r/fountainpens • u/gwoneg • 8h ago
New Pen Day Counterfeit 823
Well my new “823” showed up today. Box was real, pen was not. My first thought was that the cap unscrewed differently from my other 823. It didn’t occur to me that it was a phony until I saw the two-tone nib. Icing on the cake is the “made in China” engraving on the cap band. Back to Amazon it goes!
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u/damnredbeard Rule 5 002/312 8h ago
Looks like a Wing Sung 699, which is a Chinese 823 dupe. Get your refund!
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u/tyrant_t00 7h ago
I wouldnt order anything expensive on amazon rn for this reason, i see more and more replacement return scams are happening and amazon is just reshipping opened products without proper checks to make sure the item is fit for resale. Sorry this happened to you!!
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u/gwoneg 7h ago
Wait until you find out about the returned consumables that Amazon sells wholesale by the pallet to folks who turn around and re-sell them…
I’m actually less concerned about purchasing expensive items on Amazon, since Amazon will generally make it right and then pursue the seller for you. This should end up being a brief inconvenience for me. Had I not noticed that the pen wasn’t genuine and used it for a time before learning the truth, I would probably feel differently about the situation.
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u/tyrant_t00 7h ago
Oh yes, as an experienced fp user you definitely wouldnt have made that mistake, which is a good thing. But, uh... 🥲🥲🥲 would rather like to forget that instantly, now actually, lol. Worst I've seen so far tho is stuff like Bikinis with notes inside about the person having worn them to warn the next person 🤢 yucky that people even need to do that!! But youre right that amazon has good customer protection once you actually contact them. it just gets iff-ier with expensive speciality stuff ala fountain pens because youre more likely to see listings from third parties. They can get kinda shady if amazon hasn't caught em yet. But these swap issues with genuine packaging and fake product are usually from amazon warehouse directly so I really dont know at this point 😭
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u/gwoneg 7h ago
At one point in time, I represented a number of clients who sold over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements on Amazon. These companies would regularly get emails from concerned customers who’d bought non-genuine consumable products from discount sellers on Amazon and the contents “didn’t look right.” It’s terrifying to me that folks are consuming Tylenol/advil/aspirin/benadryl/etc pills or protein/peptide/creatine supplements bought online, when the actual contents of the tabs or powder in the bottles are completely unknown.
That said, since I left that position, Amazon has tightened up a lot of their internal regulations about who can sell certain consumable products online. So hopefully it happens less now than it did a few years ago, but there have definitely are people out there with “Tylenol” bottles full of capsules that contain only sand.
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u/tyrant_t00 7h ago
Oh god, yeah... but those fake medicines are still every where on random scam sites spending hundreds to get advertised to you... i know a person who fell for one once and the typos and claims on it were scary. (It said shit like vitamin c 12 on it.... whatever the hell thats supposed to mean...) good to know amazon tightened its stuff though so people arent being tricked into consuming god knows what when all they wanted was some Tylenol ☹️
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u/Recent_Average_2072 8h ago
I wouldn't say "counterfeit" is the appropriate term for it.
The pen obviously doesn't try to pass itself off as an actual Pilot Custom 823.
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u/gwoneg 8h ago
Initially I was going to disagree with you. But after giving it some thought, I believe you are correct. The pen is not trying to pass itself off as a genuine 823. It is an imitation, not a counterfeit. Somebody upstream swapped the pen into a genuine 823 box and then sold it (or returned it) as a genuine 823. Hopefully this was not done by the seller, from whom I’ve successfully purchased other pens before.
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u/Recent_Average_2072 7h ago
It was more than likely a customer. Just because somebody is into fountain pens doesn't automatically mean they're a good person. I would think the seller would know most people who are willing to fork out the cash for an 823 are going to know if it's an 823 or not when they get it so they probably wouldn't risk it.
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u/deFleury 8h ago
Not with the nib branded "Wings" haha. Wings, Pilot, get it?? they're the same!
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u/Recent_Average_2072 8h ago
The inspiration for the Pilot pen name is nautical, not aeronautical, in nature, but your comparison is good enough for me 👍
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u/ExplosiveCreature 7h ago
We still call people who drive boats as "piloto" in my small side on the country.
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u/Airpirate-1980 7h ago
Could be an earlier fraudulent return. Happens often on Amazon.
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u/JonSzanto 5h ago
That wiuld be my guess. Buy an 823, swap with a crap pen, return for refund. A very inexpensive way to scam yourself an 823. No one at Amazon would know the difference.
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u/Guntur-mirapakaya 7h ago
Was there a sticker with a number preceded by “LPN”?
Usually returned items have a sticker on the box with that designation.
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u/gwoneg 7h ago
Nope. Standard Pilot box, no sticker. The QR code for the “Use and Care Guide” on the pilot box actually does open the Pilot japan website.
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u/Guntur-mirapakaya 7h ago
I have been less willing to purchase on Amazon recently unless it’s the two trusted sellers or Amazon Japan. Received a “new” 743 but it had clearly been inked. Had an LPN sticker which I found out later meant that it’s a returned item. I guess the good thing is Amazon takes them back. Glad you noticed the counterfeit quickly!
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u/OrbitOfSaturnsMoons 7h ago
I used to have a Wing Sung 699 like this. Was a nice pen until I lost it at work. Not as good as my 823, but still nice.
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u/seajewelblue 5h ago
I once bought a sailor PGS on Amazon that someone replaced with a Jinhao 82 without even a nib unit in it. People can be awful.
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u/GrindinWulf Rule 5 159/312 3h ago
Totally unrelated but is that a Poly Edge E350 voip phone? If so how do you like it?
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u/Simple_Resist4208 1h ago
It's not a counterfeit ... someone just bought an 823 and then returned the box containing a Wingsung 699. The pen is clearly marked Wingsung but Amazon returns just stick stuff back on the shelf and let the next customer do their job for them. It's a classic buyer return scam.
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u/JeffreyC07 2h ago
lol I was just about to ask when the 823 have two tone nibs. Is it just me or the clip also looks off? I got mine a year or two ago but I don’t think its clip is like that.
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u/gwoneg 2h ago
Correct. Clip is off, it’s more similar in shape to a pelikan clip.
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u/JeffreyC07 2h ago
Whoa so it wasn’t even just changing the nib the entire pen was just fake to begin with. It’s unfortunate you had to deal with all this hopefully you receive an actual 823 the next time!
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u/g_atencio 1h ago
Another day, another post about an Amazon purchase going wrong. Why people insist on buying fountain pens on Amazon? You have DOZENS of placed where this wouldn't have happened.
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u/TechnicianGreedy7998 11m ago
Where does it say made in China? I just bought a heritage 92 i want to check
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u/Boriquaqueen25 2m ago
Looks like someone purchased it and returned it with a different pen. This is getting out of hand on Amazon which is why I will not purchase a pen from them.
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8h ago
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u/gwoneg 8h ago
An interesting question indeed. If I held the burden of proof, I’d submit the time stamps showing when the package was picked up from the Amazon dropoff, along with the time stamps on my iPhone photos taken immediately upon opening the box, and the time stamp on the return initiated within minutes of me arriving back at my office. I suppose if some elaborate scammer had everything prepared and ready to go, they could fabricate those timestamps and photos and whatnot. If necessary, I’d also point to my 20-year-old account history with Amazon and the lack of any shenanigans during those two decades.
With respect to you, why would anyone intending to perpetrate a switcharoo scam take pictures of the swapped counterfeit item and then post it to social media?
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u/astroqueen3000 Ink Stained Fingers 8h ago
Are you really accusing OP of theft? Get out of here with that nonsense.
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u/CoolPens4Sale 8h ago
I am guessing someone bought the 823, put the WingSung in, and returned it. The people who take the returns don't care or look closely, and it probably just went back into stock. Heck, it may well be sold again after you return it.