Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds "New" Fake Leupold's

One of my friends bought several of the 2-7x33 VX2 knockoffs a couple of years ago to put on Ruger 10/22s for his grandkids. He gave me one of them to try and it held its zero through 500 rounds of 10/22 shooting. I helped him mount the scopes and bore-sight the rifles and noticed that all of the scopes that he bought had the same serial number, 434670X. I don't remember which way the collar turned to adjust the magnification up and down.

What is “Brad’s” user name here on 24hcf?

Surprising how many guys are quick to judge when they only hear one side of the story. I took on the task of selling off a lot of items from a veteran with dementia that he can't use anymore. A lot of the stuff was picked up on the Monday before the show and since I already had 2 tables I called and was able to get a third table for his stuff. I never had time to go thru everything I just took it with me. I was able to get most of the stuff on the tables but I spent the first couple of hours just trying to price items. Thanks to the help from some other dealers I was able to price items close to what they should sell for. The scopes in question were still in the box uninspected by me but priced with no description or labels just a price. The dealer came to the table and wanted a deal on one of the scopes so I traded for some bullets at less then what the scope was priced. During the whole conversation the word Leupold was never mentioned once, the only thing he asked was if it was a 4.5-14 and I had to look at the scope to confirm that it was. After he walked away I looked the other one over and the scope seemed well made. The glass was clear and all the adjustments were tight and smooth so I thought maybe I was under priced. About a half hour later he came back and wanted the other one and this time we traded for some primers and again I took less in trade then I was asking for the scope. I figured I must have really under priced them. Some time after that I walked past his table and saw the scopes on his table with a large mark up of price and figured I must have really traded cheap but he was a dealer and needs to make some money too. A couple of hours after that he comes back to my table with the scopes and said they aren't Leupolds and I said what would you like to do because I never said they were Leupolds so how do you want to do this. He just gave me a blank stare, never said any more and walked away. All he had to do was say he screwed up and we should trade back and it would have been over. I never said they were Leupolds, I never labeled them that way, they were in the original boxes, he looked them over himself, I left the trade up to him, there was no cash involved, I left the final decision up to him and he walked away. I had a couple of used Leupolds on the table next to these and he could have looked them over and compared apples to apples but he was looking at a quick flip and make some easy cash. You guys can condem me all you want but I offered him a chance to drive down and trade back but he would rather smear me with your help. I have done a lot of business on these forums over the last 20+ years and not once have I ever had an issue and I have never used it to smear any other member. There isn't a single person on here who hasn't made a mistake at some time but you talk it out and make a decision you don't walk away and then bad mouth the other guy. I'm not going to use this forum for a pissing match because that's not what it's for but I will stand up for myself and if he is anything at all he will admit his lack of judgement and we can go from there. Now you have heard how the transactions really happened and we can move on.

Exactly how much should fake Leupold's sell for? Did you ever inform him that you knew they were fake? You offer something for sale that is counterfeit, saying "I never said they were Leupold" is not a defense. That is an [bleep] move.

"I figured I must have really under priced them"

Did it not ever cross your mind that people thought they were legit scopes?

You're selling illegal counterfeit optics and you're blaming the buyer. That is not a good move. But hey, throwing out the helping a "veteran" card makes it all ok, right?

Brad,
Are you a lawyer by trade? Sure sound like one. "I never said they're a Leupold"....

All we should be reading is you admit to your mistake and how you can pay 160 back. Even if you're unable to collect from the veteran it's probably a drop in the bucket to what we owe our veterans for the lives we have.

Never taught that I Would Agreed with you Dinny, but you are 100% ''Correct''

Dirty Harry

Leupold should have a utility on their website where you enter the SN and it tells you if it's legit and CDS used etc.

Seems to me that if you sell something that turns out to be fake/counterfeit that you have an obligation to take the item back regardless of what each party said or didn't say. Same thing with selling coins.

Thing is that you never know if the seller knew that he was selling fakes.

Like the gent selling for the vet. They aren't yours so you're not out anything, but he might be. You can take a BFH to them and put them out of their misery OR list them as counterfeits at a cheaper price. Make sure that buyer knows what they are buying [maybe sign a paper saying so] since it seems like they will work for someone. I will give the seller Brad the benefit of the doubt that he didn't know the scopes were fake until the buyer brought them back.

This shouldn’t be too hard to sort out. Meet somewhere in the middle, trade back what you traded. Shake hands and be done with it.

I’m always interested in the whole story, and appreciate Brad providing his side. The only question I have is regarding the packaging.

“The scopes in question were still in the box uninspected.”

How were they packaged? Were the boxes labeled Leupold?

LHS

And in return you have a scope laying on your gunshow table or whatever that is stamped “Leupold vx3” or whatever it was he would not need to tell you that it is Leupold. But he would need to tell you that even though it says Leupold it is not. If the item is branded as such it should be explained that it is not as it is branded.

I knew they weren't Leupolds and I figured he did. The word Leupold doesn't appear anywhere on the box and neither one of us even included the word in our conversation. He was looking at a quick flip for some easy cash. He looked them over and was happy with the trade. I never forced his hand and when he came back I asked him how he wanted to handle it and he just walked away. I never tried to sell the trade items I put them under the table in case he wanted to trade back. To me it was just another scope like the other dozen on the table. People looked at stuff on my tables all weekend, they asked questions, bought stuff, made offers and there was no issues. I have already made him the offer of trading back but he won't accept. I priced them at $250 with some room to accept offers and when I traded got around $200 to $225 in items at his price . A 4.5-14 Leupold new in the box is going to be $500+ and I had a couple of used Leupolds there priced in that area not in boxes. I never instigated the sale, he called the shots.

Some people aren't aware that there are counterfeit leupolds. It says leupold on the scope itself even if it doesn't say anything on a box. My dad has been conned with one of them too.

My generation is far less trusting than my father's generation for good reason. The world has changed and people have too.

Where does the linked Craigslist ad flow into the timeline here? Hopefully not still up as shown.
It had Leupold in the title, but I don't know how that came to be.

"I figured he did." That's a poor defense when knowingly peddling counterfeit wares.


"The word Leupold doesn't appear anywhere on the box"

Were you peddling boxes or scopes?


If you were selling the large lot of counterfeit scopes for a demented veteran, why did you trade? Were you planning on paying the veteran for that scope? Or selling the components?

Knowing they were counterfeit, why did you agree to sell them??????????

Brad, You said "I took on the task of selling off a lot of items from a veteran with dementia that he can't use anymore" but then you traded them for bullets and primers. What was a veteran with dementia going to do with bullets and primers?

Most of what Brad said is true. There were papers in the boxes (in the original pictures) that were Leupold. All through our dealings, I referred to them as Leupold's and he never corrected me. I will readily admit that I am the first person in history to buy something at a gun show that I thought was underpriced and then try to resell it for more. Guilty as charged. As far as his offer about "What I wanted to do now", I don't remember his saying that at all. The blank stare was likely rage. If he had offered, I would have taken him up on it. Why else would I have brought them back to him? We were in the same room together for another 24 hours and you never came and asked what we could do to correct this. I will take some ownership in this. I did the trade because I thought I could make a few bucks but I never lied or misrepresented what I had.
As far as the pissing match, I never once mentioned your user name. You did that yourself.

EOTech went thru this (fakes) ~15 years ago. DOJ got involved and guys selling them at gun shows had their entire supply seized.

So did Coach purses. When ghetto stores were selling them at too good to be true type prices the store would get raided and everything was seized.

Red flag for me is when the prize is too good.

Seems to me the buyer bears some responsibility to do 'due diligence'. Sounds like he did and only afterward realized he didn't inspect as thoroughly as he should have. Not the seller's fault or problem in my mind.

What about selling the scopes at your cost and disclose they are knock offs ? We are now in a world where this is becoming more common with little to stop it. Misrepresenting an item is plain unethical. About 4 years ago I was at a gun show and a couple sellers I knew had some new Leupold scopes in Leupold boxes at about half price of what they should have been. I almost bought one, but I had a strange feeling about it. He sold them. I never heard of fake Leupolds back then. I’ve since read that China has copied Leupold scopes including the boxes. Their are a few ways to tell a fake, but the Chinese are getting smarter. Buyer beware!

I would expect that he would sell them eventually.