Hey everyone! So I've been in this arena for over 20 years now and I've seen just about everything there is to see in the eyewear industry. Except, high quality Oakley knock offs. I bring this up because I'd like to write up something to help educate buyers. I'm a seller on ebay and a very popular question and reason for returns is that people think they're fake. I'm sure like most of the people on here we can spot a fake from 10' away. So I guess what I'm asking is has anyone on here seen any high quality knock off Oakley that would actually take a closer than 10 foot inspection to determine authenticity? I don't think they exist. Now I know there's some high quality Rayban out there. I bought some from ebay seller digitalusa. Anyhow, I often get people that buy a pair from me and are convinced they're fake. I try to educate and sometimes I do get through to people. Obviously can't save them all but that's life.

Sometimes buyers will claim it is fake as an excuse to return the item. They may have simply changed their mind. eBay will side with the buyer most of the time if there is a dispute. Unfortunately, it is going to be hard to educate buyers that are not serious collectors and explain to them what is real and what is not. Plus, hearing an explanation from the seller could be hard to believe. They need an unbiased opinion. Since they have nothing else to compare their purchase to, they may get nervous easily and want a refund. This is going to happen if you sell on eBay.

Oh no doubt Neil. They'll definitely abuse the returns in that way to not take responsibility and pay for the return shipping. I just believe that a small percentage of them actually believe they're fake.

Yes, there are a number of fakes where you would need a closer look to identify if they are fake. Frogs are one model that are getting done real well; some of them are so close that the quality of the lens and slight lens size difference is the tell. Pit Bosses are another one. The newer models seem to be replicated more easily these days.

They are also doing x-metals, there’s a guy selling a pair of fake romeo’s calling them Foakleys, but tell tail signs help people point out the garbage from the real, or they are buyers remorse.

A list is a great way to describe the fakes with pictures to point out real to fake

I feel like I haven't seen a fake that holds up in person. Usually there's something that is out of place like the wrong crew, or the feel of the plastic, or mainly the terrible lenses. The lenses often are the awful rainbow or oil spill mirror. The hardest ones I find, are the 90's models before Oakley started playing the cat and mouse game with the counterfeits. They moved to integrated hinges, metal icons, even small things like removing the Registered symbol from the logo.

I think the Badman is the one that actually has fooled a few on here and Forum... but once it’s in your hands as an O collector you know by the weight, flex and feel of the materials....

Some Holbrooks are also good enough to fool on photos.

After being burned on one or 2 fakes early on I can’t say I’ve bought another in the last 10 years or so - touch wood

I had a guy return an item - no message. It just appeared on my door. Then ebay stole the refund back from my account. Im never goingf to sell on ebay again. Not worth the hassle. eBay will fizzle out over the next decade...

Yeah I guess I've seen a holbrook that might have been questionable at 10'. The kicker is there's a lot of people out there who question something like a jawbreaker or crossrange. They actually believe someone could go to those lengths to knock off a frame with those kind of intricacies. Am I alone in calling that ignorance?

As far as you guys having issues like that with ebay I will say they've come a long way in the last few months. They're finally feeling the heat and working with sellers to not get as scammed as often.

A few frames out there are hard to tell from real in pics, most a true collector can spot. There are a ton of fake Holbrooks out there that look pretty good over the last few months. Some of the dishonest sellers are actually posting pics with the correct ribbed box, but that is not what they end up shipping to your house when you buy them. No, I havent bought any, just know.

There are fake Jawbreakers, believe it or not. There are even a couple YouTube videos that demonstrate functionality and lens swapping between the real and fake models. These fake models are really only revealed on close inspection, such as lack of unobtainium on the earstems, inconsistent details or contours, etc. But the major stuff like jaw motion and earstem adjustability are all there and will fool someone who isn't looking at those finer details (I have even seen a fake Jawbone with a working jaw). Granted, many of the fakes are usually just painted to LOOK like they have separate components and don't actually move, but there are enough fakes out there that actually work so functionality alone is no longer enough to eliminate a fake.

Like the X-Metals that had contour lines to similar where they would normally be bolted together.