Fakes and the recession

[Whiskytaster]

Has anyone come accross any fakes recently?

There was talk a while back about the risk of the recession triggering more fakes to come onto the market with people wanting to make a quick buck....

[johan brugge]

Yeah, as I've said before I got conned early this year. I bought two 'rare bottles' on e-bay from an Italian seller. They both turned out to be fakes. One was a better than the other but it was obvious. It was my own fault of course but now I do things differently.

[Aidan]

Yeah, as I've said before I got conned early this year. I bought two 'rare bottles' on e-bay from an Italian seller. They both turned out to be fakes. One was a better than the other but it was obvious. It was my own fault of course but now I do things differently.

Did you get your money back?

[johan brugge]

No. I payed with an international bank transfer. I filed a complaint with the police and e-bay. All they did was cancel his account ...

[wolpertinger]

Maybe I should not say this loud, but stay away from Macallan, Ardbeg, G&M Talisker and Springbank on ebay and you're probably fine. IMHO 90% of all fakes are bottles of those 4. Especially if they wear an Italian tax mark. The fakers seem to love these distilleries.

[DukeofSandwich]

There were a whole bunch of fakes on US ebay from Italian sellers recently. Like Sheriffs' Bowmore's with $200 sell it now prices. And many G&M Talisker's, which are now being resold by legitimate stores like below, which is very concerning:

http://www.thewhiskyvault.com/talisker- ... -258-p.asp

I know that we shouldn't educate the fakers with posting too much, but they are clearly morons if they have the equipment but can't get it right with pictures of a real bottles freely available on the internet. I think we do more good by educating buyers now so the fakers lose their investment in the current round of fakes, rather than keeping it secret, which protects the very knowledgeable but allows others to continue to buy fakes and gives the fakers capital to do more. Because if store owners like above don't know what's wrong with that Talisker, then there is no safe place to buy old bottles.

[johan brugge]

Maybe I should not say this loud, but stay away from Macallan, Ardbeg, G&M Talisker and Springbank on ebay and you're probably fine. IMHO 90% of all fakes are bottles of those 4. Especially if they wear an Italian tax mark. The fakers seem to love these distilleries.

You forget Laphroaig (especially the 30yo). I would suggest not to buy on e-bay but in a registered (online)shop. Check it's credentials first if you can before you buy anything. I prefer to pay (sometimes much) more from trustworthy shop than from e-bay. At least I know it's a genuine bottle. They say: "If it's too good to be true, it usually is". I've learned my lesson.

[Ardbeg311]

I live in Italy and I would avoid ebay bottles from Italy. This is regretful as I am sure I miss out on some great buys from honest sellers here. The risk is simply too great. Italy has some famous and legitimate whisky shops, but I don't think any of them offer bottles for sale on ebay.

[kyorke1]

Yeah, as I've said before I got conned early this year. I bought two 'rare bottles' on e-bay from an Italian seller. They both turned out to be fakes. One was a better than the other but it was obvious. It was my own fault of course but now I do things differently.

Im sorry to hear that Johan, it must be mortifying. After hearing horror stories like this I am even more reluctant to buy any whisky on ebay especially when there seems to be hardly any deterrent to actually selling fakes on ebay. Evidently ebay aren't in a position to do much about it nor seem to be inclined to do more either. I think I'll stick to whiskyauction.com perhaps not quite the same savings but more reliability.

[laph66]

hi please read on whiskyfun and in facebook (whisky lovers united ) there are the name of italian fakers . i repeat are 3 and they have about 20-25 nick name but are always these 3 stupid person .

my idea is to buy from these guy and dont pay so they loose money (fees on ebay) .

rules : dont buy at cheap prices rare bottles if easy that others buyers know the sellers and not buy .

if you have any question please write me, we wpuld like to stop these 3 person

like obama (yes we can)

ciao
laph

[laph66]

only 2 words about italy :
in italy there are about 90 % of old rares bottles and 99% are good and original bottles .
the fakes are only 1 % or less and come ever from these 3 bad sellers .

in italy there are some famous shop that give warranty on his bottles

so please dont speak bad about italian in general but think about this

thank
so much

laph