So... I Might Have Bought a Fake?!
In some year’s spontaneous poll in one of my WeChat groups, this account was voted the top-tier table tennis equipment account of the moment — one group member even exaggerated that it was not one of the strongest but simply the strongest!
First, I must declare that this group member truly did not take a bribe from me in private. As for the bat he recently bought and the rubber I gave him, that was strictly a 618-sale matter.
After this poll, with trepidation I stepped out the door, muttering: penniless as I am, there is no way I could be a top-tier figure! At that moment, a few passersby cast doubtful glances. Turns out they too doubted the claim that I am not top-tier.
But when you walk the rivers and lakes, how can you avoid taking a blade? Pride invites a fall. Just as I was recognized as top-tier, I seem to have bought a fake.
Yesterday, June 1, Children’s Day. Two things were important. One: I forgot to buy myself a Children’s Day gift. The other: Butterfly’s Japanese official site published an article on the theme that some genuine Butterfly products on the market have been modified — they are genuine, but the modification was not done by Butterfly; yet they are now widely circulating and selling at high prices.
The article then gave a few examples.
One: CHINA is engraved on the sponge, to pretend it is a national-team special.
Two: the legendary short code is engraved on the right side of the blade face, or a gold end-tag is swapped on, or CHN is engraved on the box, to pretend it is a player custom or a Chinese national team special.
Three: jerseys are modified too, to pretend they are special jerseys — the kind used by internal staff or players.
There is a lot to say here.
1
Basically, if a retail version has CHINA or CHINA SP engraved on it, it is very hard to tell apart. Recently, did I not buy a CHINA-special D09c? Then in my article I said I could not really hit out any difference from the retail version — maybe it was a touch springier. Later I realized that touch of spring may have come from using the latest Yantianming inorganic glue, which is not only tacky but also quite elastic. Is it possible that this piece of mine is exactly what Butterfly’s official site described, a genuine retail version that was then modified? Absolutely possible. Because with the touch of a top-tier gear nerd like me, since I cannot really hit out a difference from the retail version, then it might well be the retail version. And unlike before, where the rare specials I got came from signed players, this time it was bought online. Even a relatively trusted channel does not guarantee a real special. After all, in this circle, the water is pretty deep.
2
About player issues. If it is genuinely a player channel, that is fairly reliable. Other channels are not necessarily so. There have been cases where a player bought a player custom from a famous former national player who was not Butterfly-signed, and later I asked the corresponding signed player, who said he had never seen the blade.
Player customs really do exist. It is just that very few of them circulate to the market. There used to be a few; now the difficulty is enormous, because Butterfly has started a recall system. As for performance, you can indeed hit out a difference from the retail version, and produce some surprising things. But it does not necessarily suit you. I have indeed received specials, whether player issues or ones custom-ordered long ago, but they did not necessarily play better or suit me more than what was already in my hand, so I did not keep them.
Everyone hopes equipment can boost their technical ability to a greater degree. But in reality the effect really is a drop in the bucket. The retail version is already enough.
3
In terms of probability, our odds of buying a fake will only grow higher — even if you are not chasing these special products. I used to think it was nearly impossible for me to buy a fake Butterfly, because all along I only played the official-import version. A bit more expensive, but the second-hand resale price is also higher than the Japanese version. Later I played a few Japanese-version rubbers. I have not run into a fake yet, but as long as I keep playing the Japanese version, the chance of hitting a fake exists by sheer probability.
On top of that, the counterfeiting standard now is just too superb. Some fake blades — Butterfly or DHS — are already hard to tell from the real thing. So when an average player asks me to tell real from fake, I no longer reply: first, no energy; second, no ability.
To this point in the article, is there any takeaway? If you buy little, just buy the official-import version — at least you can verify it. As for the rest, you can only trust the channel. And some so-called customs or specials — even the channel sellers themselves may be selling fakes without knowing. What is more, everyone now says many domestic blades actually play better than the Japanese brands. The quality control may not be as stable as the Japanese, but the ball quality is sometimes better.