Does This Sound Right?
 

I ordered a set of spark plugs for my Speedster from a place called NGK-Sparkplugs.com. I paid through PayPal - $4 each and free shipping. I got an email from the seller through PayPal saying they've been shipped. Now I'm having second thoughts. The seller's name is apparently not NGK-Sparkplugs, it is now LOK KAN TANG and the plugs are being shipped from Hong Kong!
How can a seller legitimately buy spark plugs from NGK at any price and ship them for free to the US? I'm afraid I'm going to get some Chinese knock-offs that are going to come apart in my engine. Anyone have any experience with this?

How can Ramen be made, packaged, wholesaled, shipped, get marked up and still sell 4 packs for only $1.00?

Not sure but does sound a bit sketchy.

If you can't cancel the order at least you are only out $25.00.

Could be worse all things considered.

My favorite is the 16' rebar at HD for something like $1.50 made in China. How do they do that?

Gigantic slow-moving container ships.

I've wondered about that, also. I think they must have much cheaper international postage rates than us, though it seems like the USPS should have some agreement preventing that. I've bought some bike parts from Hong Kong, and the air freight is dirt cheap.
What model plugs were they?

They are BP6HS. They are the only non-resistor plugs I've found in the right reach and right heat range for 356SC engines.

Could be a retailer who buys excess inventory, fire sales, bankruptcies, NOS.

The question is how common is that plug?

If it's a hard to find item due to lack of application it makes it less likely to be fake.

As in, too much effort for too small a market.

Um... you can buy those on the real NGK website for less than that.
http://www.ngk.com/SearchResults.aspx?kw=bp6hs

They are somewhat cheaper. $15.46 vs $16.00. But neither site is the company NGK. Both claim to be resellers.

Good points, Monkeyman. They are apparently so uncommon that Bosch doesn't make them anymore. I would really like to use a Bosch plug in my Porsche, but the only spark plug still available that matches the original Porsche specifications is this NGK.

I buy cables and other small stuff from China all the time at $0.99 with free shipping. It always gets here and it's almost always (90%) good/functional stuff.

Back in the day, it was cheaper for us to ship an entire boat full of pistachio non-splits to China, have some Chinese ladies with little hammers hit them open, put them back on the boat and ship to the USA for packaging than to just have them processed here.

I buy around 2,000 pumpkin carving kits every year for $.35 each and sell them for $5.00 How is that possible?

I used NGK plugs in my air cooled bug for several hundred thousand miles. Mechanic friend told me he liked them better than the Bosch many moons ago.

Good to hear.

My concern is that these aren't genuine NGK, but cheap knockoffs.

Yeah, sorry, my response was more about shipping price. Personally, I'd be wary about the genuine-ness of the plugs.

It is my understanding that under the Chinese postal system, all foreign destined commercial packages ship free through the Chinese postal system. They only pay for the handling at the destination country.

I have bought a couple watches from Hong Kong, granted they are Seiko's not Rolex's but they are real Seiko.

{watch geek mode on} Matter of fact several of the big Japanese watch makers produce watches only for the Asian market that can't be bought in the states {watch geek mode off}

Fake NGK Spark Plugs

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1429205433.jpg

Currency manipulation.

I'm happy as can be with my $50 Fuchs...

Hong Kong and China both heavily subsidize shipping.

Well. Actually if you ship out of China they charge what is called "local dock handling fee" or the like. It's the payola to the Chinese gov't. You have to pay them off. Your customs broker or shipper will build it into your overseas charge. It's a lot like the U.S. Customs and port fees here, but in reverse.

Wow. Thanks. I think I'll order a set that I know are NGK. I don't want a spark plug coming apart in my engine.
I guess it's a $16 life lesson - cheap as life lessons go.

Don't they have Vatozone near you where you can just go buy them?

I think I just found an opportunity to become an ebay vendor!

lol!

Wait for them to come in. I'm guessing it will be easy to tell once you compare the spark plugs to the photos. Will be interesting to see what you get.

I have been using NGK sparkplugs (genuine ones) for nearly 50 years and they are consistently good. They are in my SC now.

Bosch plugs started to to be, sort of, unreliable about 15 years ago. Any sparkplug with an English name seems to be only made in India and is junk.

Beru is overpriced but just equivalent to real NGKs.

The plugs arrived today, a little over 2 weeks since they were ordered. I googled "fake NGK spark plugs" and found a bunch of sites that showed how to distinguish the fakes from the real deal. Google even offered to help me buy fake spark plugs, in case mine turned out to be real!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1430147605.jpg

By all indications, these are real.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1430147655.jpg

The box has "spark plugs" written in Russian, something that is missing from the known bad ones.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1430147699.jpg

I compared the plugs with a new one at Autozone. They have all the right markings in the right places, and the gasket is identical to the real ones. These are two areas they say are different on the fakes.
I think they're OK, but it's worth my peace of mind to buy some over the counter from a store I know and trust.