Counterfeit blades ??

[Basilahi]

I've been wet shaving for a year now and always ordered my blades from the USA ( i live in saudi Arabia) my favourite so far are feather blades which are a bit expensive 2.67 for a pack of 5

So recently i found out that most stores here sell DE blades for much much cheaper i found the feathers for 3 Saudi Riyals which is about 0.8 dollars for a pack of 5 feather blades !! Also i found Gillette nacets for 2 Sar which is 0.53 USD for 5 blades and you don't have to buy these in bulks to get that price they are just priced like that for single packs

My question is do these look like fake blades, do they even make fake blades or is there any reason they are sold for much much cheaper here ?? Probably taxation and import duties in the US ? Both blades are not made in china as the box suggests the nacets are made in Russia and the feathers in japan

I have yet to shave with these blades but by the looks of them for blade experts do they look fake ?

 

[Basilahi]

what i did notice in the nacets is that it says tm after nacet instead of r

 

[chuckd]

I've been wet shaving for a year now and always ordered my blades from the USA ( i live in saudi Arabia) my favourite so far are feather blades which are a bit expensive 2.67 for a pack of 5

So recently i found out that most stores here sell DE blades for much much cheaper i found the feathers for 3 Saudi Riyals which is about 0.8 dollars for a pack of 5 feather blades !! Also i found Gillette nacets for 2 Sar which is 0.53 USD for 5 blades and you don't have to buy these in bulks to get that price they are just priced like that for single packs

My question is do these look like fake blades, do they even make fake blades or is there any reason they are sold for much much cheaper here ?? Probably taxation and import duties in the US ? Both blades are not made in china as the box suggests the nacets are made in Russia and the feathers in japan

I have yet to shave with these blades but by the looks of them for blade experts do they look fake ?

The Feathers and their wrappers look legitimate, but my plastic Feather packs have a yellow cardboard overlay over the first blade. I don't have any Nacets, so I can't comment on those.

 

[Medivh]

Both look legit to me. I've never seen fake/counterfeit blades in person, but what people claims is that if a blade isn't real, you are going to notice on your first stroke. It's means that fake blades are soo bad, that it's almost impossible to finish a single shave with them.

 

[TexOkie Shaver]

The Feather blades look legit, but how do they feel when you shave with them? I can’t comment on the Nacets because I’ve never used them.

 

[Wogus]

The Nacet's match the blades I have in stock 100%.

 

[Basilahi]

The Feathers and their wrappers look legitimate, but my plastic Feather packs have a yellow cardboard overlay over the first blade. I don't have any Nacets, so I can't comment on those.

they did have the black cardboard but i removed it earlier to see whats inside if it looks real or fake

 

[Basilahi]

The Feather blades look legit, but how do they feel when you shave with them? I can’t comment on the Nacets because I’ve never used them.

i just did my first shave with the nacets, this is actually my very first shave ever with the nacets i never ordered any, they felt great honestly, dont care if they are real or fake now, they felt slightly less sharp than my US ordered Feathers but way smoother and for 53 cents for 5 blades, you cant beat that, next i will try the feather blades and see if they feel like the real ones , the nacets did feel legit im pretty sure if they were fakes they would be tugging and pulling and giving me a horrible shave but they gave me a great smooth close shave...

ill keep you updated but i really cant explain the price difference :/

 

[Basilahi]

The Nacet's match the blades I have in stock 100%.

and in terms of feel they do feel great, i just had my first shave with them and it was great

 

[TheBigL]

I do have some known fake blades, but yours look fine.

I have several packages of Gillette/P&G made blades from Russia, packaged to be sold in the middle east.

 

[Basilahi]

I do have some known fake blades, but yours look fine.

I have several packages of Gillette/P&G made blades from Russia, packaged to be sold in the middle east.

It's not the packaging that confused me, its the pricing they seem too cheap to be real, but as long as they shave great idc

 

[Noodles]

It's not the packaging that confused me, its the pricing they seem too cheap to be real, but as long as they shave great idc

Perhaps that is why the rest of us often buy blades sourced from Jordan, Morocco etc. There is money to be made reselling them .

 

[Medivh]

Perhaps that is why the rest of us often buy blades sourced from Jordan, Morocco etc. There is money to be made reselling them .

I suspect the same thing. I bet most of the blades like Wizamet, Nacet and others are dirt cheap and they buy them in huge bulks and sell them with 500% boosted prices. Polsilver SI blades used to go for 15-30 cents for a pack of 5 blades in some parts of Eastern Europe 3-4 years ago before they got discontinued/rebranded or whatever. I wish I knew a guy from Marocco, Jordan or anywhere that these blades are sold so I can buy at least 2000 and be done for the rest of my life. There's no way in hell i'm paying 50$ for 250 blades to those hyenas.

 

[ivan_101]

There are counterfeit blades. But neither your Feathers, nor your Nacets are fake.

 

[Ivo4u2]

Looks like real deal. But even fake you can have some decent ones (I have a box of doreo which looks like dorco but they shave ok). So proof of usage remains in the shaving

 

[Lefonque]

Never seem a fake blade.

 

[RayClem]

The equipment to manufacturer razor blades is quite expensive (over $1 million). Investing that kind of money to produce blades that sell for 10 cents each after distribution costs seems to be a foolhardy venture. I can understand why the counterfeiting designer clothing and handbags might be attractive to certain elements of society. There is a far greater potential for profit.

It may be that some "counterfeit" blades are blades that failed quality control and were somehow smuggled out of the plant. However, I suspect security is tight at the plants, including the use of metal detectors to prevent that from happening. Quality control typically involves a sampling of the product and doing a battery of testing on the samples. Thus, it is always possible for a small number of inferior blades to pass through the process. However, sensors connected to computers can do 100% inspection of some aspects.

 

[TexOkie Shaver]

The equipment to manufacturer razor blades is quite expensive (over $1 million). Investing that kind of money to produce blades that sell for 10 cents each after distribution costs seems to be a foolhardy venture. I can understand why the counterfeiting designer clothing and handbags might be attractive to certain elements of society. There is a far greater potential for profit.

It may be that some "counterfeit" blades are blades that failed quality control and were somehow smuggled out of the plant. However, I suspect security is tight at the plants, including the use of metal detectors to prevent that from happening. Quality control typically involves a sampling of the product and doing a battery of testing on the samples. Thus, it is always possible for a small number of inferior blades to pass through the process. However, sensors connected to computers can do 100% inspection of some aspects.

I’ve heard of plants getting shut down and operations moved to another country. Some of the employees at the plants kept making blades on the equipment left behind, in sort of an employee owned business. Whether that’s true or just another urban legend, I couldn’t say. But it would account for the counterfeit blades I hear about. I think that in such a scenario, they wouldn’t have QC. Just pump everything out the door.

I can’t substantiate nor deny this. It’s just what I’ve read on the Internet, and we all know that everything on the Internet is true.

 

[Dave-the-rave]

The equipment to manufacturer razor blades is quite expensive (over $1 million). Investing that kind of money to produce blades that sell for 10 cents each after distribution costs seems to be a foolhardy venture. I can understand why the counterfeiting designer clothing and handbags might be attractive to certain elements of society. There is a far greater potential for profit.

It may be that some "counterfeit" blades are blades that failed quality control and were somehow smuggled out of the plant. However, I suspect security is tight at the plants, including the use of metal detectors to prevent that from happening. Quality control typically involves a sampling of the product and doing a battery of testing on the samples. Thus, it is always possible for a small number of inferior blades to pass through the process. However, sensors connected to computers can do 100% inspection of some aspects.

I posted a link on this site years ago, to an outfit in China who sold 'counterfeit' blades. They put cheap Chinese blades into any packaging the customer wanted, and showed examples of their work. Astra and Feather were two I remember. If one was being pedantic one could argue they were only counterfeiting the packaging, as the cheapo Chines blades were 'the real deal' . The Company in question was advertising on Ali Express.

Interestingly some members still didn't believe it, despite following the link.

 

[NJDJ]

Count me In the skeptical camp. I do not understand why somebody would try to make their riches this way when margins are so low. There's so much else that you could counterfeit that would actually make you reasonable money. Razor blades do not seem to be it to me. It just doesn't make sense.