interesting dilemma

[ObKrieger]

so this guy just opened a shop near where i live. hes got a lot of stuff but he doesnt seem very knowledgable about most of it. among his german helmets he has an obviously fake normandy tri-camo with a cheap SS-RZM chinstrap and an obviously fake SS afrika camo. how do i tell him that they are fake without damaging our potential customer-dealer relationship?

i dont want to start an argument with him, lol i hate confrontation.

[GasMasksUK]

Give it to him straight, if he's a decent guy he would be glad of finding out that the helmet he has is a fake. If anything he'll respect the fact that you know more about the subject than him

Thanks

Danny

[jimpy]

Be straight with him. You could just raise it in conversation, with something along the lines of, you do realise that this helmets a fake/false/wrong etc.
If hes a decent guy and you dont get bolshy with him, he will, hopefully take it the right way and possibly even thank you for pointing it out to him.

[Walkwolf]

Is he selling the fakes as original pieces, at prices originals should be selling for ?

I'd let him know too, as Danny and Jimpy say..... Loan him a couple of books
and let him see for himself.

It sounds like he has no retail experience in selling militaria - like a hobbyist/collector
who just decides to open a store. I've seen it happen where a fellow sat and waited
for the goodies to arrive - It doesn't work that way very well unless you have a
strongly respected and established name in the collector community, and tons
of cash, because there will be dreadfully thin months at times. I know one
collector who went there and paid just $350 for a rare $3,000 item.
That would have kept the shop open for another 3 months.

This can be very bad for him, as some folks are going to get ripped off,
while others will walk away with killer once-in-a-lifetime deals !
You could sit in there and wait for killer deals yourself, but if you are a decent guy,
your conscience will make you tell him what he's doing wrong !

( I spent/wasted 15 years of my life in retail sales and over 30 years collecting militaria )







Regards, Steve.

[Davidh]

I have had the same thing with a dealer near me, he takes it bad when i tell him that things are bad but i still tell him i went in yesterday and he had a matching tk and eagle set for sale but i have since found out they are both fakes so today i will be telling him, rgds Dave