BEWARE of knock off Yaesu on eBay!

[Martinjmpr]

First off, if I'm late to the party here I apologize but I've been shopping around for a new mobile radio and came across something worth sharing.

I've been casually shopping for a new mobile to replace the Kenwood TM-241 that I got probably 10 years ago off of Craigslist. The Kenwood never really did work correctly so I thought it was probably time for me to get a new, fully functional radio.

Of course, the Yaesu FT-7900R has been one of the most popular and well-regarded dual band radios since it came out. But the 7900R has been superseded by a newer (and of course more expensive) radio and is no longer in production - or so I thought....

So figuring "I don't neccessarily need a NEW radio" I thought I'd head over to eBay and see if I could find a gently used one for a good price. Surprise, surprise! There are a bunch of sellers selling "Yaesu FT-7900R" radios and listing them as "new" condition, at prices ranging from $80 to $225.

At first I was stoked, thinking "these must be NOS [New Old Stock] radios that were never sold" and that these were being offered at a great price.

But then, in keeping with the notion that "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is" I started investigating further.

Turns out my suspicions were correct: These are not "Yaesu" products, they are cheap Chinese knock-offs trading on Yaesu's name and reputation. There is a Reddit thread here that talks about it:


And here is a YouTube video on one:


The radio is packaged to look like a Yaesu and even offers a "lifetime warranty."

Here is an example of one of the ads on eBay:



The clue here is on the manual: It lists the model as the "FT-7900R CHN" i.e. the Chinese rip-off version.

Interestingly, one of the people who ordered one of these and discovered that he could not program it from his computer complained to the seller and the seller quickly refunded his money - and told him he could keep the radio!

Obviously the hope here was that the buyer would be happy with his "free" radio and would not slam them with a bad review (turns out he blasted them on Reddit so I guess it didn't turn out the way they wanted.)

ANYWAY, my point is that if you are shopping for radio equipment on eBay, "caveat emptor", that is, let the buyer beware.

I don't know if other radios besides the FT-7900R are subject to this kind of blatant fraud but it wouldn't surprise me if they were.

What is a mystery is why Yaesu, who earned their enviable reputation by making quality products, hasn't come down on these Chinese rip offs like a ton of bricks.

 

[Martinjmpr]

And BTW I have no problem with Chinese products in general, particularly electronics. A quality product is a quality product, regardless of where it's made. I presume that the low priced radios from Anytone, TYT and of course Bao Feng are made in China and if they work, they work.

But it's pretty shady that a Chinese company wants to sell its product by trading on the name and reputation of a company that EARNED its place by making quality communications gear.

Ironically, the guy who got the full refund on his fake Yaesu said that other than being unable to program it with a computer, the radio works just fine. He programmed it manually and is apparently still using it.

My point here being, don't sell a $80 radio for $225 by ripping off another company's name and reputation. Just sell your $80 radio for $80 and call it good. There are plenty of customers who would be happy with an $80 radio. Bao Feng sells boatloads of their inexpensive radios and for many ham radio operators, the little Bao Fengs are "good enough" for what they need.

 

[plh]

Interesting! I do have a real FT-2900R new in box that I bought 6 or 7 years ago that is sitting on a shelf if you are interested in it, I would surely part with it. Was going to put it in my old '92, but ended up selling it before the radio was installed.

 

[kweb003]

Interesting! I do have a real FT-2900R new in box that I bought 6 or 7 years ago that is sitting on a shelf if you are interested in it, I would surely part with it. Was going to put it in my old '92, but ended up selling it before the radio was installed.

I'd be interested in your real Yaesu. I just picked one up that sure looked legit on all accounts but it is one of those copy fakes. Lucky for me it was fairly inexpensive but I want the genuine radio

 

[Anti-lander]

I thought yaesu was already a knockoff of baofeng which is already a rip off of midland.
Funny thing is China isn't even stealling the intellectual property, those companies decided to contract work to China. If you don't know by now 1 factory in China can make the same thing for like 5 different companies and put it in a different casing and branding.

 

[plh]

I'd be interested in your real Yaesu. I just picked one up that sure looked legit on all accounts but it is one of those copy fakes. Lucky for me it was fairly inexpensive but I want the genuine radio

PM me if interested