Fake Strings on ebay

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Looks like scumbags are counterfeiting 'normal' strings now — not just the expensive ones like elixirs.

 

I bought on ebay three packs of d'addario EJ15 .010-.047 phosphor bronze strings for my new (to me) guild acoustic guitar.

 

I thought it odd that the seller sent the following message the day after I placed the order:

 

 

This raised suspicions, as if they knew there will be a problem. Obviously reporting any problems without going through via ebay is a no-no and raises a huge red flag.

 

The strings turned up today with the card outer sleeve looking absolutely correct, and the silver/grey inner bag also printed as expected and looking genuine, however the serial/players circle code on each is identical, and when entered on the d'addario website, the number was shown to be genuine but one that had already been redeemed.

 

 

I have reported to d'addario and raised a return on ebay (despite the seller pre-emptively saying not to) and I am currently waiting to hear back.

 

Might have to take a walk down to the local music shop tomorrow to get some real ones.

[Lozz196]

I’m fairly sure a set of Elixirs I bought on EBay are fakes, for some reason the D has gone a very dark charcoal colour where the rest have stayed as they should.

[Sean]

Been there, done that. Scumbags.

We all know to support our own, Rotosound/Legacy through Stringsdirect.co.uk or Newtone Strings inthe North of England.

 

Others available.

[Lozz196]

I’ve generally bought off EBay as that’s been the only place selling the ones I want, fortunately Strings Direct are now stocking them so I’ll go back to them, always had good service from them. 

[Burns-bass]

You can buy knock off strings on Temu and Alibaba. It’s a shame but some people will take advantage of our good nature.

[jazzyvee]

I unwittingly bought some sets of fake d'addario strings a few years back. Unfortunately they were to keep in my spares box and was probably about 6 months before i got round to installing them and the ball end had loads of sharp bits of the winding poking out of the wrap. Since i'd never seen that on d'addario's i emailed them with photos and the packaging and they told me they were fake. Contracted Ebay but it was too late to get any action taken. 

Never bought strings on ebay since. 

[Rayman]

I only buy via strings direct or from Newtone directly. Amazon and EBay are an absolute no no in my experience.

[prowla]

eBay don't care about fakes anymore; I received the following response when I reported some counterfeit items:

 

     

 

I had a back-and-forth conversation with them last week to try and pursue the matter, but they just shrugged their shoulders and the items are still up for sale.

 

Ironically, they are just about to bring in their buyer assurance charges at the start of Feb; there seems to be a bit of a disconnect there.

 

I've decided to step away from eBay, as I just don't trust their artificial integrity.

 

The problem with an automated learning system is if you don't correct its mistakes then it will tend to reinforce its erroneous behaviour.

 

 

[BigRedX]

Why would anyone buy strings from eBay?

 

As far as I am concerned eBay is for buying second hand items only, and I wouldn't want to buy used strings.

[SteveXFR]

16 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

Looks like scumbags are counterfeiting 'normal' strings now — not just the expensive ones like elixirs.

 

I bought on ebay three packs of d'addario EJ15 .010-.047 phosphor bronze strings for my new (to me) guild acoustic guitar.

 

I thought it odd that the seller sent the following message the day after I placed the order:

 

 

This raised suspicions, as if they knew there will be a problem. Obviously reporting any problems without going through via ebay is a no-no and raises a huge red flag.

 

The strings turned up today with the card outer sleeve looking absolutely correct, and the silver/grey inner bag also printed as expected and looking genuine, however the serial/players circle code on each is identical, and when entered on the d'addario website, the number was shown to be genuine but one that had already been redeemed.

 

 

I have reported to d'addario and raised a return on ebay (despite the seller pre-emptively saying not to) and I am currently waiting to hear back.

 

Might have to take a walk down to the local music shop tomorrow to get some real ones.

 

Those plastic packages don't look quite right. I got some yesterday from Strings Direct and they look different. 

[Sean]

14 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Why would anyone buy strings from eBay?

 

As far as I am concerned eBay is for buying second hand items only, and I wouldn't want to buy used strings.

 

I love a lightly-used flat-wound. All my used strings are bought through this very site 🫠

Edited 9 hours ago by Sean

[lemmywinks]

AliExpress is full of knockoff D'addarios.

 

Two things I only ever buy from dedicated sellers are strings and higher capacity SD cards, too many fakes out there.

[Matt P]

if you're looking for light gauge acoustic strings, I can highly recommend the Newtone heritage strings, they're lower tension and balanced, the total tension on their 12's is less than 11's from other companies, and the 11's will be lower overall tension than the D'addario 10's but without some of the tinniness i've found from very light strings.

 

I've been using the 12's for 15 years now and have also got a few of my friends hooked on them as well.

 

as a bonus you can get them direct from the maker.

[Kev]

7 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Why would anyone buy strings from eBay?

 

As far as I am concerned eBay is for buying second hand items only, and I wouldn't want to buy used strings.

Plenty of small businesses rely on eBay as a way of selling their products without having their own online presence.  There are many eBay accounts that are licensed dealers 👍

[Kev]

30 minutes ago, Matt P said:

if you're looking for light gauge acoustic strings, I can highly recommend the Newtone heritage strings, they're lower tension and balanced, the total tension on their 12's is less than 11's from other companies, and the 11's will be lower overall tension than the D'addario 10's but without some of the tinniness i've found from very light strings.

 

I've been using the 12's for 15 years now and have also got a few of my friends hooked on them as well.

 

as a bonus you can get them direct from the maker.

I wish I could use Newtone, but sadly my only experiences with them have been negative.

 

I think I've used them three times.  Each time the order has taken over 2 weeks, over their own estimate but not the end of the world for handmade to order strings.  But each order has also been wrong.  Wrong gauges, string missing, no taper, with another 2 weeks to have it resolved.  I recall finding the strings a little unbalanced tonally as well between gauges.  It's a shame, and by all accounts people generally don't seem to have an issue, but these orders were spread over 10 years or so and to have 3 consecutive problems has just put me right off sadly.

Edited 15 hours ago by Kev
Spelling ughs...

[Boodang]

23 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

 

Might have to take a walk down to the local music shop tomorrow to get some real ones.

Should we not be supporting our local music shops whenever we can?!

[pete.young]

23 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

 

 

Might have to take a walk down to the local music shop tomorrow to get some real ones.

 

I get my acoustic strings from Eagle Music. Fantastic service, only problem I had was with a banjo tailpiece and they put that right straight away.