Real vs Fake. Where do You Draw the Line?

[ChetlovesMer]

I know this topic has been covered before, but with the inflation and other economic factors perhaps things have changed. Either in reality or at least in your mind. 

A long time ago, the company I worked for had one of their products flat out copied by the competition. I remember being less offended and more amused because they even copied the products weak points and it would have been very easy to have actually copied and improved upon it at the same time. Anyway, as a degreed engineer I've always been against copying products and bringing them to market, especially in situations where they are marketed as "Just as good as, but without the high price". My thought on that is you never know how much engineering time, effort and/or expense went into that product. So, to say company X or company Y is ripping off the public, is easy to say but may or may not be true. 

Where do you draw the line at purchasing fake golf products. 

 

 

[boogielicious]

I don’t buy fakes. It’s not worth it and also, you can’t sell it. Life’s to short to waste time saving a few bucks.

[iacas]

I'd have picked the first two reasons if I could have.

[GolfLug]

Fake is stealing IP or brand equity. Can't perpetuate the steal. 

[klineka]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

I'd have picked the first two reasons if I could have.

Same. I don't think it's right plus the fake product is most likely going to be inferior too. 

[ChetlovesMer]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

I'd have picked the first two reasons if I could have.

Oops, I meant to turn on the vote for as many as apply button. 

Personally I wouldn't buy fakes either. I've heard many people say they buy fakes because the manufacturers are charging too much for their product. So they feel that this is their way of "sticking it to the man". ... as if anyone still uses that phrase. 

However, in my opinion, manufacturers should be allowed to charge what ever price their product will demand. Those who manufacture fakes in my opinion are the same as stealing. They are stealing the engineers and marketing folks time and effort without paying for it.

There's a great big world of second and third hand clubs out there which will perform very well for those who don't wish to pay new club prices. 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Oops, I meant to turn on the vote for as many as apply button. 

I changed it. You can "Show Vote Options" to change your vote.

[nvkevin]

On 12/15/2023 at 1:16 PM, ChetlovesMer said:

Oops, I meant to turn on the vote for as many as apply button. 

Personally I wouldn't buy fakes either. I've heard many people say they buy fakes because the manufacturers are charging too much for their product. So they feel that this is their way of "sticking it to the man". ... as if anyone still uses that phrase. 

However, in my opinion, manufacturers should be allowed to charge what ever price their product will demand. Those who manufacture fakes in my opinion are the same as stealing. They are stealing the engineers and marketing folks time and effort without paying for it.

There's a great big world of second and third hand clubs out there which will perform very well for those who don't wish to pay new club prices. 

I agree with everything in this post. If consumers are willing to pay what the manufacturer is asking for their product, then they should continue to ask that price. People that purchase fake products as a way of saving money and not giving their money to higher priced manufacturers aren’t really saving money at all. I don’t have facts to back up this claim, but I would bet a fair amount of money that the knockoffs don’t perform as well, or last as long, as the name brands.