: https://www.cbp.gov/document/stats/fy-2017-ipr-seizure-statistics

To learn about what CBP/DHS resources are available to businesses visit:

https://www.cbp.gov/FakeGoodsRealDangers

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/priority-issues/ipr/protection