A Cautionary Tale
“If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.” (Modern Proverbial Warning, circa late 20th century).
“For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” (Alexander Pope, circa 1711).
One day, when the battery was running low in my scam detector and my gullibility meter was running high, I ordered a new “Benchmade Knives Barrage 583SBK limited edition white” on eBay.
The knife eventually proved itself to be a counterfeit. In fact, after examining the postings for other “Benchmade” knives offered for sale on eBay, I have come to the conclusion that most of them are counterfeits as well.
As a result, I would recommend not buying any “Benchmade” knife on eBay. The odds are not in the buyer’s favor. Instead, buy your knife from a Benchmade authorized dealer.
Background
For as long as I have been a SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor, I have wanted to review a Benchmade knife. Benchmade has some American-made knives that have an outstanding reputation for quality. I wanted to give one a try.
I contacted Benchmade to request a sample for testing and evaluation. Benchmade did not see fit to agree to my request.
Benchmade knives are expensive enough that I did not feel ready to just go out and buy one. So I just kept visiting eBay from time to time to see if I could pick up a good used Benchmade knife at a reasonable price.
Over the course of time, I saw quite a few new “Benchmade” knives for sale on eBay that I was pretty sure were counterfeits. I should have taken a lesson from this and been forewarned and forearmed. But for some reason the day came when my guard was down. I saw a “great deal” on a “Benchmade Barrage.” Without taking time for further reflection, I made a $50 offer on the knife. My offer was quickly accepted.
Second Thoughts
I had made the offer due to my impression that Benchmade had dumped an overstock of knives because they had ugly white handles. That was why I believed that the seller could offer them at such a good price. This wild speculation was based on the guess that the normal price for a Benchmade Barrage was somewhere in the $100 range.
Then I went to www.Benchmade.com to see how much I had saved on the knife. I discovered that the various versions of the Barrage start at about $220 and go up from there. Suddenly, klaxons and shouts of “Danger, Will Robinson!” resounded through the back of my mind as my scam detector, which had previously been silent, erupted into screaming life. I realized that there was no way that anyone would be selling a brand new $200+ knife on eBay for $50.
A return to the eBay website did nothing to calm my fears. I looked at the profile of the seller. He had only been active for a couple of months, and he was located in China. How could a seller in China sell an American-made knife cheaper than a seller in the US could do the same?
With a sinking heart, I awaited the delivery of the knife. Before long, a 6 x 2.75 x 1.88 inch package arrived via USPS Ground Advantage.
First Impressions
As I opened the package, a glimmer of hope was rekindled in my heart. The knife was in an impressive blue box with some authentic looking labels. Inside the box, the knife was in a black satin bag, and looked pretty substantial. There was a Benchmade logo on the blade, and the words, “Osborn Design Limited Edition.”
The knife has a 3.5 inch tanto blade that is 0.13 inches thick at the base of the spine. It came out of the box shaving sharp. The knife is 8.25 inches long overall. It can be deployed ambidextrously using dual thumb studs. An assisted opening mechanism helps the blade to snap decisively into place. There is a steel liner under the scales. The pocket clip seems adequate. The knife is a little on the beefy side, and takes up a fair amount of real estate in the pocket into which it is clipped.
But… There were also things that did not seem quite right. The hem around the drawstring on the bag appeared inappropriately wide. The Use and Care Manual was too big to fit comfortably into the bottom of the box. Instead it was crammed in and crumpled around the edges. The handle felt like it was made from plastic recovered from recycled milk jugs. The deployment lock felt quite gritty when it was moved.
I decided that I needed some help to determine whether or not the knife was genuine or a counterfeit.
Hard Facts
I found a YouTube video that did a side-by-side comparison of a genuine and a counterfeit Benchmade knife. Among other things, the following details enabled me to definitively identify my knife as a fake:
- The color of the box was not quite right. There was a dark grain pattern under the blue that was too pronounced.
- There was no layer of cut out foam surrounding the knife in the box. There was just a thin layer of foam on the bottom of the box.
- The Axis lock information under the pocket clip was on thin, flexible plasticized paper rather than heavier card stock.
- The Use and Care Manual was not folded correctly. In fact, it was not folded at all.
- The screws on the scales had rounded heads rather than more flattened heads.
I also did a Google Earth search of the return address on the shipping label. I found that it was an empty field in Freehold, New Jersey.
Printing on the blade of the knife indicated that it was made of S90V steel, but the listing on eBay claimed it was made of 154CM. Both cannot be correct. Most likely, neither claim is true. If someone is going to sell a fake knife, then they might as well make it using a cheaper steel.
My Reaction
I began by contacting [email protected] to let them know that I had purchased a new “Benchmade Barrage” that had turned out to be a counterfeit. I expressed regret that bad actors had stolen their intellectual property and trafficked in their good name in this way. I indicated that I was willing to fully cooperate in any investigation. I then gave them a link to the item on eBay.
Benchmade thanked me for the information and for my offer to cooperate in the investigation. They indicated that they would contact me if I could be of any further assistance. After further discussion, they also indicated that I could begin the process of contacting the seller and eBay to complain about receiving a counterfeit and to ask for a refund.
I posted a review on eBay indicating that the seller was marketing counterfeit merchandise. I asked the seller for a refund, and notified eBay that the seller was marketing counterfeit products.
Since the seller never responded to my refund request within the designated time period, eBay ultimately refunded my money. They also indicated that they had taken down the listing because the seller had violated their terms of service.
Benchmade’s Somewhat Draconian Counterfeit Goods Acknowledgment
Benchmade offers LifeSharp service for their knives: free sharpening for life.
If you send in your knife for sharpening or repair, you must sign their Counterfeit Goods Acknowledgment. This document grants Benchmade the right to temporarily impound your knife and conduct destructive examination if they suspect it is a counterfeit. If they determine that the knife is indeed counterfeit, they can permanently impound or destroy it without remuneration to the owner. The owner must agree to cooperate in good faith with any investigation into the knife, including providing the name and location and other identifying information about the seller.
I fully understand why Benchmade has such a tough policy. If someone was ripping me off the way Chinese companies are ripping off Benchmade, I would want to track them down and take as many of their counterfeit products out of circulation as I could.
But the long and short of it is this: if you accidentally buy a counterfeit “Benchmade” knife, and subsequently in the innocence of your heart you send it to Benchmade for sharpening or repair, there is a good chance that you will never see the knife again and that in addition you will never be remunerated for the loss.
Conclusion
Some people have invested a great deal of time and effort into making phony “Benchmade” knives. They would like to sell one to you. Don’t make the same mistake that I made. Instead, buy your knife from a Benchmade authorized dealer.
Disclaimer
I did not receive any financial or other inducement to mention any vendor, product, or service in this article.
JWR Adds: Benchmade and Cold Steel are two of the most often counterfeited knife brands that are found offered for sale on eBay. My own knife design (the Cold Steel Rawles XL Voyager) was so frequently counterfeited that there are now more fake ones than real ones in the country. (My knife was a limited edition, and genuine ones now fetch $200+.)
This sad experience further cemented my hatred for the evil government of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They have done almost nothing to stop widespread product counterfeiting in their country, and have even profited from it. In fact, they have even “double-profited” by producing some counterfeit goods in their laogai prison factories. That is evil heaped upon evil!
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