There are a huge number of online ereader and tablet sellers based in China, who tend to advertise on sites such as Alibaba, DHgate, EC21, Made-in-China and TradeKey, some of which I have looked at earlier in this blog.

In general I have liked what I have seen on these sites, provided you realize they are selling bottom of the line, cheap and unreliable products… which might or might not work.

Back in the days when a “real” ereader would cost you several hundred dollars, a cheap Chinese one for $60 was interesting, but no more, now that kindles can be had for as little as $70.

One thing they all have in common is the relatively low prices they are asking for their products, (cheap components and labour), but until recently they have all been honest enough in their ads.

Image source: http://arstechnica.com

The Knock-offs are coming:

But this is changing; I have noticed an increase in ads on these sites for cheap ereaders that claim to be Kindles, or Sonys or whatever.

Now whilst we all know that most digital gadgets these days are built in China, they are not sold directly from China…  Amazon sell Kindles, Sony sell their ereaders and so on, all through the normal channels, but absolutely not via those Chinese websites directly from the factory.

So if you happen to come across an add, such as this wonderful one that Jon Brodkin who wrote about this problem in http://arstechnica.com (we obviously pass our days on similar websites), please do keep your brain switched on and  realize that it has several rather large hints to show it isn’t a real Kindle they are attempting to sell you:

• It bears no resemblance to a real Kindle
• Kindle do not make a colour ereader (I know, the Fire, but that is a tablet, not an ereader)

If you wander around these websites, you will find other equally daft offers of more or less counterfeit ereaders.

Interestingly enough, they do not yet seem to have started to actually copy real Kindles, Kobos or whatever.  But that will come soon, have no fear.  There is even a factory in China that produces exact copies of Honda cars…. Identical in all respects to the real Honda, except they are rubbish….  And while I was living in Beijing, I came across no end of beautifully copied digital devices on offer, openly.

So it is only a matter of time before we see Kindle ereaders that are exact copies of the real thing being offered for sale on such sites.

Beware and check:

If you come across any ads on these sites, or any other sites for well known makes of ereader, for suspiciously low prices, with a delivery address in China, don’t be fooled…..

Share with us:

Have you been fooled into buying what you thought was a real Kindle (or similar) via such ads, and discovered the awful truth too late?  Do share your experiences here with us, so that others can avoid making the same mistake.