Not really, but a lot suspected they’re made using Zeal’s molds. I was curiously looking around the other day and either KBDFans took out the whole listing or they just removed enjoypbt from the name, leaving only transparent stabilizers.
Those definitely aren’t Zeal’s - they’re clips, not screws.
Seems like there’s a good chance the Tealios I bought from KBDFans a while back are fake. Are they doing anything about this? And Zealios are also affected?
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It’s only been about 6 hours since Zeal posted the PSA. Not to mention Wei’s currently on vacation. So far Wei replied to the matter saying he was not aware, and he will get back to Zeal as soon as possible. So all we can do is wait.
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Wei has made a statement on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/bk6mvz/apologize_to_everyone/
I’ve only had positive experiences with him and KBDfans, so I’ll continue buying my stuff there.
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Yeah, I’m finding this all a bit suspect on Wei’s part, like he’s scrambling for plausible deniability. It’s pretty simple, either he’s buying Zeal products from Zeal with Zeal’s branding, or he isn’t, in which case he should never have sold what he had as genuine Zeal products without getting Zeal’s approval to do so. You kind of need the King’s Imprimatur to sell the wine provided to the King by the King’s Official Winemaker.
I hate these popcorn fests, mostly because I hate popcorn. I mean, really, the hulls get stuck in my teeth, the kernels don’t all pop, it’s just not my thing. Hopefully, this will all be resolved in a manner amicable to both parties.
Edited to add: And how come these things always devolve into a popularity contest? Reddit is a trash fire right now. Partisans are lining up with pitchforks and downvotes. Accusations and statements of loyalty are flying left and right. This imbroglio is going to wind up hurting both of these vendors, I think. These guys should have tried to reconcile privately.
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Are these two dramas actually related to each other?
Only temporally
As a lot of people know, I was working with Alf for the BnB87. That’s on hold for now.
Anyways, the getting out of the keyboard manufacturing? That’s not what I heard from Alf.
He was still looking to produce the BnB87.
I wasn’t willing to work with a factory that would produce fakes. Now I have to go on the factory hunt. Fun times… /s
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hmm, so he’s dropping the name ALF and then it’s business as usual. a bit concerning. glad you decided to move on but it sucks that you have to spend more time hunting for a manufacturer.
Agreed with beaker. Despite Wei being an otherwise upstanding vendor he had to have known that he was buying unauthorized but real Tealios. He probably is telling the truth that he didn’t know they were fake. Buying fakes and selling them as the real thing is a worse offense, to be sure, but buying unauthorized factory seconds or whatever is still unethical.
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What’s probably the most ironic thing is that Zeal, the guy who puts years of R&D into his products, is the one that’s getting hated on for… getting faked. Keyboard community are stupid, man.
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I mean, at the end of the day, he still has a factory which produces things. Also, he’s got bills to pay and people to employ. So if he’s got a production run sitting in queue, already sold… I don’t fault him for wanting to try and complete the manufacturing.
From my POV, ALF has shown they can manufacture quality products. Did he also create counterfeits? Yes. I’m going to guess that he’s not the only Chinese manufacturer doing these runs who has also created a fake.
The only real concern I would have is if someone were to believe that if they do manufacturing with ALF in the future there’s a chance he’ll make more of them and sell for profit. Possible, but probably the chance we’re all taking with most manufacturers. He’s the one who knows he’s been caught and needs to fly the straight and narrow. Others are still in the shadows undetected for now…
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Well it looks like it’s just not Tealios, but also any Zealios that KBDfans sold from May 2nd of last year till now. I knew my batch I got with my NIU mini felt funny (Ordered on May 2nd last year). Wei is graciously offering refunds for any Tealios or Zealios sold in that time frame so I just sent him an email with my order number to see what he says about the batch mine came from. I’ll be sure to report back in this thread after I hear back from him & let you guys know what’s up. I will say reading his apology on r/mkb he does seem sincere in saying they did not know they were fakes. Although the fact he bought them from an unauthorized seller definitely makes that a hard sell. I guess we’ll have to see what he does from here before villainizing him within the community as he has been a very upstanding vendor up till this incident.
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I think Wei should tell Zeal where did he bought the switches from to take legal actions.
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Maybe, but it doesn’t really work that way on China, right? I didn’t think international IP laws meant much in China.
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I think there’s already enough for Zeal to take legal actions he did say Wei costed about 750,000rmb worth of damages which is enough more than enough for legal action.
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I don’t know how the IP laws work there and I know China has a lot of companies that produce fake products but there should be a way to protect internacional countries.
Whoa I didn’t knew that:sweat_smile:
The short of it is that there are legal avenues for handling this, and China mostly only gets a bad rap on this count because so much of manufacturing takes place there in the first place moreso than anything else.
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