Although I’ve had some really good experiences on eBay, one vendor’s practices make me sick to the stomach.
Shendenetworking market themselves as:
Shende Networking Co.,Ltd, ebay ID verified powerseller, is specialized in new and sealed Cisco products, including switch, firewall, router, GBIC&SFP,WIC,software,memories,cables etc… We provide high quality products and professional services to our customers. Happy bidding!
However they actually sell counterfeit Cisco equipment.
When we queried this with them one of their staff replied:
We never indicate that these units are original cisco items on ebay listing page.
BUT if you look at any item these scammers are selling you’d get a very different impression
We found out the hard way when we sent a defective switch into Cisco recently.
It’s a lot safer to buy from the likes of Hardware.com!
Ouch, that is crap. Can Cisco not chase them down?
Ouch, that is crap. Can Cisco not chase them down?
I contacted Cisco’s fraud department but haven’t heard back yet
Hmm, they have a remarkably good ebay rating, considering.
Rob – that maybe due to their handling of negative feedback. I’ve had numerous emails from them demanding that I remove my negative feedback or face repurcussions.
I think this Ebay scam is just the tip of the ice-berg really. I used to work for the airlines, and I new an employee who would fly to China, buy knock-off handbags, and sell them on EBay as the real Mccoy.
Very nasty indeed. She quit just in time to save here sorry backside.
Terry
Believe it or not my last job was buying/selling networking gear in the States for Cisco’s largest authorized refurb dealer and looking after the legal issues with used equipment.
Counterfeit Cisco is like a rash in the reseller world and is highly available on eBay, just what you have shown.
You need to be very careful when buying Cisco from a non-var as anyone who sells pre-owned or used switches & routers without newly purchased IOS software is selling what is deemed as black market by Cisco.
Also, don’t get caught out with people claiming they sell Cisco refurb as according to Cisco it is called Cisco Authorized Refurb (C.A.R.) and can only be sold via a Cisco partner using the proper channels. Cisco Refurb (Non-CAR) is used equipment and still needs a new IOS, not many resellers will tell you this or will they cough up supplying you with a new IOS.
Michele I’ll send the link onto a guy I work with in the States who works for close with brand protection I am sure he flag the company with Cisco.
I can help you out with equipment from the company I worked with who are very reliable, I wouldn’t recommend them if I thought different. Also if you have used networking gear I would be interested in buying it from you.
Gavin
If you can get these swine flagged with Cisco I would appreciate it. I emailed Cisco about it, but they haven’t replied
Michele
PS: Email me about the hardware thing 🙂
I bought Cisco from Shende several times – this stuff works just fine and 10 times cheaper than Cisco official. I suspect official Cisco made by same Chinese factory but has QA/QC which making it so expensive! – why should I pay more? I received defective cables from Shende – they immediately returned my money!
Leo
Maybe because if it’s not Cisco then they shouldn’t be selling it as Cisco?
If they were honest and advertised it as being a knock off I wouldn’t have any reason to complain, but they advertise it as being Cisco when it isn’t.
If you have an issue with the hardware Cisco cannot support it and sending kit back to China is not really viable
Michele
I see what you mean and agree, but what was really happened – they doing FULL refund – paying shipment cost back to Hong-Kong as well. Quality same as original Cisco, only difference – cheap package and no manuals (or badly printed). For example original Cisco WIC2T module costs by GPL $700 and Shende sells it for about $70 with delivery – I see financial reason to buy it for some small projects…Cisco charging too much…
Leo
They may have offered you a FULL refund including shipping. That DID NOT happen with us and several other people on eBay who were foolish enough to fall for their scam.
It doesn’t matter how much Cisco charge. If you bought a Volkswagen off eBay you’d expect it to be a real Volkswagen.
Michele
Michele: they gave me FULL refund, including shipment…They did not claimed its a real Cisco by the way, I was happy with price and quality…but, it is too risky to buy expencive equipment from these guys, I am just buying cheap modules…Cisco and Volks are too different to compare IMHO, it does not matter for some of my projects real Cisco or not as soon as it works fine.
In addition, I do not advertise these guys I am just sharing my real experience…
Feedback and eBay history are usually key indicators as to whether or not you should buy from someone on eBay. So it’s strange that these guys got to become powersellers without being found out before this. Thanks for letting us know Michelle
Feedback and eBay history are usually key indicators as to whether or not you should buy from someone on eBay. So it’s strange that these guys got to become powersellers without being found out before this. Thanks for letting us know Michelle
You are correct that they are selling Cisco knock offs. Purchased some “Cisco” SFPs from them. Although they came with Cisco branded labels, all failed in short order and the locking latch falls off of them. Shame on e-bay for looking the other way on such a clear case of fraud.
Gareth
It’s a bit of a mystery to me as well. When you put one of their “ciscos” beside a real one the difference is immediately apparent. An expensive lesson!
Marc – Exactly my feelings. I contacted eBay about it, but they didn’t seem to be able to do much about it, which is maddening
It sure looks like authentic CISCO product to me, and works just fine.
Mike,
Try contacting Cisco, give them the serial number of your unit and ask them if it’s real. I think you will find otherwise. The products I purchased had Cisco markings on them, just like real items, but they obviously were not. Very poor quality rough castings, labels were of poor print quality, latches came off in short order and all 4 units failed within a few months.
Ebay seems to keep a blind eye to such behavior as long as the seller pays their bills. They basically blew me off when I pointed this out to them. Shende Networking started to persistently send me SPAM mail (no opt out information in SPAM, all e-mails asking for such ignored) after I purchased the SFPs from them on ebay. I complained to ebay and their response was that they must have gotten my e-mail address from another source. In my opinion you can do whatever you want on ebay regarding copyright/trademark violations & fraud and they will ignore it unless the request comes from government / law enforcement.
Hope your equipment lasts longer then mine did.
Marc
All of the units we bought have either failed or are failing, so we’ve had to replace them with genuine Cisco.
Mike – Yes. It “looks” authentic until you put it beside the real thing. And if you are using it in a production environment you will run into issues. It might not happen for a few months, but it will.
Michele
All GBIC and SFP’s purchased from shende working just perfect for almost one year now. Faulty cables was replaced fairly quick (with delivery paid by the shende) Probably I was lucky, but recently I purchased another bulk number of SFP units and they all good. I have some genuine Cisco SFP’s which was failed and replaced by shende units. Why pay $995 (GPL price) for GLC-LH-SM if I can buy it for $32 from Shende? Don’t that means Cisco screwing us?
I contacted CISCO brand protection, and Shende Networking is not an authorized CISCO reseller. When I checked pricegrabber.com for a CISCO switch, the top 15 (sorted by lowest price) were not either! I gave up at that point, and went back to my usual supplier (who is). It doesn’t seem like ANY (or many) of the online resellers are authorized, whether in China or the US. Here is the link to do a look-up:
http://tools.cisco.com/WWChannels/LOCATR/jsp/partner_locator.jsp
HOWEVER, this does not make the equipment counterfeit. CISCO won’t support it, but it could very well be authentic. I have a 3750G switch from Shende that has been running just fine for over two years. I have another from LACC.com that is also running just fine for over 3 years. LACC is NOT authorized either.
Buyer beware, but I highly doubt my current switches are counterfeit. Here’s the language I got from CISCO for reference:
“In order to minimize the risk of purchasing counterfeit products or unauthorized grey market equipment, we recommend that our customers always purchase products from authorized sales channels (i.e. from a Cisco Authorized Reseller/Registered Partner or Cisco Certified Partner (Premier, Silver, and Gold)). For a detailed list of our Authorized Channels in a particular territory, please refer to:
http://tools.cisco.com/WWChannels/LOCATR/jsp/partner_locator.jsp
As part of our channel partner program, Cisco has agreements with their US resellers which authorize these resellers to purchase Cisco Services and Products either directly from Cisco or from an authorized distributor (currently Ingram, Tech Data, Comstor, D&H, and Scansource in the US) and to resell and/or redistribute such Cisco Services and Products directly to End Users who deploy Products and receive Cisco Services within the US. Furthermore, Cisco’s agreements with its resellers prohibit our resellers from reselling Cisco products to other resellers of Cisco Products or Services, whether or not such other resellers are authorized by Cisco to resell or license Products or Services.
When products are not sold through Cisco’s authorized sales channels, Cisco can offer no assurance as to the provenance and quality of those products. Additionally, when resellers resell Cisco Products that have been sourced from outside of Cisco’s authorized sales channels, those Products do not come with a valid software license or hardware warranty and are not automatically eligible for a Cisco service support contract (such as Smartnet maintenance).
Please note, the discussion of whether a product is “new” or “used” is not the determining factor of whether Cisco will support a particular product. If this product is sourced from outside of Cisco authorized channels, Cisco reserves the right to refuse support on it, neither does the Customer have the appropriate right to use the software embedded in such products, as the software license is non transferrable beyond the original End User of record for that product.
Be aware, occassionally, we have seen Secondary Market resellers also procure SMARTnet contracts for Secondary Market sourced Cisco product from Cisco Registered Partners. NOTE: a SMARTnet contract does not = support entitlement from Cisco. Cisco reserves the right to refuse support on Secondary Market sourced product, even if presented with a valid SMARTnet contract, unless proof is presented that the product has undergone an inspection by Cisco, and the appropriate software licenses are procured.”