I am a bit frustrated as some manufacturer is using my boxes and is selling Cadillacs under my brand.
The reason probably is is because I have a licensing agreement and pay license fees and fixed royalties, which are not cheap and hard to get.
So probably they use my brand and box to penetrate in markets in which the licensing is being checked at customs.
I want to beware the collectors market about this, so no collector is being taken by surprise buying a Goldvarg Collection Cadillac model, which is fake.
I have seen this Cadillac in many places around.
Thanks so much!
This topic was modified 4 years ago 3 times by Goldvarg
On this point...check out this China based ebay seller. Some of the past sales on his feedback items look like knock offs, including a 63 Nova 2drht. and some 1976 Caprices....among others. I also wonder if he is selling factory rejects of various brands for cheap.
ccoolmodel
And here is another China based questionable ebay seller IMO...
It’s a shame you have tolerate this but the question is….how do we as collectors identify a imposter from the real thing?
Larry;
One way on ebay is to check out the item description in the narrative area. If you suspect the item is a knock off check the category of MANUFACTURER; rather than a company name like Goldvarg Models or Ebbro for example, the seller will just have the vehicle name, ( i.e. Honda). And of course with knock offs, factory rejects purporting to be normal condition or perhaps even thefts from factories.....the low price is a major red flag.
As far as Goldvarg Models go I would only ever buy direct from Sergio or perhaps from a North American based seller that I am familiar with....but that is just me.
I have purchased this Cadillac "Edgewood" and it was in a correct Stamp box, with the correct baseplate with the engraved plate identifying it as xx of 99. There was no mention of or material related to Goldvarg on or in the box.
I was led to believe this was a limited run commissioned by an individual in our circle of collectors.
As far as that gold Cadillac in a GV box, I heard that there was a test run of this model/color (by a no name org) and they did indeed use GV boxes to complete the test. They were sold on eBay, although I never saw one.
@lloyd-mecca There is also the possibility these models are from an estate and they have been packed in the wrong boxes by somebody who has no clue about the hobby. All the plates and display cases are the same for so many models that it can be confusing.
True indeed. There are a number of situations that could have occurred here. If the "Edgewood" can be traced back to the individual who commissioned it, that would be a start. As for the gold model, it was sold with the intention of being placed in another manufacturers box.
@lloyd-mecca There is also the possibility these models are from an estate and they have been packed in the wrong boxes by somebody who has no clue about the hobby. All the plates and display cases are the same for so many models that it can be confusing.
I don't believe this to be the case at all. This is not an isolated incident. There is more than one seller doing this. Do you think they are ALL being mistakingly packaged by the different sellers?
The models have the manufactures name on the bottom.
I am with Sergio, and believe the seller is trying to clear these through customs to get around paying license fees and fixed royalties.
I would know right away that these are not Goldvarg quality, but the customs agents are probably not collectors and have no idea.
This is a plague on our hobby. Not too long ago, a Chinese company released the '63 Nova originally previewed by Goldvarg. We discovered that the production run was rejected by Sergio as being of inferior quality. Yet, we see that some other company used the work Sergio funded and released the model without paying for the licensing that Sergio also funded.
I love that Sergio shows a list of trusted dealers. I love that guys like Tom Dirnberger, the Stateside dealer who special orders Stamp and GLM models, show up on the forum, our fb pages, and at the shows. I'm with Lloyd that it's OK to give someone the benefit of the doubt if misrepresentation seems to be an isolated case. But when we detect a blatant ripoff from a seller outside the USA, for the health of the hobby, we need to avoid the temptation to save a few dollars.
In my experience, you can usually detect some warning signs that you may be dealing with an unethical seller.
Stilted English used in the description of a model supposedly issued by a familiar seller
Shipping that originates from China instead of the usual channels. We have to be careful not to demonize every model that comes from China but this should cause us to look a bit more carefully at what we're buying.
A familiar model in different packaging shipping from China. Those back door deals from the factory are a rip-off of the original brand name and cheat the maker from his profits while capitalizing on his expenses.
A model sold in familiar packaging that was never announced by the maker.
A familiar model sold with no branding. Seeing a new resin Riviera for sale without Goldvarg packaging.
While none of these is a sign that something's wrong, any of them should cause us to be cautious. Examine the photos, look carefully at feedback ratings. Post something here or on fb asking if anyone has heard of this seller before. In the final analysis, be wary of unfamiliar sellers, cautious of seemingly fantastic deals and ask a lot of questions. Very few of us would buy a $50 Rolex in Times Square believing that the streetside vendor is saving a lot of money by not packaging and marketing the way Rolex does. Even if we were tempted, we wouldn't believe we were getting an authentic Rolex. The same caution applies to our babies.
