PRINT
IT
RESELLER.UK
41
CONSUMABLES
“We’ve observed a concerning
rise in the scale of the problem,”
Nigel Allen, Marketing Director
at KYOCERA Document Solutions,
commented. In 2015, we seized more
than 100,000 units of counterfeit
goods, worth in excess of
€
10m.
Then in just a three month period
(April-June) last year, we seized over
€
5m worth of fraudulent goods -
showing the speed at which this
market is growing.”
Phil Jones, Managing Director,
Brother UK, brings some perspective
to the size of the issue: “Anyone who
purchases a Brother printer consumable
can authenticate it as an original online.
Globally six per cent of people who have
used the system find the item they have
bought is not authentic, and when we look
at the UK statistics, that figure can be as
high as ten per cent.
“It’s important to put those figures into
context,” he added. “As a proportion of
our total sales, the number of people who
use the system to authenticate is less than
one per cent. However, generally speaking
whilst the sample size is small, between six
and ten per cent of enquirers who check,
learn that the consumables they purchased
are not OEM manufactured.”
Andrew Hall, Marketing Manager, OKI
Systems (UK) Ltd said that counterfeits are
an issue every printer manufacturer faces.
“We must remain continually vigilant,”
he counsels. “It’s one of the main reasons
why OKI is a founder member of the ICCE.
We continue to be actively involved with
the ICCE and support its work.”
“Counterfeiting in any product
category is an enormous problem for
businesses all over the world, the human
and environmental impacts are far
reaching and there are many potential
safety, health and security risks. It is
incumbent on us all – whether we are a
manufacturer, reseller or end-user – to put
in as much effort as possible to catch the
counterfeiters,” Jones stated.
Why you shouldn’t fake it
Allen argues that fraudulent goods are,
in their very nature, a poor replication of
the original. “They’re illegal and have a
reputation for lower quality, with some
even containing toxic elements, leading
to all sorts of issues in the quality of print,
including streaky grey backgrounds and
drop off. Even more costly is the damage
counterfeit consumables will often cause
to the device itself. They damage good
quality printing products and reduce the
overall yield of the machine, raising the
total cost of ownership and offsetting any
short-term benefits of cheap toner.”
He continued: “We’ve actually done
our own research into the effect of
non-genuine toner. Last year, TUV
Rheinland in Germany tested
a range of our products
(which are built to last for
100,000 to 600,000 pages,
depending on the model)
with both genuine
and counterfeit toners
and found that three out
of four non-genuine toners
cause machine downtime. There
were also up to nine-times more non-
usable prints when using the counterfeit
consumables.”
Deyon Antoine, Product Manager,
Toshiba Tec, concurs: “Using counterfeit
products is a false economy as it may seem
cheaper in the short-term, but in reality
the costs soon mount up with the issues
these cause in service and maintenance
and, if print is business-critical, then there
is a knock-on effect of what it will cost in
employee time trying to rectify the issues
and delays in getting printed material to
their customers.”
Hall explained that OKI always
encourages customers to use genuine
OKI consumables to maintain optimum
performance. “We also offer an extended
three-year warranty on our office product
portfolio which is only possible if original
OKI consumables are used,” he added.
Toshiba Tec has run independent
tests with BLI that highlight counterfeit
toner produces lower quality prints and
generates higher levels of failures occurring
in the device. Chris Mills, Marketing
Manager – Indirect Channel said: “The use
of counterfeits therefore invalidates the
manufacturer warranty. Fortunately Toshiba
has the most cost-effective running costs
which means our business partners opt for
genuine Toshiba supplies.”
For channel partners, the consequences
of engaging in the counterfeit market
can also be severe. Allen said: “Initially
The counterfeit market is vast, both in the UK and in the
rest of Europe, and it’s only getting bigger
The big issue
Continued...
Counterfeiting
in any product
category is
an enormous
problem for
businesses
all over the
world, the
human and
environmental
impacts are
far reaching
Phil Jones,
Managing Director,
Brother UK
Andrew Hall,
Marketing Manager,
OKI Systems (UK) Ltd
