Fake vs. Real?

[jan2557]

Was in MBK today looking at tablets, a vendor quoted me a price of B9990 for a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 8.0, which I'd seen listed as B11,500 in Samsung and Jaymart brochures. When looking at the same model at another vendor, she asked me if I was interested in counterfeit or the real thing?

 

So is the B9990 tablet counterfeit or real? How can they sell it so cheap?

 

How can you tell the difference between counterfeit and the real thing?

 

And: looks like everything's cheaper in the US on amazon or best buy, plus you can get wifi only versions unavailable here; but I think if I ordered from abroad I'd just get socked on VAT & import taxes….

[Suradit69]

If Amazon will ship the item you want to Thailand, they would probably charge you for prepaid Customs Duty and refund any over- payment.

 

When I bought a Kindle from them, I prepaid the duty and it arrived without delay. They gave me a small credit for overpayment of duty. Likewise when I ordered something from Apple Thailand that was shipped from Malaysia, the price included clearing it through Customs.

 

eBay has a Global Shipping program (which is also a Global Rip-Off for everyone but eBay themselves), that allegedly prepays for Customs clearance. They'll make sure you pay the maximum possible duty and (probably) pocket any over-payment.

 

How can you tell the difference between counterfeit and the real thing?

 

 

If the sales lady asked whether you wanted counterfeit or the real thing, it sounds like she would tell you which was which.

 

If there's any chance that you will be entering the US with your tablet, US Customs will probably confiscate it if it's counterfeit. There are authorized Samsung dealers in Thailand. If you want to be (reasonably) sure of what you're getting use one of them or check with Amazon to see how much customs duty they'll pre-charge you for price comparison.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Suradit69

[muratremix]

It should be real thing, probably import from Korea or Hong Kong.

Fake stuff usually much cheaper.

[puuchaibaa]

eBay has a Global Shipping program (which is also a Global Rip-Off for everyone but eBay themselves), that allegedly prepays for Customs clearance. They'll make sure you pay the maximum possible duty and (probably) pocket any over-payment.

+1 on the Ebay rip off.  They use "third party" shipper Pitney Bowes for Global Shipping.  Even if no duty is charged by customs, Pitney Bowes (and probably together with Ebay) will pocket the entire amount.  Real scam.

 

OP, that difference in price sounds like it could still be an official Thai product with Thai warranty.  There are generally 3 tiers of authentic products sold in Thailand:

1. official Thai products sold by authorised retailers (Jaymart, True, etc)
2. official Thai products sold by small shops
3. unofficial grey market imports

Tier 1 and 2 have the same full Thai warranty.  However, it seems some tier 2 phones may have had their serial numbers registered by the manufacturer on the day it was sold to the wholesaler, and have a warranty fixed to that date plus extra time for sale (I'm not entirely clear about this though).  Tier 3 have no Thai warranty obviously.

 

To give you some perspective on pricing, I bought a new Note 3 LTE last May and tier 1 price was 23.9k, tier 2 was 18.5k and tier 3 was about 17.5k.  I went with tier 2.  How did I know it was an official Thai product with a valid Thai warranty?  This is what I did:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/727734-selling-2nd-hand-as-new-mobiles-in-mbk/?p=7872119

[muratremix]

 

eBay has a Global Shipping program (which is also a Global Rip-Off for everyone but eBay themselves), that allegedly prepays for Customs clearance. They'll make sure you pay the maximum possible duty and (probably) pocket any over-payment.

+1 on the Ebay rip off.  They use "third party" shipper Pitney Bowes for Global Shipping.  Even if no duty is charged by customs, Pitney Bowes (and probably together with Ebay) will pocket the entire amount.  Real scam.

 

OP, that difference in price sounds like it could still be an official Thai product with Thai warranty.  There are generally 3 tiers of authentic products sold in Thailand:

1. official Thai products sold by authorised retailers (Jaymart, True, etc)
2. official Thai products sold by small shops
3. unofficial grey market imports

Tier 1 and 2 have the same full Thai warranty.  However, it seems some tier 2 phones may have had their serial numbers registered by the manufacturer on the day it was sold to the wholesaler, and have a warranty fixed to that date plus extra time for sale (I'm not entirely clear about this though).  Tier 3 have no Thai warranty obviously.

 

To give you some perspective on pricing, I bought a new Note 3 LTE last May and tier 1 price was 23.9k, tier 2 was 18.5k and tier 3 was about 17.5k.  I went with tier 2.  How did I know it was an official Thai product with a valid Thai warranty?  This is what I did:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/727734-selling-2nd-hand-as-new-mobiles-in-mbk/?p=7872119

 

 

I bought stuff via ebay global program and it is not a rip off.

You receive package with fedex in 6-7 days total (2-3 days in usa, the rest is via fedex)
They charge for customs fee plus commission for themselves.

Remember, standard fee for customs clearance in fedex/ups/dhl is 200 baht. Items without duty is taxed at 7% of VAT. So you just pay a few bucks on top of this and you receive via fedex instead of stupid USPS airmail. I bought Intel Nuc and shipping was 25-30 usd. It is more than fair for express shipping.

[h90]

Today Samsung S4

14.800 everywhere

small shop 12.900. How could I detect if it is the real thing?

[muratremix]

Today Samsung S4

14.800 everywhere

small shop 12.900. How could I detect if it is the real thing?

 

Small shop sells import, pays no vat / tax thats why it is cheap.

Fake S5 sells for 4000 baht :)

They call it "Korean S5 or Korean Model"