Have you ever came across a super duper good deal, or you thought you got a ''homie hook-up'' on a racket, but wondering if it is a authentic racket or not? Be careful! You might have bought a fake racket!
As badminton industry has been around for couple decades and grown much bigger recently, it is not a surprise to encounter counterfeits from your friends, internet auction website, unofficial websites and stores, and surprisingly sometimes even in authentic stores!
Counterfeits do not come with Yonex Official Warranty, and with the low quality they are made of, it breaks easily and might cause you injury and damage to your surrounding.
In this badminton T&T we are going to provide a couple ways to spot a fake Yonex racket.
PRICE
As the Chinese old saying goes, 一分錢一分貨(yī fēn qián yī fēn huò), you get what you pay for. Yonex USA sets a MAP (Minimum Market Price) for all of their products, and they ask all of their official dealers to follow the price, in order to eusure their quality and market equilibrium. If you see a Yonex product's price is extremely low, 99.9% it is a counterfeit. Just remember one thing, a clear-headed seller would never sell something that is lower than their cost.
If you have concerns on the price of a Yonex product, check out with an authentic dealers like us!
HOLOGRAM STICKER
Every Yonex product comes with a hologram sticker, such as rackets, grips, string packs and many more. It's difficult to peel off the hologram sticker on genuine products due to the special glue used. With counterfeit products the hologram sticker is easy to peel off simply with using your nails.
>>> Genuine Yonex Racket
>>> Counterfeit (Sticker can be easily peeled off)
>>> New hologram sticker for genuine products.
HOLOGRAM STICKER EXAMINATOR
>>> Yonex Hologram Examinator
Every Yonex authorized retailer should have a Yonex Hologram Examinator with them. You can bring your own rackets to them and ask for a quick examination.
The Yonex Hologram Examinator is a small piece of plastic board that has two windows on it. The genuine hologram sticker is visible through one of the window and invisible through the other one. If the hologram sticker is visible or invisible through both windows, then something is off right there!
>>> Example 1: A pack of counterfeit Yonex NBG-95 string. Hologram sticker is visible through both windows.
>>> Example 2: A pack of genuine Yonex Exbolt 63 string. Hologram sticker is visible through visible window, invisible through invisible window.
YONEX LOGO
The ''YY''mark and YONEX logo should be printed clearly on a genuine Yonex product. The ''O'' in YONEX on counterfeit rackets is often wide and round, with a larger space inside the letter.
Some really bad quality counterfeit rackets will even place the ''YY'' off center on the T-Joint.
>>> Genuine Yonex Racket.
>>> Counterfeit (Letters of Yonex are not correct)
PRODUCTION NUMBERS ON THE RACKET CAP
All genuine rackets have laser engraved production codes on the cap above the handle. Also check if production code matches the origin of the production country.
>>> Genuine Yonex Racket (Laser Engraved Codes)
>>> Counterfeit (Codes are only printed, not engraved. Also some production codes do not match with the production origin.)
BUTT CAP
If you have a genuine racket on hand, please compare the butt caps color and the YY mark. A counterfeit racket will often be a different shade of green, too light or too dark. Also the YY mark is off on counterfeit rackets.
>>> Genuine Yonex Racket
>>> Counterfeit (Green color is too light and logo is the wrong shape)
SHAFT + T-JOINT TEST
When producing a new racket, the shaft and T-joint are the most difficult and essential part of the racket. A fake racket usually comes with really crappy shaft and t-joint, it is easily bent and does not hold the power and torque it should have.
It is recommended to do this test under supervision, if you do not know how to bend a racket properly you might accidentally break your racket.
>>> Genuine Yonex Racket: Very difficult to bend the shaft.
>>> Counterfeit: The shaft can be easily twisted and bent. It does not hold the stability and the torque of the shaft is really bad.
CONCLUSION
It is always exciting to think that you might sealed a good deal on buying stuff, but there is always a chance that you accidentally bought a counterfeit, and the value is not even close to what you paid. You ended up paying extra and got flipped off.
If you are into this sport, might as well invest a little more into what you adore. We always encourage our customers to shop with authentic retailers, anything you buy with them should be authentic. Next time when you see a questionable racket, try to use the tricks we taught you, you can also spot a fake racket on your own!
