Fake Oregon chainsaw sprockets on Amazon.

[eugene89us]

Good morning, wanted to share my experience with this community regarding my recent experience with fake Oregon sprockets from Amazon. The product I was looking for was .325 7-link Sm7 small rim sprocket by Oregon. I have a Stihl MS 261 that runs Stihl "mini" sprocket, which of course could not fit onto non-Stihl small sprocket. I called around locally, nobody had them in stock, so I figured if I am to trust the sale, I will buy from Amazon over eBay. Big mistake. The Oregon sprockets came in what appears to be Oregon boxes. Inside the small box, there was a zip-lock bag that was bigger that the box, so it was folded over to fit into the box, and inside was the sprocket. The trouble is that besides the size "325-7", there were no additional brand markings. I immediately went to eBay to find equivalent Oregon Power Mate sprocket, and found one even cheaper than was Amazon was passing as original Oregon item.

I always considered Oregon to be the "run of the mill" brand - better than Chinese no doubt, but significantly cheaper than many branded Stihl components. I figured faking Oregon is akin to faking Walmart's Great Value products - i.e. there would be no market for it. But apparently I was mistaken! When I looked for generic sprockets, they can be bought on eBay or AliExpress for 5 sprockets at the lower price than Amazon sold me those pretend Oregon ones. Photos in the next post. Got the return started with Amazon, quite disappointed in them in general - used to be my trustworthy source in the past. Thoughts?

 

[eugene89us]

This is how they came:



Completely unbranded despite pretending to come in original Oregon box. Though I wonder if box is fake too?

 

[eugene89us]

Now side by side with Power Mate sprocket I got off eBay:

 

[irhunter]

Amazon may not be as bad as Ebay, regarding counterfeit products...but, it's close.

HL, SawsAgain, Wolf Creek, Sawzilla ... all, IMO, better options.

Roy

 

[eugene89us]

Thank you, Roy! I purchased a few things from Saw Again, Chainsawr, and Jacks Small Engines. I know all three are actual physical dealers, and they are unlikely to have fraudulent product. I guess for the sprockets, I figured I could get them from these or Bailey's online, but the shipping would cost more than the item itself. Figured that I pay for Prime shipping, this one was fulfilled by Amazon, the picture on Amazon looked to be correct. Apparently what you see and what you get are two different things. But I am literally on the verge of cancelling Prime - there is a lot of counterfeit and Chinese stuff on Amazon, nothing good to watch on Prime Video. I find eBay with its seller feedback and time in business to be a much better metric that "JWASKY" company getting bad reviews and renaming to "JTWHDHF" company without issues with brand image., while continuing to push low quality product.

 

[irhunter]

As we learn from your sprocket experience, counterfeiters are interested in the smallest and cheapest parts imaginable.

$7 sprockets, $4 spark plugs, ..., you name it.

No longer just a problem for $400 Denso truck starters.

Roy

 

[eugene89us]

Agreed, this is absolutely horrendous. So if these Oregon boxes are indeed legitimate, then I am thinking the seller saved up these boxes when first selling genuine parts, and then decided to make extra money by probably buying a large amount of cheap sprockets from Alibaba and fitting them into Oregon box. Though Oregon box got easily unglued, I am suspecting the fraud also had good Photoshop skills to create an original-looking box to deceive. I won't be surprised if someone here proves that what I had was genuine, I am not a pro at identifying fraud, but there are just too many red flags with this being unbranded. Even smallest of detail, like the rectangular holes on the inside rim are more jagged on the fake compared to what I think is original. It may all be fake and we may all be in a simulation now, nothing is for sure anymore! I guess pretty theft at large quantities will get these fraudsters income they need. I left a review on Amazon, we will see if it gets posted.

 

[NSEric]

I bought a Oregon speed cut bar/chain combo off amazon and the chain is only hardened on one side.
I think someone got a hold of Oregon's rejects and is selling them on amazon.

 

[RedneckChainsawRepair]

Might want to read this post from 2022 China Oregon rims - http://chainsawrepair.createaforum.com/chain/oregon-sprocket-rims/msg89370/#msg89370

 

[Haywire Haywood]

China can produce quality parts, the one ordering them built just has to spec the parts out like that. Unfortunately, money is the root of all profit, and everyone is in business to produce profit, so the decision is made to cut costs which translates to sloppy specs or materials. If oregon specs out a quality product and has on-site QA to assure that the spec is met, quality components will be the result.

 

[Breckinridge Elkins]

For all we know the two products are made on the same assembly line.

 

[huskydave]

Run it and let us know how that goes.

 

[eugene89us]

They may all come from the same source, who knows, but there are glaring differences between the sprockets. Even something minor like the drilling of exit holes on the inside rim of sprocket. The genuine ones are perfectly square with smooth edges. The fake one is rectangular, which is just fine, but the edges differ and sometimes are even mildly jagged. The angle inside is also different between the two and the dividers are thinner and have gentle curve on genuine. On a fake one, they are thicker and more square. Now whether this will result in difference to performance, wear to the chain, or wear to sprocket remains to be seen. But if I get charged for a genuine item, I want to get a genuine item. I don't mind aftermarket if they are priced as such. This here is just fraud. And I still don't want to purposefully put Chinese parts on a pricey German saw. I want to support our jobs and those of our allies. Call me what you like, but I am America first.