Most have said we are the most expensive tip on the market... We are not. Take a look again.
Counterfeit Kamui Tips- Learn the difference.
- Thread starter Kamuitipsdotcom
- Start date
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Hi Kamui fans. The time has come for all of us to recognize what is a fake Kamui and what is an Authentic Kamui.
We are changing our "look" NOT formula to make sure that YOU, the player and installer is getting a GENUINE Kamui tip.
Please study the image below and share with all of your friends. The fake Kamui tips will noticeably not perform like a Kamui tip. But before you get yours installed be sure it is the real thing!
View attachment 190850
For further education on the evolution of the Kamui tips
1. At a brief time we did have black Kamui tips without the foil stamp. 2008-2009 But all Blacks had a unique serial number.
2. In August of 2009 we had a threat of counterfeit so we created the current "foil stamped" look.
With ALL of my authorized Kamui installers I RECALLED all the old look tips(non-foil stamped) and replaced with foil stamped. (I have a lot of the old ones)(NO MS)
RULE OF THUMB: Buy the Original or Black with a foil stamp, THEN look for the serial number pushed into the face.
The counterfeiters can not keep up with us as we can change the look of the Kamui tip at any moments notice. If it does not have a foil stamp you run a high risk that it could have been sourced out of a counterfeiter.
We do this to ensure that you get the real thing.
This chart below was made to show in 2009 what the new look is, what we know now. The HOLOGRAM will come out end of August.
This is great info. Thanks
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Originally Posted by Kamuitipsdotcom
Pretty soon I will not be able to prevent a price increase. Blame it on the US gov't and our economy.
Do you and "Roadie" really, really believe that government policy doesn't have economic effects? "Roadie" is issuing recommended reading but I really kinda think he should take his own advice.
Pretty soon I will not be able to prevent a price increase. Blame it on the US gov't and our economy.
Do you and "Roadie" really, really believe that government policy doesn't have economic effects? "Roadie" is issuing recommended reading but I really kinda think he should take his own advice.
Yes, but perhaps the consumers (the ones who count) don't agree with MAP. This discussion reminds me of gasoline price "regulation" (or lack thereof). And I guess nobody is "forcing" us to buy gas either, too bad things aren't that simple.
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As a consumer I have no idea what you pay for the tips nor who pays what part of sponsorship and advertising. The climate is what it is and the fact is that if you raise your prices then the only reason is to protect your margins. Which is fine but don't tell the consumer that it's the government's fault.
Why are you deleting your posts? No need for that. A good rep will probably (not speaking from experience) think about what he's going to say, and then say it and stand by it.
12ozCurl
Banned
If you want to play that game....
Check MAP. Your forced to sell them at the Minimum Advertised Price. Which if I'm understanding correctly (the lowest I have seen adverstised from a reputable source) are 19.75/16.75 *
There are several tips more expensive than Kamui out there. For example:
Onyx LTD 24.95
Moori21.95
If you extend your reach beyond tips, other products Kamui offers have higher priced competiters as well.
For example
Tiger Paw Cue Holder 49.95
vs
Kamui Cue Holder 39.95
Yall are so quick to accuse the man of screwing you because he is trying to turn a megar profit. You cant feed a family if you dont make any profit. If your authorized retailer is charging you more, than dont buy from him. Find another authorized retailer. If you think you got a counterfeit/bunk tip then call 1-877-GO-KAMUI and tell John yourself. Dont come badmouth him on the forums for trying to make a living.
Yall are so crazy about the prices of the chalk? Ya wanna hear something funny? To date there have been exactly 1204 peices of Kamui .98 chalk to come into the country. Out of those peices I have had 97 of them....I paid between 25 and 28 dollars each. I spent $2591 in the aquisition of this chalk. I smashed one peice (freak accident), used 2 peices, given 3 away, and still have 1 more left. If your doing the math at home along with me that means I have SOLD 90 peices of Kamui for a total $2798. Thats a $200 profit. Not much in the grand scheme of things.
My point of this chalk story is that yes I made money by selling a product. There are people out there that are willing to pay the prices, and being such, you have no place to admonish how much a person prices something they have for sale. There is a saying in the auction world. "Things are only worth what someone else is willing to pay". I'd say that Kamui priced things right. They make enfough money to keep the lights on and their employees paid, and their customers (99% of the ones I talked to) are completely satisfied.
When is the last time one of yall gave away 50 of something? I know Mr. Bertone just gave 50 tips to the Seminole Tour for an incentive to buy their PPV. He sponsors players by putting tips on their cues and chalk in their hands.
*My source for these figures was Seyberts. I used regular retail pricing. Which as far as I can tell all Kamui products are Priced at MAP, therefore they do not put them on "Sale". Its one thing to markup your product and put it on sale. Its much more honest to price it where it needs to be in the first place.
Of course it has economic effects. But the point is that prices rise and fall for a lot of other factors alongside government intervention. Economists the world over have proven time and again that government can never really have the positive effects on the economy that they (and deluded people) think that they have when they enact any policy designed to ease pricing. Because there is a cause/effect ripple that happens any time you artificially DEPRESS prices in one sector then it causes a rise in prices in another sector. Whenever any sector loses then another gains. Money is finite. Money taken from any person in any fashion is a loss for them and a gain for someone else. If the government undertakes to do something to stabilize the exchange rate between Japan and the US Dollar so that Kamui tips aren't more expensive for him to import due to the exchange rate then Mr. Bertone's expenses will rise some other way such that he will be forced to raise prices. This type of reciprocal action has been proven over and over and over.
So if you are under the impression that the government is to blame when the economy is bad then do you give them credit when it's good? What specifically do you think that the government can do to protect the price of Kamui tips for you? And for that matter since we are blaming the government shouldn't we be looking to give our money to domestic tip makers to allow them to have the resources to develop tips as good or better than Kamui? (Assuming that they are not already)
Since the government is to blame shouldn't the government be in Tiger's facility stimulating them to encourage more innovation and employment?
Blaming the government for your pricing is the sign of a weak business. The only way that government truly influences prices upward is when they enact regulations that come with fees that increase costs which then must be added to the overhead and built into the product price.
Roadie,
I have held prices from increasing for 8 months hoping the economy would come back around.
In 2009 when I locked in the deal the yen and the dollar were equal.
Which means 19.75 is 1975 yen. Today, 1975Yen is $25.75.
This all means when I buy, My dollar is weak to the yen... not worth as much. This means that the factory, the employees, will not survive.
NO MORE OFF TOPIC.. THIS THREAD IS FOR COUNTERFEIT DISCUSSION.
If you want to talk to me about pricing and what ever call me. or PM or email.
THANK YOU!
I have held prices from increasing for 8 months hoping the economy would come back around.
In 2009 when I locked in the deal the yen and the dollar were equal.
Which means 19.75 is 1975 yen. Today, 1975Yen is $25.75.
This all means when I buy, My dollar is weak to the yen... not worth as much. This means that the factory, the employees, will not survive.
NO MORE OFF TOPIC.. THIS THREAD IS FOR COUNTERFEIT DISCUSSION.
If you want to talk to me about pricing and what ever call me. or PM or email.
THANK YOU!
Profit is better than loss. That said paying retail and more for any product to make a meager profit is not the way I would choose to make a living.
No one is begrudging Mr. Bertone his profit. I am merely not in agreement that the government is to blame for any increase in price of Kamui products.
12ozCurl
Banned
You are splitting hairs. Through Indirect action (or lack there of) the US Dollar has fallen in value. Therefore the value of his product must be adjusted accordingly. There is no way shape or form that it is not the governments fault.
Speaking of government, I heard that some of the counterfeits comming out of china are getting caught up in customs. Buddy of mine was telling me that he saw a whole shipping container that customs seized full of designer purses, Vera, Dooney, Louie, and Coach too. Shame....
I must have been too vague when "blaming the government"
It is my fault for not predicting the Value of USD would become so week that I can not do business oversees like I did in 2009.
It is my fault for not predicting the Value of USD would become so week that I can not do business oversees like I did in 2009.
I am sorry but you took it to pricing. You can increase your prices or the factory can increase theirs. It doesn't matter to me. I feel that anyone should charge whatever price they want. The market decides ultimately whether to reward the maker and accept the prices asked or not. However the government is not the reason the dollar and the yen are not performing to the benefit of your speculative deal.
Regarding your counterfeiting issue the only way a consumer has to know if they are dealing with an authorized outlet is to take the time to verify the outlet through you. So here is an idea for you that is free. You need to have someone write a small script that pushes an Authorized Dealer button to any site that you give the script to. Similar to an embed code for YouTube. What is then displayed to the consumer looking at a Kamui tips dealer is a graphic that says Kamui Authorized Dealer with a field under it that says enter email and button underneath that which says VERIFY DEALER. When the VERIFY DEALER button is pushed an email is sent to you and to the dealer who got the script. On your end you have a filter set up that sends an autoreply verifying the dealer. The dealer gets a copy of who is asking and can respond themselves. With a bit of cleverness you can make this process very hard to fake. That will cut out 99% of the assholes who are selling fakes as long as they know that customers have a way to instantly verify their authenticity.
You should run an infomercial type auction on Ebay for all your products. This auction is not designed to actually sell but instead is designed to provide a wealth of information about authentic Kamui products from authorized dealers to include the information about the verification button.
How do I know this? I successfully implemented a similar system for other clients in the past.
Putting up a bunch of pictures only helps the counterfeiters to adapt their products. Holograms are so yesterday and easily faked.
You have stated that you don't want to publish your list of authorized dealers. Fair enough and I can see reasoning for not wanting to. However by not doing so you put a lot of the onus on the consumer for verifying one-by-one the authenticity of any seller of your products. By providing a list you allow the consumer a quick and easy way to see if the seller is on it.
I am not splitting hairs in the least. The "government" can't make prices low and they can't make prices high without imposing martial law and building a wall around the United States.
Counterfeits are seized every day. Guess what? More get in than are ever caught. And guess what else? The government could care less about Kamui tips getting knocked off so don't expect customs and US marshals to be impounding any shipments of Kamui tips any time soon.
Not really sure what point you are even trying to make about this. This forum is incredibly fickle when it comes to which people it will crucify for supposed copying violations and which ones get a free pass. Counterfeits are a part of life and the higher profile you are, the more popular you are the more you will be a target for getting knocked off.
Sucks for Kamui and thanks for the information on how to spot knockoffs. I have two tips without holograms that I will check against the images provided. As to fighting the scumbuckets who are doing the counterfeiting I certainly hope they can make some headway. Same thing happened to Moori and a lot of folks in the industry.
Simple biz....... a product is worth what people are willing to pay. If the going rate is what the seller is charging then thats the price. I was opposed to paying $20ish for a tip,
but after playing with one I am open to idea.
Now please back to the topic at hand, the OP just wanted to make sure no one gets duped or ripped off. Just my 0.02
but after playing with one I am open to idea.
Now please back to the topic at hand, the OP just wanted to make sure no one gets duped or ripped off. Just my 0.02
Originally Posted by risky biz:
Do you and "Roadie" really, really believe that government policy doesn't have economic effects? "Roadie" is issuing recommended reading but I really kinda think he should take his own advice.
You're mixing intra-economic and inter-economic together. Japan has a central bank separate from the US central bank. Your intra-economy comments are largely irrelevant.
It isn't a question of good or bad. It's a question of exchange rates. US Government policy is the primary cause of our historically weak dollar. That, in itself, doesn't mean that the policy is good or bad but it is a succinct explanation of why foreign goods have upward pressure on their pricing.
You need to make up your mind whether government policy has a primary economic effect or doesn't have a primary economic effect. You can't have it both ways in the same post.
All he's doing is explaining why you might have to pay more for his product at his chosen profit margin. If you don't like the price don't buy the product.
The last sentence is totally, 100% incorrect.
Additionally, you should take some serious account of the fact that Adam Smith wrote 'Wealth of Nations' before central banks ever dreamed of being as monetarily interventionist as they now are and fiscal policy (government spending) wasn't one of the primary economic spigots that it is now. Even in the 40's and 50's, when Hazlitt was writing, massive government policy intervention in the economy was limited to wartime periods.
You're spouting off a bunch of economic anecdotes that might, in and of themselves, be true, but which have nothing to do with the simple truth that the Kamui guy is telling you.