A friend and I may have "stepped in it." We each bought a Zeiss Conquest, 4-16x, on eBay. Since our purchase, we found on the Zeiss site a warning against purchase of several of their scopes through eBay. Our particular models were not on the Zeiss list. However, the person we purchased from did have some of those on the Zeiss list up for sale. We are awaiting the arrival of the two scopes with trepidation. We will provide an update after we receive the scopes.

I saw these listed on ebay from a Singapore location. The scopes stated they were either Made in USA or Assembled in USA, I forget which.
Their Feedback was good save for one person who stated something like "Fake is fake", or words to that effect. But he gave them positive Feedback.
Please keep us posted as to what arrives. The prices were very attractive.

Something's fishy for sure. Meopta made the Conquests for Zeiss here in NY, USA. Singapore shouldn't have anything to do with it, and a real 4-16x doesn't exist.

My friend called. His "Zeiss" showed up yesterday. We are going to give it a going-over while having a good cigar this afternoon. Will relay our findings as soon as we have some reliable information to give to you.

The "Zeiss" box did not look substantial. The scope inside, we could not get the turrets loose so couldn't check clicks of adjustment. It was not as clear as other scopes we each had, none of them with the quality name of Zeiss.

We are thinking of taking the scopes to the range mounted on rifles, then shooting to see how they do.

I would try to get your money back before putting marks on them. If that size range is not made in Conquests, they can't be genuine.

Sambarman, We have decided to do that. Someone else notified us the scopes were made in China. We understand that eBay may help us with the return of these scopes. I looked at a Weaver the other day that was much better in optics and general workings.

Good luck with it, prof242. Despite criticisms, I think ebay tries to keep things straight. Their system of feedback should penalise shonks. Legitimate vendors, at least, certainly become concerned to keep good reputations.

quote:

Originally posted by prof242:
Sambarman, We have decided to do that. Someone else notified us the scopes were made in China. We understand that eBay may help us with the return of these scopes. I looked at a Weaver the other day that was much better in optics and general workings.

Box them up as received and notify the seller that you're returning them for a refund and immediately ship them back, with a signature required.

You might also notify ebay that the scopes are not Zeiss and you may be filing a claim.

If you do ANYTHING but the above you will quite likely be voiding your refund privledges. The idea of shooting them is silly, just like thinking you're going to get new quality made scopes on ebay for less than half price.

For sure notify Zeiss. I'm sure their lawyers would like to have a crack at them! You might even receive comp from Zeiss in the form of legit scopes.

Bobster, that would be great, but I have no desire to profit from this stupid move of my friend and I. We deserve what we got.

FYI, I'm PROF242's friend that bought the other scope. I called Zeiss, and confirmed the scopes are counterfeit. From the tone I heard from the Zeiss rep, they're sort of annoyed people are buying from eBay (who Zeiss has warned about the counterfeits), instead of from reputable Zeiss dealers. The old "sounds too good to be true" adage applies here!

Follow-up:
When you request a return/refund via eBay, they request a reason for the return. One of those reason options is "Fake or Counterfeit", which I selected. eBay then follows up with a message to the buyer that if the seller does not satisfactorily address the problem within a week, they (eBay) will re-engage. I should know soon how the seller will respond.
I also sent photos and other info to the rep at Zeiss for their records. Interestingly, my registration of the scope through Zeiss was processed without issue, even though the serial number was bogus. I also noted that problem to the Zeiss rep with whom I spoke. They should have bounced my registration attempt.

More follow-up:
The seller swears that the scope is "100% Zeiss" unique to the Asian market, which we are suspicious may mean assembled from Zeiss parts, but not actually a Zeiss scope. Zeiss swears that it is not a Zeiss scope and the SN is not in their database, but they never use the words "fake" or "counterfeit". The scope has some good features and appears to be good quality optics when compared to similar scopes. The dilemma continues!

Most foreign companies don't have trademark protection, so they can put whatever name they want on it. There is nothing a Zeiss lawyer could do about it. EBAY does take care of sellers, so I'd go through EBAY and not directly to the seller.