General Cycling Discussion - How can I tell if my Oakleys are fake?

I bought a pair of Oakley riding sunglasses from ebay. They should be coming in the mail sometime next week. The more I think about it though, the more I'm worried that they might be fake; "foakeys", if you will.

Here (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=951673475&rd=1) is the actual auction link. The guy selling them has lots of positive feedback... but still, all that bad grammer and lack of a decent picture has me worried. Last night I actually had a dream where I got a package in the mail that contained a cheap pair of sunglasses made out of that really oily plastic (you know what I'm taking about?) It actually woke me up in middle of the night.

Well, it says in the auction that they are authentic, so if I find them to be faux, I can contact ebay and they can investigate. You see, when they say they're the real thing, and they turn out to be not real, thats fraud. Usually when they don't specifically say they are genuine, they are more than likey fake. I really should have nothing to worry about, but... I don't know.

Does anybody here know how to spot a fake if they see one? Are there any telltale signs, other than the word "oakley" being mispelled on the front or something?

If it does in fact have the warranty card as the ad states. Then there would presumeably be a serial number on the glasses somewhere (its absense would set of an alarm for me). Also if you try to register a non-existent serial or one that has alreadsy been used, you will probably be trying to register a fake. Also verify that the barcode on the box is correct (to make sure the box has not been falisfied).

That's all I can think of a the moment.

he goes out of his way to guarantee the authenticity, so if they do turn out to be fake, make sure you file a complaint with eBay, and give him neg feedback. If you have enough room, tell other buyers how you know they're fake. eBay's pretty good about preventing fraudulent merchandise from being sold.

if you wear them and don't increase your mph on the bike...then they are fake. hahaha

Also if it says "Faklies" on them...I would lean toward them not being real :) :rolleyes: :)

If you spent less than a small fortune on the Oakleys and they were new, then they are fake. One of the guys I ride with wears fake Oakley M-frames with real Oakley lenses. Seems happy...

The correct term is Fauxkleys, by the way. :D

I am hereby enlightened.:beer:

I've also heard them referred to as "Jokeleys". :)

Hi, I saw your post, and just wanted to add some comments on the Oakleys. I used to work for them for a few years, several years ago. Most of their sunglasses back then didn't have an actual serial number that you could associate the sunglasses to--unless of course you had some product that was produced in limited quantities for collection purposes. In fact, in that particular case, it was not the sunglasses, but their first batch of watches that were assigned a special number.

In any case, there's no definitive way of verifying if they're Oakleys, aside from checking that they don't say "Made in Taiwan" or some other country, other than the US. If you send it to Oakley, or if you happen to be out in Southern California, you can bring it to their corporate office. Their technicians can authenticate this for you. (If you want to go to that trouble...) :)

Bottom line, I think that it's the lenses that really are the best part of the sunglasses. :)

Let's hope you got the real thing! :D

At a glance, they look like the real deal. I have a pair just like them.
:beer:

FWIW the "carnival" just came through town at our county fair. All my students are now sporting "Oakeys"!

Gary