[c-nsp] packaging problem

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

If the Cisco tape was unbroken, then I would call Cisco and give
them the serial number and ask if someone has already registered
it.  Once Cisco stopped manufacturing in the United States,
they started having a lot of problem with Asian counterfeiters
and the 2950, 1721/2621, and various popular WIC cards are all
popular to counterfeit.  It's possible this unit was a counterfeit
that somehow got into the distribution chain, then was returned to
the distributor by another reseller.  Of course, the serial number
alone isn't a good way to find out if it's counterfeit, as quite a
lot of people buy authentic Cisco hardware then don't buy service
contracts
for it.  But undoubtedly Cisco has other key things they can have you
look for
to determine if it's a fake, that they don't generally publish. :-)

Quite a lot of Cisco counterfeits these days are shipped directly from
China through Ebay sales.  It's amazing that Cisco isn't acting to
shut more of it down as it's so easy to find.  Here's some examples:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=67334&item=5785085
217&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=67334&item=5785085
294&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=67334&item=5785085
737&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=67334&item=5785086
052&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=67334&item=5785086
235&rd=1

You will notice no bids on it - that is because the e-mail address is
prominent in the description, the usual procedure among grey marketers is
to e-mail these guys directly and offer $50 or so per device.  In fact
the description even tells you to e-mail them before bidding.

Unfortunately, the root problem is greed - both on the counterfeiters
side and on Cisco's side.  If Cisco really wanted to kill the counterfeit
market all they would need to do is move manufacturing out of Asia back
to
the US where they can control it, and be contented with only a few
hundred percent profit
instead of a few thousand percent profit per device.  The counterfeiters
can
do what they do because in China everything is still done by "guanxi"
(ie:old boys
network) and every time Cisco sends a chip mask, or circuit board design,
or
anything like that at all over to that country, within hours it's running
on a grey market production line, probably even faster than on the
authorized Cisco production line.
(there's an interesting dissertation here
http://lib.cityu.edu.hk/record=b1578027
about this problem, a summary of this is here
http://www.oycf.org/Perspectives/2_110299/miracle_and_crisis_of_east_asia
.htm )

And then of course there's the greed at the US distributors like Ingram
Micro and friends, who hardly ever return any product back to the vendor
when
a customer returns it to them, they just rebox it and reship it, assuming
wrongly that if there was a problem it was the end user didn't know what
they were doing, not that the product itself is bad.  (and I'm sure going
to
get flamed for saying that, but
if Cisco simply handled hardware returns and replacements within the
first
30 days instead of punting it back to the resellers and distributors,
this problem also would disappear)

Ted


>-----Original Message-----
>From: cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net
>[mailto:cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net]On Behalf Of jan gregor
>Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2005 10:33 PM
>To: cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
>Subject: [c-nsp] packaging problem
>
>
>Hello.
>
>Recently we bought cisco product (namely 2950 switch) from cisco
>reseller. We are byuing from that company for 4 years and so far there
>was no problem with devices. But this one has weird packaging problem.
>The box, in which device came, was sticked with cisco tape (as every box
>is), but the seal on plastic bag was broken and bag evidently opened
>before the device came to us.
>Do you guys think, that we shal return this device to our reseller, or
>keep it? The switch seems perfectly intact otherwise.
>
>Best regards,
>
>Jan Gregor
>
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