Fullthrottleguy
Site Sponsor
- May 5, 2021
- 1,104
- 1,486
That hits the nail on the head ... I just read a couple weeks ago a SEMA blog (I need to find the url) that was saying that nearly all the non "big retailers" like autozone and O' Reilly etc. are buying parts through distributors and not from the companies like Bosch, NGK, AC Delco etc. direct and in the past these distributors were buying from companies direct, but "some" are buying from "off shore" distributors and they were saying that Bosch in particular since the stuff is mostly made outside the USA is almost always a Knock off.
They said MANY online retailers buy from off shore distributors so you should ALWAYS only buy from people authorized on the manufacturers website and of course they site Autometer, MSD, and aeromotive as the most knocked off performance products
Basically we are screwed ...
I use Rockauto a lot to get parts at prices below the Autozones when I have the time to wait and use Amazon for things like "jegs" when its more convenient or if I know the seller and they are "authorized" But being authorized does not mean you can't still buy from a Chinese distributor ...
http://thecounterfeitreport.com is an interesting site
Quoting that site:
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) did an undercover investigation of online ecommerce sites and found that 50 percent of the goods it purchased online were counterfeits (including parts purchased from Amazon, ebay and even Walmart!).
According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Homeland Security Administration, fake parts from China have been flooding the U.S. In 2016, U.S. customs officials seized 31,560 shipments of counterfeit goods worth $1.4 billion -- which unfortunately was only the tip of the iceberg. One shipping container held over 10,000 fake Nissan replacement parts. Yet in spite of the enforcement efforts, most of the fake parts that are shipped to the U.S. slip through customs undetected.
Some sources estimate that counterfeit auto parts are costing the legitimate automotive parts industry over $20 billion dollars in lost revenue every year!
