Counterfeit Bilsteins?

I've started to shop around for a set of 4600s. Rock Auto is out of stock. I found a great deal on this set, however, it seems almost too good to be true. The price is ~ $60 less than anything else I've seen. Do you think they're legit?

$345 Bilstein 4600 Monotube Gas OEM Shocks Set for 2000-2006 Toyota Tundra 2WD 4WD

https://www.amazon.com/Bilstein-4600-Monotube-Gas-Shocks/dp/B01DEAMHRQ

 

Looks legit to me, and they appear to be sold by Amazon and not a third party for what that’s worth.
Has anyone seen counterfeit Bilstein around?

 

Why go with an unauthorized dealer like Amazon that doesn't support the manufacturer's warranty or provide one of their own?

Unless you don't care about that.

 

I had a buddy get counterfeit spark plugs on the Zon the other day....I wouldn't trust it....but that's me.

 

I got a fake/counterfeit Maglula UpLULA Pistol Magazine Loader that was sold by Amazon not a third party. Maglula paid me $50 to send them the fake and my Amazon receipt showing sold by Amazon. Amazon also refunded my money and said keep the fake although they wouldn't knowledge it was a fake. Amazon also deleted my 1 star review saying they sold me a fake.

 

At least you ended up getting refunded. I’ve got a counterfeit Spyderco collection going for fun ;-)

I just haven’t heard of counterfeit Bilsteins (yet), has anyone? They’re not ridiculously cheap or anything.

 

Have you checked Summit Racing?

 

Why do so many people keep supporting Amazon? It's not even guaranteed two day shipping anymore. We've got to do a better job of spreading the wealth around and not supporting these mega corporations all the time.

 

Shock Surplus is a decent Bilstein vendor and they'll usually throw $10 off your order.

I've got a pair of rear 5100's from them with ~5,000 I may be taking off soon if you're interested.

 

Amazon has terrible QC. They don't check or confirm with their supplier or vendor on the authenticity of their products. I've bought shipped and sold by Amazon before and received counterfeit Yeti products. The markings and tags were all wrong. I honestly don't buy anything of high value from Amazon anymore simply because I hear stories of too many counterfeit products sold on there.

 

Waiting for Shifty to roll in. Never buy Toyota parts on Amazon

 

Because its cheap and easy?? The usual reason people shop at one place over another.

 

So, Bilstein has given The Corner a series of images which will help to identify fakes. Here are some of the key differences:

CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE? It’s easy, really… the fake Bilstein is 40mm longer (top) and has a glossy black finish. The real deal (bottom) is classier, shorter and has a satin black finish and the correct stickers. Image: Bilstein/Motorpress

• The 40cm extra length of the fake assembly.
• A Bilstein unit’s remote valve cylinder is invisibly laser-welded to the damping tube; the fake has uneven spot-welding.
• The Bilstein yoke which straddles the suspension arm has an open tube pressed on to the shock body and is welded above and below. The fake has a casting closed at the bottom, a longer boss and is welded to the shock body on the upper side only.
• Viewed from below, the genuine part has a dimple in the centre of the end cap; the fake is smooth.
• The edge of the bellows on the Bilstein unit is precisely aligned to the steel crimping ring. Extra crimping marks and a large and/or irregular overlap of the rubber are tell-tale signs of a fake.
• The Bilstein has a satin black finish; the fake is gloss black.
• Bilstein’s trademark blue-and-yellow colours are prominent on information stickers. Text includes the part number and the word “Germany”. The fake says variously “High Quality”, “New Shock Absorbers” [sic] and “New Product”.
• Some of the above differences are only apparent by removing and examining the unit carefully but one of the most obvious – and important – giveaways in situ is the area at the bottom of the damper where the fork joins the tube. The fake has a longer boss which is clearly welded to the tube on the upper side.

 

We were anti Amazon for a few years until I needed bar nuts for one of my saws. Local dealer who I’ve bought all my saws and tractor from told me 2 weeks. From Amazon I had them in 14 hours.

 

Don't wait for Shifty, take it from me that you don't want to be buying anything from Scamazon if you are looking for anything specific. I finally sent them down the road when they sent me fake pencils. Pencils for crying out loud, the German ones used by just about every kid in Europe and all discerning adults thereafter, for some reason impossible to find in stores on this side of the pond despite the fact that you can find Staedtler pens everywhere here. The pictures these scammers put up are of the real thing but the shit they send is not.
Even if they do send you genuine stuff it's usually factory seconds that the manufacturer can't get rid of. Even the Wrangler work pants I bought from them were of lighter weight material than the ones I've bought in the stores.

Books are about the only thing I might have ever been tempted to use them for but I like to see my local bookstores stay open and am willing to pay their prices for the privilege.

TLDR: Amazon can go f*** themselves.

 

I don’t trust anything from Amazon anymore. I once ordered an OtterBox for my phone that had OterBox printed on the back and a pair of Merrell shoe laces that had Merell printed on them…

Nah, the heck with Amazon…

 

I’ve seen several fake parts come from Amazon - sold and shipped by amazon. Some of them fooled me u til I wised up, some were easy to spot as fakes.

I ended up with a pile of fake m18 batteries of FleaBay that were priced just right to make one think they were legit. They showed up and looked VERY legit. Blister packs, part numbers, serial numbers, good printing on the packages, battery weight felt right… color was very good but not quite there on the red.

But after having it out of the pack for 30 seconds I could tell it was a fake. But I’d bet 9 out of 10 wouldn’t know the difference. The red was slightly off (and I mean very slightly), the battery meter cadence was off when checking the charge, the battery was fully charged when it showed up (Milwaukee doesn’t do that - at least not for years), and you could see the cells through a drainage hole in the bottom of the pack (the cells are duly enclosed on real batteries).

I sent a notice to the seller that I’d like to return them as either “defective or not authentic” listing the above reasons. They offered to refund me 50% and I keep the batteries. Knowing they must be piles of hud, I asked for a full refund. After receiving them, they refunded half my money and claimed I kept half the batteries and sent back the rest opened up and broke. They then sent me pictures of the wrong batteries pulled apart. I pointed out the differences between what I ordered and the pics they sent me (the wrong battery type being printed clearly on the front of their batteries but they still refused. Had to get eBay to intervene, which to their credit, they did swiftly. But it was a pain. I also informed Milwaukee of very legit looking knockoffs but they didn’t feel like responding.

My point is - go buy from a legitimate vendor.

 

This is why I only order things through Amazon Prime. Free Returns for everything, regardless of the reason.

Honestly, I don't know how I would live without amazon. The local city here is terrible. You can spend hours and hours driving around and never find what you want if its something specific. Amazon may have its problems, but its 100 times better than the alternatives here.

 

This rubs me the wrong way. So the only way to assure that you don't get screwed over is by having a return policy that you must pay $139 a year to have access to? In the end Amazon wins. I quit my Amazon prime 2 years ago when I started to noticed that I stopped buying things off Amazon and that their streaming services weren't that good. I'm not staunchly against Amazon but I hardly ever buy anything from them anymore unless it's a cheap phone case.

 

Fair enough, there are knock off Bilstein products going around.
If you’re worried about them being fake, don’t buy them, that’s not that much of a savings to chance it. Wait for a legit store to have a sale. Or, go for it and thoroughly scrutinize them when they arrive and if they’re suspect return them for free.

 

I spend $5K....at least a year there...so prime is nothing in comparison.

We probably spend upwards of $5K a year on Amazon, so prime is nothing in comparison. Anything thats not food, or lumber....pretty much I buy on amazon.

Really, what it is is a blanket return policy, that covers sellers who may not have a return policy of their own.

Remember, amazon itself makes and owns almost nothing...mostly they are just a facilitator for sellers. Some of which suck. Prime is just insurance against that third party. The stuff Amazon itself sells is not a problem either way.

 

I only buy cheap knock off items from Amazon.

I watched a video on arbitrage, and started doing my own checking. Amazon is often much more expensive than Walmart, Target Costco.

 

Prosecution for fraud? Maybe it's time for a federal Sherman Anti-Trust Act break up of Amazon into 200 different companies?

Not sure I'm serious, but....

 

Fwiw, I live an hour from town which means a two hour round trip just to get there. The stock and choices at so many business are very limited and too often, I can't get what I need from local and big box stores. The online inventory is virtually unlimited. IMO, the root problem is fraud, and China.

 

I use Amazon frequently. I live in a major metro area, so deliveries are often the next day, and sometimes even the same day! I comparison shop very carefully, and only buy from Amazon if their price is lower than the other options (considering the free delivery as well). I have made literally hundreds of purchases, but have only had problems/returns a handful of times. Returns/refunds are easy...no questions asked.

That said, I read this board nearly every day, and I have learned NOT to buy critical auto parts from Amazon. Given that these Bilsteins appear to be a bargain I'm tempted to just buy them, and return them if I'm not happy. However, I'm not sure that I could tell if they were counterfeit, or not. What I was hoping to get back from this thread was someone's first hand experience..."I had counterfeit shocks, and here's how I could tell the difference". Failing that, I won't take the risk.

PS. I bought my last full set of Bilsteins at shockwarehouse.com. I'd buy them from Rock Auto, but they have no stock

Next best deal:

https://www.shocksurplus.com/produc...em-shocks-set-2000-2006-toyota-tundra-2wd-4wd

 

It's cheap? It used to be cheaper, but nowadays you can find same sh*t locally for less money.

 

I can't find the same stuff locally for any amount of money. Thats the thing that I find Amazon is just amazing at...if I need some weird highly specific piece of plastic to fix my 20 year old refrigerator, amazon has it. If I need six square feet of 2oz vegetable tanned leather and some gelatin powder to make glue for it, amazon has it. Pine Rosin to re-seal a costrel? Yep, amazon. 180 grit deburring wheel?...no problem. 100 grams of pure maganese? Yep. New tailgate cables for my Tundra? Just add them to the last order.

And usually I get the stuff in less than a couple weeks.

Not saying there are no problems....but amazon is absolutely indispensable for me.

 

No doubts! But it used to be cheaper than Home Depot, Sears, True Value, etc. Not anymore. We rely on Amazon for perhaps 99% of our home purchases since 2010, and we do see a trend that Amazon raises its prices for no clear reason besides greed.

 

Indeed. Systemic problem across the board though...this is part of why I drive a 23 year old truck.

 

Been out of the country with the kids the last 7 days, and it looks like most of the bases are covered already. Doesn't matter who it's 'sold by' either. If it's fulfilled/shipped by Amazon, you're at risk.

Plus the other perks. Prime Video, etc. It's saved me the yearly membership in time and money on returning items I didn't like, was suspicious of, etc.

I'd love to see a class action, honestly. It's blatantly obvious they're more concerned with making money than validating their supply chain to avoid fakes, and they will never make a legitimate, substantial effort to protect visitors shopping via their platform from receiving counterfeits. It's stupid shit like this from businesses that forces us into more regulations, more laws ... because a tiny percentage of bad actors don't want to do what's right because it'll cut into their profit margins.