Is it Pakistani or Scottish??

[McCracken140]

Hello all,
I was browsing sporrans on eBay when one caught my eye. For the quality (it boasted the standard Made in Scotland stamp on the back) it had a great price.
*Here’s the thing:*
It was to ship from SIALKOT PAKISTAN.

Are they actually just blatantly lying, by putting the made in Scotland label on a sporran in an effort to entice even the learned sporran shoppers?
Smh.

Is this the case, or is there some benign reason for this which I did not think of?

[FossilHunter]

It's definitely suspicious to me and it's quite possible that a clever counterfeiter has started stamping his sporrans to better muddy the waters.

Of course it's not impossible that it's legitimate but it seems unlikely considering the location. Is the seller listing other sporrans or knock-off highland gear? That's be a big red flag to me.

I'd be careful if the deal seems too good to be true.

[Dollander]

It's likely the seller is simply using stolen stock photos. I've seen jackets where location is listed as Pakistan, but with pics that I recognize from the websites of reputable sellers with the watermark sloppily edited out. So the sporran you'd receive would probably be a cheaper version that's just similar enough to make a fraudulent listing claim difficult to prove.

[MNlad]

Given the shipping location I would run, not walk, away. Over the years we have had a number of threads on the deceptive advertising practices of some sellers, including appropriated stock photos, false or misleading claims of materials used (genuine acrylic wool), location of manufacture, and outright lies about their products. Is it possible a Scottish-made sporran found its way to Pakistan? Sure. Likely, especially if new, I really have my doubts. If the price is that good, you'll most likely get what you paid for rather than what may have been pictured.

[FossilHunter]

It's likely the seller is simply using stolen stock photos. I've seen jackets where location is listed as Pakistan, but with pics that I recognize from the websites of reputable sellers with the watermark sloppily edited out. So the sporran you'd receive would probably be a cheaper version that's just similar enough to make a fraudulent listing claim difficult to prove.

I think you’ve got it. I hadn’t seen this with sporrans yet but it definitely prevalent with jackets. There are a number of Pakistani ebay shops using MacGregor and macduff’s photos.

[Steve Ashton]

I was going to mention the same thought that it is quite common for some of the Pakistani companies to lift photos from other sites or just whatever they find on the web instead of taking their own photos.

This is one of the reasons that I often ask people to give photo credit if they post photos that are not their own.

Photo theft is rampant on the web. A reputable maker will often have to resort to watermarks on their photos to keep them from ending up on pintrest or some one else's site.

[Jock Scot]

It did not occur to me that my photographic skills might be good enough to borrow/hijack/steal, but one of my pictures was taken from this website(I have not published it anywhere else) and it still occurs on the internet on a foriegn kilt attire website. I even contacted them and suggested that they allow me the courtesy of asking me permission for them to use it, or pay me for the use of it, or remove it. Surprise, surprise I had no reply.

[McCracken140]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F123109028126

You can all see for yourselves. The spelling errors are a giveaway too.
But (I’m sure one of you with more knowledge than I would know) the real question is, is it a stock photo or a counterfeit sporran?

[Steve Ashton]

If you do a search on the origins of this image you can see that it is not a stock image but one that has been 'found' on the web and is the same image used by three different Scottish shops and at least two Pakistani companies. It is also on a couple of pintrest pages.

There is even another ebay site that uses this same image and calls it "Original Victorian WWI original Black Watch sporran".

So in all likelihood this is just a stolen photo and not the actual item that would arrive.

[McCracken140]

...So in all likelihood this is just a stolen photo and not the actual item that would arrive.

Good to know. Thanks