BEWARE counterfeit Minelab Dealers and Machines. Very Important!

[Woodland Detectors]

I have posted this in other threads as well, hoping everyone will get a chance to see this.



Please Beware of counterfeit Minelab products (Or other Dealers and Manufactures Products) being sold on the internet and from unauthorized black market manufacturers and dealers. You may see some on ebay for great prices, but they are most likely, counterfeit machines. I am always looking out for YOU the consumer, so please read through.

Only purchase from Minelab authorized dealers Like us, Woodland detector Sales, or listed on www.minelab.com

The high demand for quality Minelab gold detectors has seen an increasing number of poor performing counterfeit products being sold via websites and black market dealers around the world. For a purchaser familiar with Minelab products, some counterfeit products have been quite obviously not Minelab products, as seen by one example in Photos A - C ( BELOW)

Unfortunately a lot of people unfamiliar with Minelab products are still being ripped off by these criminals, paying full price for a GPX-4500, 4800's and 5000's, only to get a counterfeit detector. In some cases the criminal counterfeiters have even taken a cheap detector and put its very basic electronics into a counterfeit GPX-4500 housing so that it appears to work to an unfamiliar purchaser. In all cases the performance of the Counterfeit products has ranged from very poor to not working at all.

Counterfeit products now cosmetically difficult to tell from the real thing!

In recent days Minelab has become aware of more counterfeit GPX-4500 detectors and Commander coils, that are cosmetically difficult to distinguish from the real thing, see Photo D - H. These products may cosmetically look like the real thing but definitely do not work like the real product.

Most counterfeit products are being sold over the internet on websites like Alibaba.com and other similar selling and auction websites. Minelab strongly recommends extreme caution when buying from a website of this kind and from unauthorized dealers. These products are often then on sold by unauthorised dealers, including black market and street dealers.


A few examples of current listings for counterfeit Minelab products are listed below:

1. Top Detectors, Nakiye Argon Sok No:23 Daire 3 Osmanbey Sisli, Istanbul, Turkey.
Website: http://www.topdetectors.net

2. JUNHONG ELECTRONIC&TECHNOLOGY(DONGGUAN)CO., LTD., No.18, Xinjiuwei, Liaobu, DongGuan, Guangdong, China.
Tel:+86-769-89161705, 89161706, 89161707, 89161708
Fax:+86-769-88903075
Chinese website: http://www.jhking.net
English website: http://www.chinametaldetector.com
Arabic website: http://www.metaldetectors.ae

3. Hunter Group Dedektor Sistemleri Sanayi ve Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Darulaceze Cad. Demirkaya Apt. No. 17 Kat.1 D.3 Sisli, Istanbul, Turkey.
Phone: 00902122207034
Fax: 00902122207035
Website: http://www.hunter-group.us/ar/index.php
http://mobbawaba.com/adprint.aspx?adnum=12472

4. Alibaba699 Wang Shang Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou 310052, China
Phone: +86 571-8502-2088
Fax: +86 571-8981-5505
Website: http://www.alibaba.com

Advertising from ‘any’ company claiming to be a manufacturer of Minelab products is definitely counterfeit!

Minelab Products are only Made by Minelab in Australia or by Plexus Corp, USA in their facility in Malaysia.

BUYER BEWARE!! Minelab will not be held responsible for counterfeit Minelab products!

The only way to guarantee you are purchasing a true high quality Minelab product is to make that purchase through an officially authorized Minelab dealer as listed on Minelab.com

Finding an authorized Minelab dealer in your part of the world is very easy. Just go to Minelab.com, click on the “WHERE TO BUY” tab near the top of the CONSUMER page and select your country, state and Zip/Post code. The details of your nearest authorized Minelab dealers will appear.

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[Iron Patch]

If all these are the actual fake products and not stolen pictures the used market is going to be flipped upside down. For anyone who buys a new detector register the warranty and keep all your papers!

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?...ewAllCategory=

[Woodland Detectors]

In my opinion, I really don't think all those machines there are copy cat's, I think what they meant was, those sites are known for selling bunk gold machines. I'm telling you though, there are a ton of them out there. I had people calling me last year that could hardly speak English, asking if I could send massive orders of different parts to them. It was insane.

[Iron Patch]

In my opinion, I really don't think all those machines there are copy cat's, I think what they meant was, those sites are known for selling bunk gold machines. I'm telling you though, there are a ton of them out there. I had people calling me last year that could hardly speak English, asking if I could send massive orders of different parts to them. It was insane.

Don't be surprised if it gets much worse. If the Chinese can knock off a Rolex to look as close as it does the plastic housing and shafts of a detector will be a piece of cake. Even if you see just one real good one you can be sure there's more on the way because they didn't go through the trouble to make one fake detector. It all comes down to how much money there is to be made.

Good timing on the post because today in Congress intellectual property is planned to be part of the debate with both large American and Chinese corporations participating. Something that's really needed but I wouldn't expect much for results. (Not that I would expect a Minelab knock-off to have electronics anything close to the real deal)

[Insoc]

Is Minelab 100% made in Australia and Malaysia? It's not too uncommon to have the parts made in China due to the attractive cost(s), then do assembly elsewhere. If so, I can see why they are knocking them off so easily, but it's also as easy as buying a unit and doing reverse engineering on it too. They have knock-offs of everything, even as far as copying the backing paper on 3M adhesive to look like an authentic 3M product but it's not.

[Iron Patch]

Is Minelab 100% made in Australia and Malaysia? It's not too uncommon to have the parts made in China due to the attractive cost(s), then do assembly elsewhere. If so, I can see why they are knocking them off so easily, but it's also as easy as buying a unit and doing reverse engineering on it too. They have knock-offs of everything, even as far as copying the backing paper on 3M adhesive to look like an authentic 3M product but it's not.

Will probably be like other things... the first fakes are brutal and obvious, but over time once the money starts to roll in they will get better and better. It's true, they probably could just build the things to specs. and still make a hefty sum. Really what does a new Explorer SE cost for material? Couple hundred bucks maybe.... and that's probably the American cost!

[Bobby Bridge]

Woodland, iron patch and to all. This is some sad news. I have a very good friend who turned me on to M D in the fall of 2009 I did my research and went with the Fisher F 5 and am happy with my decision.
Now my friend is big into prospecting right down to panning buckets of creek beds that he gets home. And he wants a Minelab very much but he aint rich and I am gonna tell him about this!
He wants one and been saving and now my head is up about what he might invest in. He don't have a puter and has used his Garret 300 for years (Dinosaur) I don't wanna see him get riped off. I know he will jump on a good deal.
This kinda stuff is becoming a bigger problem every day and it really saddens me.

[Iron Patch]

Woodland, iron patch and to all. This is some sad news. I have a very good friend who turned me on to M D in the fall of 2009 I did my research and went with the Fisher F 5 and am happy with my decision.
Now my friend is big into prospecting right down to panning buckets of creek beds that he gets home. And he wants a Minelab very much but he aint rich and I am gonna tell him about this!
He wants one and been saving and now my head is up about what he might invest in. He don't have a puter and has used his Garret 300 for years (Dinosaur) I don't wanna see him get riped off. I know he will jump on a good deal.
This kinda stuff is becoming a bigger problem every day and it really saddens me.

Always buy the seller first! If you have any doubts about the seller, walk away, it's not worth taking the chance. Someone who is legit will be easy to deal with and have no problem with answering any questions, as well as supplying info. of who they are, where they live, and a phone number.

[Woodland Detectors]

Woodland, iron patch and to all. This is some sad news. I have a very good friend who turned me on to M D in the fall of 2009 I did my research and went with the Fisher F 5 and am happy with my decision.
Now my friend is big into prospecting right down to panning buckets of creek beds that he gets home. And he wants a Minelab very much but he aint rich and I am gonna tell him about this!
He wants one and been saving and now my head is up about what he might invest in. He don't have a puter and has used his Garret 300 for years (Dinosaur) I don't wanna see him get riped off. I know he will jump on a good deal.
This kinda stuff is becoming a bigger problem every day and it really saddens me.

Always buy the seller first! If you have any doubts about the seller, walk away, it's not worth taking the chance. Someone who is legit will be easy to deal with and have no problem with answering any questions, as well as supplying info. of who they are, where they live, and a phone number.

Most of the time , if it's too good to be true, then it usually is.
Be careful out there people.