Is it Pakistani or Scottish??

[tpa]

My guess would be that the photos are actually genuine but the products are not. If you look at the other ones he sells, some are listed as being sent from the UK whilst others from Pakistan. My guess would be that all are made in Pakistan and that he imports the more popular ones and dropships the others direct from Pakistan. The seller says he is UK based and also seems to be looking for bulk orders as well as single sales which to me indicates no labour shortage issues. He does have 100% feedback and even the one neutral feedback says the product is good but it is a shame it is not made in Scotland nor is it leather! Here is the link and feedback:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Scottish-Kil...IAAOSwfcNb5fdZ

A wonderful item shame about it not being leather and not made in Scotland	Buyer: h***d ( 68)	During past 6 months
	Scottish Kilt Original Black Seal Full Dress Sporran Antique Anemal CROWN Cantel (#123480200915)

[Tobinn]

I buy a few things via ebay here and there and generally, I click on the "free shipping button", the "buy it now" button and the "US only" button. At least if I have to return things (which I have on an occasion or two, it's domestic.

I'm not buying that the product you'll get is the one in the picture (just to agree with the other opinions already noted).

[Katia]

Every time I see this thread title, I expect it to be about a game where someone posts a picture of a product and we have to guess the country of origin.

[OC Richard]

Those can-shaped cups are currently being used by at least three Scottish sporran makers: Janet Eagleton, Ian Grant, and Margaret Morrison.

Though I've not seen a sporran bearing the Margaret Morrison stamp also having that particular "Made In Scotland Real Leather" stamp I have seen MM sporrans with stamps more or less like that, similar fonts and sizing and spacing, so if I had to guess I would say those photos are of an MM sporran, or a copy thereof.

BTW loads of these are being offered on Ebay from a firm in New Jersey that imports Pakistani stuff. The price tells us that these are made in Pakistan https://www.ebay.com/itm/Scottish-Ki...pe!92780!US!-1

Seems to me we have these possibilities:

1) a Pakistani firm making their own, unmarked, sporrans and using a photo of a Scottish-made sporran

2) a Pakistani firm making exact copies of Scottish-made sporrans including the Made In Scotland Real Leather stamp

Though #2 is AFAIK rare it has happened, though I've not seen it happen with sporrans.

Let me explain: Back in the 1980s a friend owned a folk music shop and he wanted to investigate the possibility of partnering with a firm in Sialkot to make decent-quality bagpipes. Yes the Sialkot-made bagpipes we generally see here are poor, but keep in mind that those are the lowest-quality ones they make. The Sialkot firms also make bagpipes of African Blackwood with silver and ivory mounts, of much higher quality. My friend's concept is to lend a Sialkot firm a great-sounding Scottish-made bagpipe to copy.

So he flies to Sialkot and he's walking down a street with bagpipe-makers on both sides, thousands of bagpipes being made. He walks into one workshop and is astonished to see African Blackwood bagpipes being made, and stamped RG HARDIE GLASGOW. I'm 100% sure that these were the pipes that Hardie began offering at that time, which they called "Hardie 0" pipes, which were of clearly inferior quality quite unlike the pipes Hardie made in Glasgow.

Note that these pipes weren't stamped "made in Scotland" but merely "Glasgow". I can't recall any Scottish pipemakers using the words "made in" with their stamps, always just the firm name, or the firm name with "Scotland" or the city name.

I have seen sporrans and kilt jackets which were clearly made in Pakistan marked "_____ Scotland" (the blank being the firm name). Lacking the words "made in" the stamp is merely telling us the firm, the seller, and is making no claim as to where the items are made.

[McCracken140]

I find it interesting that these p@ki outfits *could* make a quality product at a competitive price, but simply choose to make a pretty bad or even trash product at an extremely low price.
Bagpipes are a good example. If they actually tried, I bet they could offer a useable quality pipe for $500 set up, but instead they offer a piece of literally unuseable garbage for $200. (Reference a quality pipe set up is probably $1200 CAD set up with similar turning and mount options to the p@ki pipe).

Here’s another good example: I bought a dress dirk for about $90 before shipping, and it’s made in India. It’s pretty terrible quality, particularly the hilt. The scabbard is alright though.
In my cadet unit, the Guard Commander’s scimitar is also made in India. It is great quality- an amazing finish, sturdy, quality materials, well put together, etc. Price? $125. Not to mention it’s twice as big as the dirk.
All to say, there is *potential* for these overseas firms to make quality items, they just for whatever reason choose not to.

Why is the word p@ki censored? If I type it without the @ it corrects to **** before I post.

[Dollander]

It's censored because it's considered a slur.

[Father Bill]

Why is the word p@ki censored? If I type it without the @ it corrects to **** before I post.

It's censored because it's a racist slur. The appropriate word is "Pakistani".

[McCracken140]

Where I come from it is considered standard and not insulting—but then again we don’t have any Pakistani folks around.
Learn something new everyday.

[Steve Ashton]

I think "but simply choose to make a pretty bad or even trash product at an extremely low price." is a gross over simplification.

As noted there are high quality and low quality items produced. Everywhere, not just in Pakistan or India. You can find very low quality Scottish and US made items too.

The labor rate and the cost of raw materials in that part of the world is quite a bit less than in the west. So even an item of the same quality materials and construction would be able to be sold for a lower price.

What is the market? The tourist trade and ebay are the primary market for much of these goods. A tourist wants and expects a kilt for about the same as his "I was here" T-shirt. Most tourists and ebay buyers do not know or understand that there is a difference. (All most know is that it sort of looks like a skirt.)

What is the expectation? How many times have you seen someone post "When are kilts going to be about the same cost as a pair of jeans?" Why do you think the members of X Marks spend so much time trying to explain that the expectation of getting a quality product for a low price is un-realistic?

What is the driving force? There is no denying that the lower end products sell. People are buying them. Lot's of them. If they were not, the companies could not continue making them. How many photos have you seen of a new guy showing off his new kilt from Pakistan? Facebook is full of them.

So I do not believe that "pretty bad" or "even trash product" are accurate descriptors. I think "The product most people will buy, at the price they are willing to pay" is more accurate.

[McCracken140]

My point was that there could be a market for kit out of Pakistan (etc) which would be of much higher quality than what we usually see from that part of the world, and still at far better prices than that which is made in Scotland, Canada, America, etc.
In other words, I think there are lots of people in the ‘Pakistan price bracket’ who would still be willing to pay more for a better quality product, but not 10 times more like they would for the Scots made version. I simply meant to point out that I thought it interesting that for the most part, this market had not been taken advantage of.