I’ve been selling replicas for a long time now, never had a issue with law enforcement, call it luck or whatever u wish but like anything else u must research the business before you just venture off into it. I think the first thing that u must understand about selling Counterfeit goods is that it's illegal, they treat counterfeit goods just like DRUGS and in some cases you get more time then a kilo of cocaine but exactly what is a counterfeit. A counterfeit is an imitation that is made usually with the intent to deceptively represent its content or origins. The word counterfeit most frequently describes forged currency or documents, but can also describe clothing, software, pharmaceuticals, watches, or more recently, cars and motorcycles, especially when this results in patent infringement or trademark infringement.

Now that we have that out of the way, selling counterfeits is a billion dollar industry actually its $286 billion dollar industry from the last report I read. Most people get there nuts chopped off because they do not understand the counterfeit game so I'm here to explain it to you.

1.) Counterfeits are made from the same blue print as the originals also most counterfeits come from Asian countries, why? because it's easier to outsource the work to a foreign country worker because of the money currency exchange rate is cheaper for expense in labor. See Nike would rather pay foreign workers in china 2.00 USD dollars an hr who going to do a great job on the product then to pay a slacking ass US worker $10 - $15 dollars an hour who is going to be late from lunch everyday. However, remember $2.00 USD is china = 13.6354 CNY in there currency so the economic value is far greater because the US dollar is worth more in an Asian country.

Now let us think about this. How much does it cost to make one pair of Nike shoes well u have to remember the materials such as cowhide leather, shoe strings are made in china also and only cost 1-5 dollars to make. but wait! remember the currency exchange rate 5.00 USD = 34.0889 in CYN so it much cheaper to make 1 pair of Nike shoes + labor in an Asian country then the US. So how do counterfeits get produced?

I have many suppliers who tell me the same thing, when the original Nike factory produce a product such as Jordan’s and other shoes...the mold and blue print of the shoes get sold to another factory in putian city or Shenzhen or any other factories in another province in china such as Guangdong. But wait isn't it illegal? Not at all because china does not enforce there foreign policy regarding copy write infringement such as the US nor can the US go into a foreign country to enforce a US law, so why don't the USA stop letting china make Nike’s and other clothing imported in the USA ARE U CRAZY!!! why would they? If I have someone making shoe's for me and it only cost me 5 bucks for labor + the making of the product and once it gets over to the USA I mark the price up $150.00 your making 30 X what u spent to actually produce the product and pay for labor, so its a great deal for companies like Nike.

Now you have to remember the other factories the mold was sold too are not going to make the shoes 100% just like the original, however in most cases the only difference in the counterfeits and the originals is that the stitching was slightly off but nothing someone could tell from just you walking around, and then there some sneakers that came directly from Nike but just didn't pass the test for the nike clearence for that certain pair to be shipped to the USA u got to remember Nike might make 50,000 pair of a certain shoe however only 20,000 pair get's shipped, so what happens to the other 30,000 pair.

This is where the black market comes in at, you see a few websites that pop up over the internet selling Jordan’s for $69.99 and u figure there fake because of the price. NOT SO! there just shoes that wasn't licensed by Nike to be released in the USA. Remember the money currency exchange rate. $69.99 is still good profit if u bought the shoes from the china man who got them for 102.599 CYN which is $15.00 in USD

Now that u have the basic knowledge off counterfeit, goods I will share some tips for u if you decide to resell them on a website "Notice" I said from a website.

1. Always sell replicas from a website never sell them from a physical store location in the USA u will get busted eventually when Nike finds out.

2. Always use a offshore hosting never use domestic hosting for replica's this will keep your site from being taken down after Nike contacts them if u start selling $100,000 a month from online sales in replica's trust me Nike will feel it in there wallet.

3. Never ship goods to your home address, always and I repeat always drop ship them from your supplier, this keeps u safe from being accused of selling counterfeits and makes it a lot easier for customers packages to clear customs.

4. Get a offshore merchant account, u can still accept MasterCard and visa to make your orders easier to handle, if u really want to make it a good situation get a offshore bank account hook the merchant account to the bank account this will allow the money to never touch a US domestic bank account.

5. NEVER NEVER NEVER hand to hand a counterfeit to a local person it’s just like drugs only by china mail service which is EMS = express mail service.

6. make sure your supplier is willing to accept returns it will make your life easier in the long run with your merchant account.

**Note** Contrary to popular belief 90% of electronics and clothing is made from foreign workers and more then likely 80% of the things in your home right now has a little stamp on it that says "MADE IN CHINA" so be smart and be able to distinguish a great opportunity to make money from just another person selling crap online.


Good Luck

Great post. At first I sold on ebay some replicas but it was damn SCARY. Maybe I'm paranoid but with that many people looking at your stuff, if you dont have the plastic bag you brought it home with AND a receipt they call it a fake. I'm really beginning to lean towards making an e-commerce site and doing it that way. If there's enough of a demand for it people arent looking ONLY on ebay for it - so up the ranks on google and people will be more likely to buy from a "legit" store website as opposed to a possible "scammer" on ebay, since thats the rep ebay is starting to build up unfortunately Takes a bit more effort - but if you do it right you can have a legit business website on your hands.

yeah man, I second the motion. I was paranoid also for a while. one time i tried to ship 180 pair i got a nice little letter from the USA customs department telling me if i want to come and claim the items I could...I said ohhhhh hell nah...I'll take that loss i never did that again.

Awsome post. I think alot of people here have experiance selling replicas on ebay, and it is definitely a scary experiance. I always wondered how the replica's were so close to the originals, but if they are getting the same exact mold's for shoes, etc, it would be pretty easy. Thanks for the info.

This is a great post! I have been selling replicas on Ebay and ioffer for quite some time. I had a website, and within a few months I got a letter from nike. It was crazy because I did not know how they got my address info but I guess the hosting company gave them my details. I told them I will take them down from my site and they never contacted me again. I have slowed down lately but It is easy to sell them on ioffer and Ebay if you know what your doing and have good quality.

4. Get a offshore merchant account, u can still accept MasterCard and visa to make your orders easier to handle, if u really want to make it a good situation get a offshore bank account hook the merchant account to the bank account this will allow the money to never touch a US domestic bank account.

Can you explain how to do this and whats required?

Hey GreenGoblin thanks so much for the info!! But I have a question.. Where can I get an offshore merchant account.. Is there a website.. I already have a domain from my supplier.. But I am afraid my authorize(Dot)net merchant account is not safe to use selling replica handbags.. And if you did link and offshore bank account to an offshore merchant account how would you get your hands on the money.. thanks!!

Ok, I guess the real issue is offshore merchant accounts, you know in the post I really should have said "High Risk" Merchant account. Theres a lot of them however 99.9% of the time there offshore if its a "High Risk". me personally I delt with www*bardo*com great company! as long as u have your website built and ready to go they will approve anyone. PM for a direct contact for bardo. " I don't get paid for sign up's just giving away some good advice"

Now high risk merchant accounts are great just for the simple fact that there already in the business of letting you sell replica's you don't have to lie or anything ...just say hey ! I sell fakes, and they will tell u ..ok great! we can help you process, now the diffrence with high risk merchant accounts is there payout's are a little diffrent then domestic banks., for example a domestic bank pays out every 2-3 days a high risk merchant account pays out maybe every 5-9 days but its "high risk" so they wanna make sure your shipping the goods and they can see them tracking.

Very very very important if u have a website make sure in your policy your saying somewhere that your products are replicas, I don't care how u say its just to protect your money and people charging back. The reason is your not liable if a customer says hey there fake after they get them and then wanna be a jerk and chargeback to try to get there money back. all u have to do is fax the appropriate info within your policy and u should win the chargeback if that should happen. So google "High Risk Merchant account" and u find alot of them.

Yeah, because Nike and other big companies know they can just call a domestic web hosting service and have u shut down, because a domestic hosting has to abide by US laws or face a lawsuit from a companie like Nike if they let u keep running your operation, but like I stated in the original post. Use offshore Hosting especially in Japan. Because Nike can wrtie the hosting offshore till there blue in the face and won't get a response and u won't be shut down, offshore hosting is govern my diffrent laws so they could careless about USA companies complaining about fakes.

Ok, authorize.net is a little tricky however it can be done, ANET by itself is just a gateway..that processes the money from your actual merchant provider. Now most high merchant account don't use ANET to process funds however. ANET can be programmed to do so. I remember I was checking on the samething when I first started using a merchant account, and do remembering ANET customer service telling me it can be done.

Now processing replica's with a domestic bank can work however, u need to make sure the quality is Grade AAA+ because when those charge backs fly in your merchant provider will say...well u don't suppose to be processing replicas anyway. Some offshore bank accounts give u a actual bank ATM card and im sure theres a way to wire money to yourself, so that shouldn't be a problem. Think about this if u have enough money to open a offshore bank account. Then flying there to get your money in a cashiers check should not be a problem.

nice post,

what about selling replicas on ebay if you've signed up in another country?

You're awesome! One more question, can those big brand companies like l0uis Vu!!ton, R0lex,contact my merchant account from authorize.net and get my personal information from them, or can the companies make a test order by placing an order through my website and doing a chargeback just to get my address??