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Counterfeit Trx Pinpointers?


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After a rather long hiatus (knee replacement) I finally was getting out to do a little detecting this weekend and found that my pinpointer had decided to go on a walkabout. Over the past few months I’ve directed several forum members to opportunities to purchase a TRX and now I needed to find one for me. Not an easy task. There is a used one on Ebay right now with bid already over $200 with five days yet to go…..

OK, to the point of this post. Searching around I did stumble across a site selling TRX’s for $55 ea for a lot of 10 pieces, with about $150 for shipping (~$70 ea). Normally I would just move on assuming that this is more Alibaba/Aliexpress knockoffs but I decided to do a little more looking around. They list a fairly wide range of detectors and brands, including a number of MineLab models. My understanding has been that MineLab is very aggressive in shutting down dealers carrying counterfeits.

Doing some online searching I didn’t find specific mention of counterfeit TRX’s, though plenty of discussion of Whites detectors, particularly the GMT. The Goldbug 2 and GPX 4500 were also quite popular.

Here’s my questions. Do you think there is a possibility this may be a legitimate dealer? Last fall just after White’s announced their closing there were some dealers who were discounting their inventory before Garrett said they would be covering warranty issues. Does MineLab truly aggressively go after dealers selling counterfeits? How much mark-up is there on detectors, and could this be a dealer who is not following the pricing “covenant” or functioning as a middleman to smaller dealers?

I will admit that prior to retirement I might have thought about taking a fly at these just for the hell of it, I’ve certainly taken bigger gambles (and losses) on gold stocks. At worst I may have been able to unload them as fakes that work as well as other pinpointers that sell in the $50 range – or just another bad stock investment.

There’s always that risk when we buy anything used on EBay, Craigslist, Treasure Classifieds, TreasureNet , etc.,(i.e. the TDI SL I recently bought that wouldn’t ground balance and hopefully can be repaired), and I question the number of “new” gpx4500’s I’ve been seeing pop up in ads lately (really, how many people are going to buy one and then sell it unused at a significant discount?).

Well, I’ll keep looking and hopefully a reputable dealer will find some hidden in their stockroom.

whites-bullseye-trx-pinpointer.jpg

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Anything being sold new online, at less than the minimum advertised price set by the manufacturer, is almost 100% certain to be a scammer. Manufacturers go after these folks, but many are in legal jurisdictions that make it difficult. Worse yet, they just pop up under a new name the next day. It’s easy to shut down legitimate dealers - just cancel the dealership. But you have to remember, these are not legit people, but thieves. Buyer beware.... and those most desperate “to get a deal” are the people most at risk.

How do you know what the minimum advertised price is? Well, that’s the price all the legitimate dealers are selling for. :smile:

Long story short, anyone with legit TRX pinpointers can get a premium price, so anything less than $150 new would raise a red flag with me instantly. Metal detector margins are not as high as people think, so people claiming to sell for half price or less would be well under cost. Alibaba is rife with fake product. Anytime you see stuff advertised at discount in lots of 3 or 10 or whatever.... run!

Now consider how I could buy these all day long, and turn around and sell as “used” on eBay. You really have to be careful these days.

 

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22 minutes ago, GeoBill said:

OK, to the point of this post. Searching around I did stumble across a site selling TRX’s for $55 ea for a lot of 10 pieces, with about $150 for shipping (~$70 ea).

...

Here’s my questions. Do you think there is a possibility this may be a legitimate dealer?

Sure, it's possible they are legit.  But that means they also aren't too smart.  Given these sold for $149 when White's was in business and now you point out that a used one is going for even more in an Ebay auction lot, someone is going to sell unused ones for $55??  Don't you wonder what they paid for them that they can make a profit at this price?  The fact that they sell other detectors (including brands other than White's) makes it even more suspicious.  Now for sure if they are legit they would know the market.  You could argue they bought out a White's dealer's inventory (e.g. from a storage rental) but what's the chances they bought a multiline dealer's inventory, for pennies on the dollar?

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As a White's Dealer and many other brands, I assure you our cost is way more than $55 for a TRX.  Heck, even if I purchased direct from White's and tried to order 100 units, my cost is still almost 2X of the $55.  Don't walk away, just run and never look back.

The GPX-4500's are most certainly scams as well.  I'm one of Minelabs bigger gold detector dealers and I have not been able to get a GPX-4500 in many months.  The 4500's and 5000's were the majority of Minelabs counterfeits and some of the Africans who live in the US purchased many at a time, to find out they were fakes.  Now they are trying to make it look like they are dealers and selling the fakes off to recoup their losses.  Heck, even Coiltek and Commander Coils were counterfeited.  Yes the GB-2 and the GMT were as well.

Do you really want to take a chance on something being counterfeited just to save some money.  Heck, I have a hard enough time with a legitimate detector I just got in and hoping it runs as smooth and fine of a sound as my old reliable.

One of my customers recently purchased a new GPZ-7000 on eBay that was coming from another country.  It sold for $5000 and after 8 weeks, it never showed up.  Now he is trying to get his $5K back.  I told him it was a fake to begin with as my dealer price is more than that.  Guess he likes to stress just trying to save $1800.  I offered him one for $6800 with his Military discount and he gambled.  I'm told he'll purchase from me once he gets his money back, whenever that will happen.

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