[PDLM]

Originally Posted by pumi23

how do you distinguish between authentic and fakes?
for most people its impossible to see the difference

If you can't tell the difference why does it matter whether it is "real" or "fake" there is no meaningful difference between the two...

[pumi23]

oh it matters. as i would like to sell them on ebay and fakes are not allowed there. i mentioned before in this thread that i bought some emily the strange shirts and got huge trouble.
so i dont want to make this experience again ;-)

[PDLM]

But if they are identical (made at the same factory, from the same materials, by the same people on the same machines) but shipped out of the back door then what exactly is it that makes them fake "fake"? And how could anyone ever tell?

[pumi23]

because they are not authorized items. so you would commit a crime if you sell them.

[PDLM]

Really? What crime is that then? (I'm talking here about somebody buying it second or third hand on ebay, not the person who ships it out of the back door of the factory).

[pumi23]

come on....this isnt so difficult to understand!

you sell items that are not authorized to sell. the buyer isnt guilty, but you are and thats what im talking about. the buyer thinks he get a real authentic item.

you also cannot sell stolen items and then say "oh, the other one stole them, i only sell them"

[beachball]

pumi, that sounds like BS to me. You can sell pretty much anything you like privately, even fake or 'stolen' items. The key is what representations you make to the buyer. If you claim that the item is authentic or if you post it on sites that do not allow fakes (and presumably charge corresponding prices) then you are making such a representation and (obviously) could get into trouble.
Stuff in places like these markets is cheap because people have a lower willingness to pay for one or more of the following reasons:
1. Potentially fake,
2. Potentially stolen
3. No fancy retail surroundings and pleasant shopping experience

It is important to note that only very few of the goods for sale are actually stolen. They might be fake and the trademark/brand infringed and buying, owning, and selling them (the latter in a non-commercial way and subject to the representation issue above) is entirely legal.

If you want to continue to run a ‘price arbitrage’ between the street markets in Hong Kong and, say, the ebay market, then you better make sure that the goods that you are buying are not counterfeit. If you cannot, then you probably should not be in this ‘business’ – or, at the very least, you might have to assume the risk of getting caught selling fakes again…

[bloated.egos]

yea i dont think selling potential fakes or even fakes is a crime. there are prolly millions of fakes in ebay now. if registered stores are allowed to sell the clothings openly why cant we do it personally ?

[pumi23]

easy to answer: because there are other laws in western countries.... laws that protect the copyrights and work of individuals.

dont forget: hong kong still belongs to china!

and about your statement that a registered shop is allowed to sell them: believe me, they are not allowed to sell them. the government has huge problems to find all of them. they just close down and open at another place again.

never say: others do, so youre allowed to do it too

[Alby]

Fakes or just shipments that were denied or refused for quality purposes.

Quality is typically checked by just looking at a half dozen or so samples taken from a batch that was produced. If the quality is found to be poor by the Quality Control Officer inspecting the selected items then the entire batch is rejected - these rejects then end up in a number of shops on Grandville Rd in TST, random shops in Mong Kok, Jordan, WanChain and Causeway Bay.

So if you look you can find top quality real stuff for bottom dollar and if you are really lucky you get invited to the invitation only factory shopping. This is where a number of these real top quality items that were part of a denied batch end up in areas such as Sham Shui Po and Kwun Tong.